2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe Sales Are "Simply Smoking"

The 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe has been one of highly anticipated cars for this year. With a choice of a turbocharged 2.0L 4-cylinder or a 300+ hp 3.8L V6 and standard RWD the Genesis Coupe has a lot of enthusiast appeal. According to Hyundai USA CEO John Krafcik early sales are "simply smoking."

According to Krafcik early sales of the Genesis Coupe have been better than the luxurious Genesis sedan, with significantly less marketing. The 2.0T have just begun to hit dealerships, so its too early to see what the product split will be like. But among the 3.8L models, over 50% leaving the lots are the Grand Touring models. The Grand Touring model starts at $28,250 with a manual transmission and $29,750 with an automatic gearbox (including a $750 destination fee).

It will be interesting to see what happens when the $24,000 performance-tuned 2.0T R-Spec model starts arriving. The entry-level 2.0T starts at $22,000.

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2009 North American Car Of The Year Nominees

2009 Car of the Year Nominee: Dodge Challenger

In January of next year the North American Car and Truck of the Year winners will be announced during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.  The process that leads to that decision began last week with the release of the first round of 26 finalists.  Not suprisingly, vehicles from the crossover segment of the industry dominate this year’s list.

Since its inception in 1994, the winners of this prestigious award are chosen by a jury of 47 automotive journalists.  The path to the finals begins with a listing of all eligible vehicles, which in terms of this award means new or substantial modified existing models.  Earlier this month, jurors reviewed the entire list and picked the vehicles they thought deserved additional consideration on the next ballot. They were asked to limit their list to 10 cars and 10 trucks but are told to give the benefit of the doubt to vehicles they have not yet driven, which means their list may exceed 10 each.  Prior to the December 3rd deadline jurors send that ballot in to be tallied and the top three that emerge from that vote from each category are again voted on.  Finally, the winners are announced in January in Detroit.

In contrast to the long list of crossovers on both the truck and car lists, the only true pickups to make the cut this year are the Dodge Ram and Ford F-150.  A single SUV, the Kia Borrego is also a finalist.  Because the very nature of a “crossover” is a vehicle that has at least partial characteristics of both a car and a truck the process is a bit more complicated for this year.

A few of the more performance oriented front-runners for the award this year include the twin-turbo BMW 1-series, Nissan’s GT-R, the Dodge Challenger and the supercharged Cadillac CTS-V.  Whether the current economic and environmental climates have an impact on the voting will be interesting to see.  The full list of nominees is listed below.

2009 North American Car of the Year candidates

• Audi A4
• BMW 1-series
• Cadillac CTS-V
• Dodge Challenger
• Ford Flex
• Honda Fit
• Hyundai Genesis
• Jaguar XF
• Lincoln MKS
• Mazda6
• Nissan GT-R
• Pontiac G8
• Toyota Venza
• Volkswagen Jetta TDI

2009 North American Truck of the Year Candidates

• BMW X6
• Chevrolet Traverse
• Dodge Ram
• Ford F-150
• Honda Pilot
• Infiniti FX35/50
• Kia Borrego
• Mercedes ML320 BlueTEC
• Nissan Murano
• Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid
• Subaru Forester
• Volkswagen Tiguan

Last year’s winners of the Car and Truck of the year were the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and the 2008 Mazda CX-9.

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The 30 Cheapest New Cars For 2008-2009 [And By "Cheapest" We Mean "Nothing We Usually Mean"]

We know we bitch and moan about a lot of the entry level sedans currently on the market - they’re always too small or too slow or too ugly. If you were to hazard a guess based simply on what we write, you’d assume we make beer runs in late model German luxury sedans, but we don’t. Our fervent ride lust is dampened considerably after we balance the checkbook, and when it comes right down to it, all we really need is a good, reliable car to get us from Point A to Point B. We assume that most car buyers are currently in the same boat, so we decided to temporarily abandon our unadulterated hate for penny racers like the Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa and assemble an objective, unbiased list of the least expensive, best new car bets for 2008-2009.

1. 2009 Hyundai Accent [$11,745 - $14, 595]

2. 2009 Chevy Aveo [$12,120 - $14, 255]


3. 2008 smart fortwo [$12,235 - $17,235]

4. 2009 Toyota Yaris [$13,625 - $14,425]

5. 2009 Nissan Versa [$13,685 - $14,685]

6. 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer [$14,865]

7. 2008 Toyota Corolla [$15,065 - $17,075]

8. 2008 Chevy Cobalt [$15,070 - $15,780]

9. 2009 Mazda MAZDA3 [$15,160 - $19,945]

10. 2008 Scion xD [$15,170 - $15,970]

11. 2008 Honda Civic [$15,480 - $19,380]

12. 2008 Dodge Caliber [$15,545 - $19,890]

13. 2009 Ford Focus [$15,690 - $18,665]

14. 2008 Scion tC [$15,920 - $18,420]

15. 2009 Scion xB [$16,370 - $17,320]

16. 2008 Saturn Astra [$16,495 - $18,995]

17. 2009 Suzuki SX4 [$16,499 - $17,599]

18. 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit [$16,540 - $19,640]

19. 2009 Toyota Matrix [$16,850 - $18,920]

20. 2009 Pontiac G5 [$16,935]

21. 2008 Subaru Impreza [$17,640 - $19,640]

22. 2009 Chrysler PT Cruiser [$17,920]

23. 2009 Volkswagen Jetta [$17,990 - $19,649]

24. 2008 Volkswagen New Beetle [$18,125 - $19,200]

25. 2008 MINI Cooper [$18,700]

26. 2009 Ford Fusion [$18,860 - $20,000]

27. 2009 Mazda MAZDA5 [$18,665 - $19,775]

28. 2009 Toyota Camry [$19,805]

29. 2008 Mazda MAZDA6 [$19,810]

30. 2008 Nissan Altima [$19,315]

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Hyundai's All-New 2009 300 Horsepower RWD Coupe Exposed

Hyundai's much anticipated RWD coupe has been caught at a recent market research event.

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Hyundai kills plans for Kia pickup, new compact car coming instead

This is the kind of news that usually folks like Reuters and Automotive News report, but our friend Ray Wert from Jalopnik is out hanging out with the Koreans this week for the Hyundai Genesis launch...

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