on the move

Monday, February 27, 2012 For Advertising Information Contact Your Local Cars.Com On-The-Move Sales Team at 599-2329

Battle brewing for low-end luxury-car buyersA bare-knuckles fight is

about to begin for low-end luxury-car buyers.

Never mind that small cars generally don’t go over well with American buyers, except when fuel prices are jumping.

Or that the recession has left fewer people with enough cash or credit for a lux-mobile.

Or that some buyers might never accept “low-end” and “luxury” in the same sen-tence.

Or that a flood of vehicles targeting the same pool of buyers threatens to trig-ger a price war that would wreck profit projections for such cars.

But there’s no turning back. The entry, or newly named “gateway” luxury segment now is in play, and here come the players.

Most of the cars will be smaller and lower-price than the bigger models but able to boast higher mileage and — automakers dearly hope — able to draw a whole new crowd of younger buyers who’ll stay forever.

“Everybody wants to have a (BMW) 3 Series,” says Steve Shannon, U.S. mar-keting chief for Hyundai, which sells larger luxury models Genesis and Equus. “That is such a great spot to be in.”

The 3, a compact sedan, is “small enough to be big-city friendly, but big enough to be adequate for people liv-ing elsewhere. It success-fully and magically attracts demographics from other segments, everybody from

20-somethings to senior citi-zens,” marvels Jesse Toprak, auto-industry expert at research and shopping site TrueCar.com

n Most likely challeng-er: Cadillac’s $34,000 ATS compact sedan coming this summer. “They’ll do very well with it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became the No.1 selling car for Cadil-

lac. If I were a dealer, I’d be quite excited,” says Jim O’Donnell, retired chief of BMW in the U.S. and now an auto-industry expert at the New England Consult-ing Group.

ATS had to be “something Cadillac has never had,” a compact high-performance sedan that can “finally chal-lenge the German cars at

their own game and win,” GM’s President of the Amer-icas Mark Reuss said at the car’s Detroit unveiling last month.

ATS could have more sales-attracting credibili-ty than some others, because Caddy developed a new chas-sis for it instead of taking the more common and low-er-cost path of modifying

a platform already in pro-duction. And Cadillac engi-neers tested the car at the famous Nurburgring race-track in Germany, an hon-ored venue among driving enthusiasts.

“But taking on the BMW 3 Series? You need to walk before you can run,” O’Donnell says.

n Other wannabes coming:

the new Acura ILX and the redesigned Lincoln MKZ.

The ILX, due this spring, “effectively creates a new sporty compact segment on the leading edge of the luxury marketplace,” says Acura design studio chief, Jon Ikeda. Acura is Hon-da’s upscale brand, and ILX

By James R. HealeyUSA TODAY

Paul Sancya/The aSSociaTed PreSS

The 2013 Cadillac ATS makes its debut prior to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 8.

See LUXURY, Page 2

/ Monday, February 27, 2012 Tallahassee Democrat / OnTheMOve

can be viewed as a premium takeoff on the Honda Civic, from which it is derived. As with Civic, there’ll be a gas-electric hybrid version.

The redone MKZ is a key element in what Ford Motor says is the “reinvention” of its foundering Lincoln luxu-ry brand with new and rede-signed models. On sale later this year, the new MKZ will be longer and wider than the current version, though it still will be the smallest Lincoln. Ford will take pains to distance it from the simi-lar 2013 Ford Fusion, with which it will share a plat-form. A hybrid model is expected.

Jim Farley, in charge of worldwide marketing, sales and service at Ford Motor, says, “We hope to conquest new people, people who have never shopped a Lin-coln before” by providing both a redone car and an improved dealership expe-rience to rival the best.

To that end, Lincoln has persuaded more than half of its metro-market dealers to promise a heavy investment

in new facilities.n Already in the low-end

luxe firefight: Buick Verano and Lexus CT 200h.

Enough buyers consider Buick a premium, or even a luxury, brand that its $24,000 Verano small sedan, launched last November, is on the entry-luxe radar in spite of its mainstream price. It lacks some up-mar-ket features, such as a back-up camera, and its Chevrolet Cruze underpinnings might doom it to non-luxury status, but it could come across as a great bargain and siphon some buyers looking at other gateway luxury models.

