Recently a report from ABC about Consumer Report's ranking of cars in its annual Auto Review issue:
Consumer Reports has picked the Toyota Prius Touring as its best overall value of 300 U.S. and foreign cars reviewed. Not a single U.S. brand was among the 41 vehicles on the group's Best Value list this year. [emphasis mine]
Continuing the bad news:
Rounding out the top five were the Mini Cooper, Volkswagen Rabbit, Honda Civic EX and the Honda Fit.
"All three U.S. automakers continued to be at the back of the class," the magazine said. Although GM and Ford improved their overall scores, Chrysler "disappointed the most." The company's "poor-performing products and sinking reliability results have kept all Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep-badged vehicles off CR's recommended list."
Given that many people, including me, consult CR's auto review like it was the tablets of Moses before buying a car, this has got to be very bad news for US automakers.
As the owner of a Prius, and someone who would buy another one when I am ready for a new car (not soon, as I tend to keep my cars until they are no longer drivable, or way too expensive to maintain), I was happy to see this:
GREEN CAR: Toyota Prius Despite the arrival of more gas/electric hybrids, the Prius ($22,000 to $24,000) leads this category for the sixth straight year. The base model's 44 overall mpg is the best Consumer Reports has measured in any five-passenger car. The interior is roomy and versatile, and reliability remains excellent. A redesigned Prius will arrive in early summer.
The issue of CR with the reviews will be on sale on March 3 according to the report, and some sections of the report will be available, for free, on the CR website.
Detroit, it's time to pay attention, if it's not already too late.