Key to the survival of any business are repeat customers, and automobiles are no different. The data miners at R.L. Polk & Company have announced the winners of their 2009 Automotive Loyalty Award after wading into facts and figures tracking customer loyalty to automotive nameplates. This is the 14th year Polk has presented the awards, and three new categories noting loyalty among specific ethnic groups were added this year.

Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer went to Toyota, unseating General Motors from its nine-year run. Toyota cleaned up two more categories - Mid/Full-Size Car for the Toyota Prius and Mid/Full-Size SUV for the Lexus RX - and also secured one of the new ethnic category awards, taking home the honors for Asian-American brand loyalty.

Honda took awards for Overall Loyalty to Make as well as picking up the new African-American and Hispanic loyalty awards. Most Improved Loyalty went to Audi for its 4.9 percent bump in customer retention. Ford's F-Series pickup and Mustang ponycar won their respective categories, while the Subaru Forester, Range Rover, and Chrysler Town & Country repeated wins in their segments. The BMW 3 Series, Mini Cooper, and Porsche 911 also took home hardware. More details are given in the press release posted after the jump.

[Source: R.L. Polk & Co.]

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There are frightening bills, horrific bills, and Bugatti Veyron bills. The legendarily expensive to buy, it seems that the Veyron is equally expensive to keep running, with some pegging yearly running costs at $300,000. It's so expensive, in fact, that Autocar says there's an owner who trailers his car to a particular driving route, then follows behind in a private jet.

Let's just take the tires, for example: in the U.S., the Michelin Pilot Sport 2s fashioned with the Veyron's unique compound cost about $30,000; in the UK they're £23,500 ($38,216 U.S.). Bugatti recommends you change them every 4,000 kilometers, or 2,500 miles, and at every ten thousand miles the company recommends changing the wheels and tires, which runs north of $50,000.

In between those wheel changes will be things like routine maintenance, with a major annual service setting you back about $20,000. None of this is particularly unexpected so long as you remember the Veyron is more a roadgoing Space Shuttle than a car. And we won't even begin to talk about how expensive pelican insurance has become...



[Source: Autocar]

The 2010 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show is over, and so we're looking back with some of the vehicular highlights from the floor, and the sidewalk, and the parking lot, too. The rides on hand ran the gamut from a late '40s Chevy Truck that had been gutted and filled with speakers, to the gorgeous matte Lexus above. There were also bikes, like the Brammo, and we even snagged a picture of the Gran Turismo 5 display, just in case you needed proof that the game does indeed exist in some shape or form, even if it's not due in stores until the year 2037. It's all in the gallery below.

The European Registry must be a bigger thorn in the side of automakers than the likes of Brenda Priddy and her minions. After all, the new-vehicle images the Registry keeps in its database are devoid of camouflage, and the latest to show its face (and rear, and roof, and flanks) appears to be the 2011 Kia Sportage.

Based on these images, the new Sportage looks to be a big step up from the friendly but aged current model. Underneath slick new sheetmetal that's in keeping with Kia's current family design themes, the Sportage will likely share much with the just-unveiled Hyundai Tucson. No word yet on when we'll see the trucklet's official unveiling, but given that Kia's usually good for a significant reveal at the New York Auto Show, we'll wager that at the very least, we'll see the Sportage's North American debut in the Javits Center in late March/early April. Stay tuned.



[Source: European Registry via Autoblog Spanish]

The next-generation BMW 3 Series isn't that far off, with the sedan expected to debut sometime in 2011 as a 2012 model. Yet the Munich brand isn't sitting on its hands in the meantime – the current 3 Series coupe and convertible are getting a mild refresh and updated powerplants this spring for the 2011 model year. The most immediately noticeable change are headlamp clusters that get a subtle reshaping to go along with a wider grille and reworked lower front fascia. At the rear, the taillamps retain the same shape, but the reflectors are redesigned with some of the light-pipe styling found in other recent Bimmers.

The 3 Series coupe will now be offered with xDrive all-wheel drive, while the 3 Series convertible gets a new solar reflective leather upholstery that BMW claims helps keep seat temperatures down when the lid is open.

The most significant updates come underhood, where the much lauded twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six is being replaced by a new single turbo version. The revised engine, dubbed N55, has recently been launched in the 740i and the 535i Gran Turismo. The twin scroll turbo has dual exhaust inlets that allow the engineers to better balance the pulses coming in to spin up the turbine faster. This is expected to reduce the turbo lag that some drivers complained about with the outgoing twin turbo setup.

BMW also claims it has reduced cold-start emissions by routing all the exhaust gases through a single, larger catalytic converter that heats up faster. On the intake side, the throttle is eliminated thanks to the addition of BMW's Valvetronic variable valve control system. The N55 also gets direct fuel injection. The end result is the same 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque as before, but with a fatter torque curve that maintains its peak from 1,200-5,000 rpm.



[Source: BMW]

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Driving a formula racing car might seem like second nature for a driver like Michael Schumacher, but like a great many things in life, if you don't use it, you lose it. So the seven-time World Champion has been eager to get back behind the wheel. Trouble is, there's a test ban in place in Formula One. The solution? The next best thing: a GP2 car.

