Year In Review

Year In Review

2014 will definitely be a year to remember in the Auto Industry. With record recalls, record sales, and record-breaking vehicle power. Especially in the recall department over 60,000,000 vehicles are being recalled, that’s double the previous peak in 2004. The most notable recall is the General Motors ignition switch recall which has already been linked to 42 deaths. It’s been an especially rough year for General Motors, with 27,000,000 recalls out of the 60,000,000 coming from their stables.

But all those recalls haven’t slowed new car sales. December is expected to be up by 10.4% over last year and US consumers will have purchased more than 16.5% million vehicles in 2014. That’s 5.8% higher than 2013 and the trend is expected to continue into 2015. New cars have got away from Mid-Size and become either bigger or smaller than in previous years. A new Full-Size Escalade, a new Lincoln Navigator, a new Chevy Tahoe, and a new Volkswagen Touareg all appeared on the larger end. On the smaller end of the scale this year sees a new Honda CR-v, a Mini Four-Door, a Fiat 500X, and Mercedes-Benz brought their small SUV, the GLA to the market. Mazda promised to make a mini SUV called the CX-3 as well.

Horsepower went up and engine size went down. Small EcoBoost engines will be available in the Ford Mustang which is celebrating 50 years. Dodge threw down the gauntlet with their 707 horsepower Hellcat, upping the acceptable horsepower for an everyday driver.

My car of the year for 2014 is the all new Hyundai Genesis. The most perfect car the company has ever made in every aspect. On the Truck side the Ram 1500 Ec0-Diesel. At 25 miles a gallon and all the amenities of a luxury vehicle. This outstanding Ram breaks the barriers of what most people considerer to be a truck.

Year In Review