CT 200h, an upscale gas-electric hybrid hatchback loosely based on the Toy-ota Prius, has been on sale since last March. It’s the brand’s newest and least expensive model, about $4,000 less than the cheap-est version of the small, sporty Lexus IS sedans that some would consider a more direct challenge to the BMW 3’s. But the CT’s hybrid drivetrain, quirky looks, sporty chassis and $30,000 starting price are Lexus’ attempt to seduce luxury newcomers in a new way.

3 Series has devoted following

Challenging the 3 Series is a formidable undertak-ing, whether done head-on, as the Caddy ATS will do, or obliquely, by selling a car that’s only roughly similar in size or price. Even BMW’s own smaller and lower-price model, the 1 Series, can’t do it: BMW sells 11 times as many 3’s as 1’s.

German competitors Mer-cedes-Benz and Audi have rival models, of course. But sales of the M-B C-Class and Audi A4 combined only about match BWM 3 Series sales. So they’ll try new, smaller models, too, the most dra-matic of which probably would be the Mercedes-Benz A class.

Introduced in the U.S. as the 1977 BMW 320, the first 3 Series car immediately drew admirers for its then-uncommon blend of sports-car handling and sedan prac-ticality.

When the second-genera-tion 1984 version of the 3 hit showrooms, upwardly mobile “yuppies” (young urban pro-fessionals) thought they’d found the perfect wheels for their rising status.

Now it’s BMW’s best-sell-

er, accounting for 38(PER-CENT) of all BMW’s U.S. sales last year. A slightly larger, quicker, more fuel-efficient, sixth-generation 3 just went on sale and it’s better-equipped than the car it replaces.

The 328 sedan is $35,795; the 335i is $43,295. Even though the new one is much-improved, BMW says, the price is up just $300.

BMW is saying, in effect, “Bring it on.”

Rivals have no choice, really. To meet ever-stricter federal fuel-economy rules, they need the smaller, bet-ter-mileage models to off-set the big-engine models that give a luxury brand its panache and earn big prof-its.

And they need entry mod-els for what the industry believes is a tidal wave of successful 20- and 30-some-things, like those 1980s yuppies, looking for lux-ury-brand cars that are trim and technological — and value-priced. Studies show that luxury buyers are more brand-loyal than oth-ers, so snagging buyers just as they’re ready for their first premium model is good business.

“People are more likely to get to a 7 through a 3 than through a Mercedes,” says Gary Stibel, CEO of the New England Consulting Group, referring to BMW’s flagship 7 Series big sedan and the mainstay 3 Series.

“C apture, la nd a nd expand,” he says.

Enough buyers to go around?

Whether that will be easy — that is, whether there is the supposed pool of able buyers and they will tum-ble to the new machines — is being debated.

“I’m less than real enthu-siastic about the success of luxury small cars (in the USA). They just don’t seem to resonate,” says Jack Nerad, auto industry veter-an who is executive edito-rial director at Kelly Blue Book’s kbb.com.

But TrueCar.com’s Toprak says, “Overall, the prospects in the small luxury segment are very positive.”

BMW spokesman Thomas Plucinsky notes that such market movement is happen-ing elsewhere: “In Europe, there is a push toward luxu-ry brands going to smaller-size cars.” Even in the big-ger-is-better U.S., “We think

we can go to the smaller size without watering down the brand,” he says.

Thus, BMW has “several (BMW-brand) models under consideration” that are as small as the models it sells under its Mini Cooper brand, Plucinsky says, and BMW plans them for the U.S. mar-ket in coming years. The so-called UKL cars (a Europe-an size designation) will be front-wheel drive, possibly sacrilege in the eyes of fans of the BMW that’s known for its rear-drive. In fact, BMW’s Mini brand was portrayed as a way for BMW to market smaller, front-drive cars with-out undercutting the BMW rear-drive heritage.

It’s plain that a lot of money and maneuvering are aimed at what is, after all, just a slice of the premi-um market, which is itself a pretty small slice of the total new vehicle market.

Why? Because of what might happen. Says Acu-ra’s Ikeda: “Now, the luxu-ry market represents only 10 percent of total industry sales. But research shows that 80 percent of mass-market buyers are consid-ering stepping up to a lux-ury vehicle.”

LuxuryFrom Page 1

Car owners are waiting longer to replace their vehiclesLOS ANGELES — So much

for the long-held notion that Americans purchase a new car and flip it every three or four years.

People who buy new cars are holding on to their vehi-cles for a record amount of time, an average of almost six years, according to the automotive research firm R.L. Polk & Co.