Over the past few days, the returning champion has been at the Jerez track in Spain driving a developmental test car for the GP2 Series, fielded by the Super Nova team. For Schumacher, it's an opportunity to get some valuable seat time in a competitive single-seater ahead of his highly anticipated return to F1 with Mercedes. For GP2, it's a chance to test a number of new components and chassis set-up arrangements at the hand of a seasoned pro before the season kicks off.

So how has Schumi been doing? Spectacularly, of course. Despite a damp surface, he's been less than a second off the fastest time ever set by a GP2 car around the track, and this is only his first time driving one. There have been some reports that Michael's injured neck – which kept him from filling in for Felipe Massa last season – has been giving him some trouble, but so far it seems to be holding up just fine. Check out the mega gallery of high-resolution images below for a closer look.



[Source: GP2]

"SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!" The intonation inextricably linked to weekend motorsports events and monster truck rallies is seared into our childhood memories, and last Sunday its originator, Jan C. Gabriel (1940 - 2010), passed away at the age of 69 after battling kidney disease.

Gabriel came up with the signature turn of phrase while auditioning to do the voiceover work for commercials advertising the U.S. 30 dragstrip in Indiana. A delay feature built into his tape recorder allowed Mr. Gabriel to pull off the unique repeat effect, and the rest, as they say, is history. He would go on to record fresh spots every week throughout the 1980s for events at U.S. 30 and other tracks around the country, bringing the "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" line national.

Mr. Gabriel also produced and hosted the motorsports-themed television show, "Super Chargers," and his production company helped popularize monster trucks by pushing them into into the spotlight during the '80s. Jan Gabriel is survived by his wife, Theresa, and daughter, Amanda. Follow the jump for video of one of the old U.S. 30 television featuring his famous tagline.

[Sources: Chicago Tribune, JanCGabriel.com]

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With the possible exception of a trip to the dentist, visiting a car dealership is the least pleasant activity in which we participate. Unless you walk in with mound of cash, you can be sure that using their cruel four square method, U.S. dealers have a quadrangled plan of attack to bend you over. But what if it wasn't like that?

China's BYD (known colloquially as Build Your Dreams) will begin selling cars in the U.S. within the year. That much we know. But where are they going to sell them? Put a better way, how are they going to sell them? According to USA Today, the big fear among other automakers and U.S. dealers is the latter question.

The possibility exists that incoming players like BYD or India's Tata or Mahindra could sidestep the middle man and sell vehicles directly to customers. Obviously, this would be a rather large selling point to those of us who don't enjoy the feeling of being cheated and fleeced during a round of three-card monte (i.e. the typical dealer experience). Another option might be selling the cars through big-box stores like Walmart or Costco. The shape of things to come is getting interesting, if nothing else.



[Source: USA Today]

Following the culmination of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship, slots were granted to four new teams for the upcoming season. They were all ecstatic about the prospect of dicing it with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari, but not all of them are guaranteed to make it when the flag waves at Bahrain in just a couple months' time. This comes right from the mouth Bernie Ecclestone, F1's notoriously outspoken commercial director.

Rumors have been circulating for months that at least two of the teams – USF1 and Campos Meta – were having trouble finalizing their car designs and getting their houses in order. The other two newcomers – Lotus and Virgin – have hardly been immune to the rumors, either.

Given the difficulties involved in designing, building and fielding two new cars from scratch, Ecclestone doubts all four will be ready to start the season, much less see it through to the end. Bernie's solution would have been to allow the newcomers to purchase chassis from any of the established teams, and field just one car to start off. Good idea or not, it's a little late at this point, so we'll just have to sit back and see how it unfolds.

[Source: Autosport | Image: AFP/Getty]

Mitsubishi's been having a rough time of it lately here in the United States. Last year, sales fell 44.8 percent. Ouch. Even worse, Mitsu's lone U.S. manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois is way under capacity. How far under? Well, the Normal plant's website lists its capacity at 135,000 vehicles per year. Only thing is, back when that plant was a joint Chrysler/Mitsubishi venture it could pop out 240,000 cars per year. Last year, Normal made just 18,501 vehicles.

As you might imagine, Mitsubishi's uncertain as to whether the Normal plant will remain open. One solution might be to introduce and build their Triton pickup truck in the U.S.. America's been sorely lacking in the small pickup market for the last 15 years or so, and the Triton would be a welcome player to the segment.

Only thing is, because of the notorious chicken tax, Mitsubishi would need to build about 50,000 to 60,000 Tritons a year at the Normal plant to make the endeavor worthwhile. Last year's 44.8 percent drop in business meant that Mitsubishi only sold 53,986 cars and trucks last year. Anyone else sense a problem? Even if Mitsubishi's sales rebound over the 100,000 unit mark, it's doubtful that 50 to 60 percent of that total would be a small pickup truck, especially as Mitsubishi's mid-size truck, the Raider, was quietly discontinued last year.

[Source: Ward's Auto]