The recent recession has pushed people to hold on to their cars and pay off their loans. In the process, they discovered that their vehi-cles were more reliable than they might have expected, said Mark Seng, a Polk ana-lyst.

Automakers are looking

at the trend and believe that it’s one reason it will take some time for auto sales to return to the pre-recession levels as more people learn to live with older cars.

It coincides with what Hyundai Motor Ameri-ca Chief Executive John Krafcik says is “a funda-mental change in the way Americans think about their automobiles.”

A n automobi le has dropped in importance in the hierarchy of social sta-tus since the recession, he said, making “the need to change your car to show who you are less important.”

Geoff Moore, a Los Ange-les screenwriter, agrees.

“We drive our cars until the wheels fall off,” he said.

“It seems wasteful to keep flipping cars.”

Moore and his wife, Nicki, just replaced a 1995 Hon-da Civic with 140,000 miles with a new Subaru Forester, which they intend to keep for at least a decade. They also own a 2005 Volvo sta-tion wagon.

Polk said the typical buy-er of a new car keeps the vehicle for 71.4 months, an increase of almost 18

months since 2006. Because its review of car registra-tions includes leases, peo-ple who buy their cars out-right are probably holding on to the vehicles even lon-ger, Seng said.

Improving auto quality is pushing the trend, said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ automo-tive test center.

In the past, people sold their cars well before they

reached 100,000 miles, which was about the mile-age at which drivers thought the vehicles would be worn out.

“You would sell the car at 60,000 miles to get some residual value out of it. But nowadays 100,000 miles is only halfway through the life of the car,” Champion said.

Automakers have also lengthened their warranties. Most new cars come with a three-year or 36,000-mile warranty. Hyundai includes a five-year or 60,000-mile warranty and goes to 10 years or 100,000 miles on the powertrain.

John Maigler, a retired United Airlines mechan-ic and manager from Des

Plaines, Ill., purchased a Kia Soul in 2010 because he liked the 10-year or 100,000-mile warranty on the pow-ertrain.

“I keep my cars a long time. I am cheap,” Maigler said.

The trend isn’t expected to reverse, even if the econo-my takes off and people feel secure enough financially to buy new vehicles.

“Longer ownership peri-ods are with us to stay,” Krafcik said. “Longer loan terms tend to drive longer ownership periods as people pay down their loans. Cars are better and last longer. And the brands that have longer warranties, like Hyundai, are gaining mar-ket share.”

By Jerry HirschLos Angeles Times

“Longer ownership periods are with us to stay. Longer loan terms tend to drive longer ownership periods as people pay down their loans.”JoHn KrafciKHyundai Motor America chief executive

OnTheMOve / Tallahassee Democrat Monday, February 27, 2012 /

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For car buyers, it’s harder to end up with a lemon

DETROIT — Car shoppers today are less likely to end up with a lemon.

In the past five years, global competition has forced auto-makers to improve the quality and reliability of their vehicles — everything from inexpen-sive mini-cars to decked-out luxury SUVs.

The newfound emphasis on quality means fewer prob-lems for owners. It also means more options for buyers, who can buy a car from Detroit or South Korea and know it will hold up like a vehicle from Japan.

With few exceptions, cars are so close on reliability that it’s getting harder for compa-nies to charge a premium. So automakers are trying to set themselves apart with sleek, cutting-edge exterior designs and more features such as lux-urious interiors, multiple air bags, dashboard computers and touch-screen controls.

“It’s a great time to be a consumer,” says Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends for the TrueCar.com auto pricing website. “You can’t really screw up too bad-ly in terms of your vehicle choice.”

It wasn’t always this close.

In the 1990s, Honda and Toyota dominated in quality, especially in the key Amer-ican market for small and midsize cars. Japan began building high-quality small cars and tapped into Ameri-ca’s growing appetite for fuel efficiency in the 1970sWith their sterling reputation, they were able to charge more than Detroit automakers and cut Detroit’s U.S. market share from 78 percent in 1980 to just under 43 percent in 2009, according to Ward’s AutoIn-foBank.

Cars from Detroit gener-ally weren’t as trouble-free in the 1980s and ‘90s. Hyun-dai executives concede their quality used to be poor.

However, around 2006, as General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC were heading into financial trouble, they realized that people were shifting away from trucks and sport utility vehicles to smaller cars and car-based crossover SUVs. Gas prices were on the rise again, and the companies, which relied on bigger vehi-cles for their profits, had few cars to offer.

Fearing the shift, Detroit decided to go after the Japa-nese and shifted research dol-lars from trucks to cars after years of neglect. Detroit also realized that Hondas and Toy-otas were quieter and more reliable, so they spent more on engineering and parts to close the gap.

Meanwhile, Korean auto-makers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. were busy redesigning their cars, changing to more cutting-edge looks to boost sales. Then, Toyota’s reputation was tar-nished by a series of safety recalls, and Honda played conservative with new mod-els that looked similar to the old ones.

The newfound emphasis

on quality has closed the gap between best and worst in the industry. In 1998, J.D. Power and Associates, which sur-veys owners about trouble with their cars after three years, found an industry aver-age of 278 problems per 100 vehicles. By this year, the number fell to 132.

In 1998, the most reliable car had 92 problems per 100 vehicles, while the least reli-able had 517, a gap of 425. This year the gap closed to 284 problems.

“We don’t have total clunk-ers like we used to,” says Dave Sargent, automotive vice pres-ident with J.D. Power. Nearly all automakers are improving in quality, but manufacturers that are at the bottom of the rankings are improving more quickly than those at the top, Sargent said.

Detroit’s three automakers have narrowed the quality gap considerably against brands from other countries. In 1998, J.D. Power found 42 more problems per 100 vehicles with GM, Ford and Chrysler cars and trucks. This year the gap had narrowed to just 13. While car prices are still rising, the narrow gap keeps Japanese

automakers from charging a premium over rivals with similar models.

The competition helps con-sumers by giving them more choices and more car for their money.

Some examples:n Compacts: It used to be

that the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic were far better than the rest, and they cost more. But the new Chev-rolet Cruze and the vastly improved Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus are giving consumers more options. The Cruze, which went on sale in 2010, is far better than the car it replaced, the Chevrolet Cobalt. GM sold 231,000 Cru-zes last year to pass the Civic for second place and come within 9,000 of the Corolla, the small-car sales leader.

While Corollas and Civics were in short supply following Japan’s March earthquake, the Cruze offered a good alter-native for people who didn’t want to wait. In May, Cruze sales surged 40 percent over the Cobalt’s year-earlier sales, besting all rivals to become the top-selling U.S. compact that month. The competition has nearly erased the premi-

um paid for Hondas and Toy-otas. But that’s largely due to price increases by compet-itors. Since compacts have more features, people are pay-ing more for the Focus, Elan-tra and Cruze.

For example, in 2007, Toy-ota got an average of $15,820 for every Corolla it sold, a pre-mium of $1,708 over what GM charged for a Chevy Cobalt. The average Cobalt sold for $14,112.

But last year the roles reversed. The premium instead went to General Motors, which got an average price of $19,858 for the Cruze, which replaced the Cobalt in 2010. That’s $2,028 more than the Corolla at $17,830, according to the TrueCar.com website.

n Midsize cars: Toyota’s Camry and Honda’s Accord used to be dominant. But Ford’s Fusion, Nissan’s Alti-ma and Hyundai’s Sonata are cutting into their sales. The Camry kept its long-held title as the nation’s top-selling car last year, but the Altima and Fusion passed the Accord, which is typically No. 2. The price premium paid for Hon-das and Toyotas has nearly vanished in midsize cars as well. Like with small cars, peo-ple are paying more because of more standard equipment and options.

“It’s very hard to find prod-ucts that aren’t good any-more,” says Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of the Edmunds.com automotive website. “In safe-ty, performance and quality, the differences just don’t have material impact.”

First-year law student Ran-dall Rosales found many good choices last year when he began looking for a small luxu-ry SUV to replace his mother’s 2008 Infiniti sedan in Dallas. At 22 years old, he’s his fam-ily’s designated car expert. Unlike previous searches, he’s found that every vehicle on his list has similar quality and options.

“It’s getting harder to choose because every man-ufacturer, at least in the lux-ury class, tends to have all the

features we consider essen-tial,” Rosales said.

In past searches, some auto-makers, including those based in the U.S., were behind in features like Bluetooth cell phone links and touch-screen controls, Rosales said. But that has pretty much evened out, he said.

He considered the BMW X3, Mercedes GLK350, Lex-us RX 350 and Infiniti EX35 before picking an Audi Q5 because the fuel economy of its turbocharged four-cylinder engine and its interior quality set it apart.

With quality, fuel economy and price close to equal across the U.S. market, companies also are pushing the edge on exterior design to differentiate their cars. Honda, for instance, unveiled a daring new Accord coupe in Detroit that looks like a far more expensive car, while Ford did the same with its new Fusion.

“It’s got to be beautiful,” says Mary Barra, GM’s prod-uct development chief who led work on a new Cadillac small luxury sports sedan.

Another way to stand apart is to lower a car’s base price, sacrificing profits to gain mar-ket share, at least initially.

That’s what Chrysler is hop-ing for with the new Dodge Dart compact, which starts around $16,000, about $700 less than a Cruze and $500 less than the Ford Focus, the Dart’s two main competi-tors.

CEO Sergio Marchionne says the company won’t make much money on a basic Dart. But the lower price will get the car on shopping lists, and Mar-chionne is hoping people will add features and pay more.

Chrysler in the past spent little on compact-car devel-opment and hasn’t offered a competitive one for years. But being late has its benefits. Chrysler learned by avoiding mistakes made by other com-panies, says Ralph Gilles, the company’s chief designer.

“Coming last to the party, you can bring a nice bottle of wine,” he says.

By Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann DurbinThe Associated Press

Mandi Wright/MCt

Toyota’s Camry and Honda’s Accord used to dominate the midsize-car market. But Ford’s Fusion, shown above, Nissan’s Altima and Hyundai’s Sonata are cutting into their sales.

OnTheMOve / Tallahassee Democrat Monday, February 27, 2012 / Page 5

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Car names don’t just come out of thin air

They are only a 3-inch or so swatch of a vehicle worth thousands and thousands of dollars, a metallic stamp on the rump of any car, truck or SUV on the planet.

But they cost millions to find, invent, vet and adver-tise.

Car names.A month after the North

American International Auto Show, automakers are out there promoting their latest motoring monikers. Acura and Infiniti, for example, went the archetypal luxury-brand alphanumeric route with ILX and JX, respectively, while Buick went with a classic word reassignment by using Encore for its new SUV.

And Chrysler went old-school — dusting off “Dart” for its new compact.”In gen-eral, what you want is for the product to reflect these zeit-geists to the greatest extent possible, whatever the mood or spirit of the times is as experienced by the target market -- the design visual and the name to reflect that and people’s ideals and aspi-rations,” explained Univer-sity of Michigan-Dearborn marketing professor Aaron Ahuvia.

Makers draw names from various sources.

When Buick needed a name for its new compact crossover SUV, the automaker headed for a dictionary to look for a word that began with “en,” like the brand’s popular full-size crossover SUV, the Enclave.

General Motors was lucky. The word, Encore, hadn’t already been trademarked by a competitor. Nor did it mean something bad in another lan-guage.

These are challenges an automaker faces when assign-

ing a name to a new vehicle -- a vital part of a marketing plan, though a behind-the-scenes process, often aided by outside branding agencies, that starts as much as two years before the car hits showroom floors. It must tell the story of the car as it identifies with the prima-ry market, marketing experts say. Denali, another name for Alaska’s Mt. McKinley, fits on a rugged GMC, but not on a compact car, for example.

Does the name jibe with the design and styling? Is it pleasant to the ear?

“We get a list of names and think about what’s appropri-ate for the vehicle and for the brand overall, and (how) we

think it speaks to the target consumer. That’s the largest judgment call,” said Craig Bierley, director of advertis-ing and promotions for Buick and GMC.

Buick and GMC, for exam-ple, look to maps, minerals and seasons for inspiration; for example, “Verano” means summer in Spanish. Nissan will sometimes use pre-exist-ing words that fit the compa-ny’s image for the vehicle, like the toughness of the Titan and the agility of the Juke, (which could be a partial faux-pas, though, because Juke means cockroach in Arabic).

“You want to make sure a name has neutral or positive associations. If you have nega-tive associations, you want to ask, ‘Can I change it?’ “ said Mark Perry, director of prod-uct and advanced planning for Nissan Americas. “Pinto as a name might be fine, but the association is negative.”

When cars were first invent-ed, they were identified only by their makers’ names, as the manufacturers weren’t mak-ing many styles, according to writer and lexicographer Paul Dickson. As lines expanded, trends cycled through -- far-off places and warm desti-nations after American GIs returned stateside (Chevy Bis-cayne), the galaxy during the Cold War space race (Mer-cury Meteor) and words that screamed independence (Ford Maverick), as the countercul-ture grew more popular.

Some car companies prefer to use what works, like Toyota, which has used “Camry” and “Corolla” for decades. “One of the arguments or discus-sions you do in naming -- do you lose equity in a name if you keep changing it,” Toy-ota’s vice president of com-munications Mike Michels pointed out.

Ford uses the same

series with its Mustang and F-series, according to Rick Novak, Ford’s global cross vehicle marketing strategy manager. “We’re going to use names already seen as icons in the industry. You want to make sure you’re already (playing up) your assets,” he said. “It has a history and heritage people know. It’s about connecting with the consumers.”

The offshoot of getting inspiration from your cur-rent catalog is looking through the corporate archives. Most recently, Chrysler went into the vault to bring out the name Dart for its latest Dodge.

But for some auto manufac-turers, the best place to find innovative names is in their imaginations. The Nissan Maxima had roots in “max-imum,” because it was the top -- or maximum -- of the brand’s line, while the Xter-ra hinted at its off-road -- or terra -- roots and the coolness of extreme sports’ X Games, according to Perry.

Such creativity requires more of an investment at the back end from the manufac-turer because consumers now need to learn about the new name -- what it’s supposed to be conveying, how it’s pro-nounced, how it’s spelled. The Volkswagen Touareg is an example.

“It’s a double-edged sword. It’s indeed a burden. You have to educate them about what it means, and it will be inherently less memorable. If you call something a Yukon, people already know it, and it’s easier to remember,” said University of Michigan-Dearborn marketing pro-fessor Aaron Ahuvia. “(But) the advantage of giving it a completely new name is you have more freedom in shap-ing what the name ultimately means to consumers.”

By Zlati MeyerDetroit Free Press

Hertz backs recall proposal

In the face of an indus-trywide safety investi-gation, the nation’s sec-ond-biggest rental car company has taken the rare step of asking for government regulation to ensure that autos under recall are fixed before they’re rented.

Hertz has struck an agreement with safety advocates to ask Congress to put recall oversight of the industry under the National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., say they plan to introduce legisla-tion to do that after Con-gress reconvenes later this month.

NHTSA has been investi-gating the car-rental indus-try for more than a year after the industry was accused by safety advo-cates of renting cars that were recalled by automak-ers but not repaired.

According to NHTSA, which sets and enforces motor-vehicle safety stan-dards, all safety recalls involve a risk to motor vehicle safety, and the vehicles should be fixed promptly.

Federal law prohibits manufacturers and new car dealers from selling recalled vehicles before they are fixed. But it doesn’t apply to rental car companies.

NHTSA has jurisdiction over auto manufacturers. But it’s had no authority over the rental companies. The companies are the larg-est buyers of new cars and the largest source of used cars in North America.

The agency has said it would welcome jurisdic-

tion over the industry.Enterprise, the largest

auto-rental company, and Avis Budget, the third-larg-est, haven’t joined Hertz in its agreement with Sacra-mento-based Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

Enterprise spokeswoman Laura Bryant says large recalls in recent years prompted Enterprise to “make significant chang-es and improvements” in its inspection and repair of recalled vehicles. “Pro-posed legislation to date has not reflected these changes and, therefore, is well-meaning but unnec-essary,” she says.

Avis Budget Group spokesman John Barrows says rental car companies would be unfairly singled out by legislation forcing them to ground recalled vehicles until they are repaired, and leave taxi and limousine companies untouched.

Nonetheless, Barrows says, Avis Budget Group has been reviewing the agreement between Hertz and consumer advocates.

Hertz Senior Vice Presi-dent Richard Broome says the agreement to seek gov-ernment oversight of safe-ty recalls conforms to the company’s policy of not renting recalled vehicles until they are repaired.

Rosemary Shahan, pres-ident of the consumer group, says, “It’s unprec-edented for a major rent-al car company to active-ly support a new federal law that would require the industry to ground unsafe, recalled cars until they’re fixed.”

Shahan also credits USA TODAY, which spent the past two months research-ing rental car safety issues, for helping spark an agree-ment.

By Gary StollerUSA TODAY

When cars were first invented, they were identi-fied only by their makers’ names... as lines expand-ed, trends cycled through — far-off places and warm destinations after American GIs returned state-side (Chevy Bis-cayne), the galaxy during the Cold War space race (Mercury Mete-or) and words that screamed indepen-dence (Ford Mav-erick), as the coun-terculture grew more popular.

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