Buick’s Regal will be hitting showrooms any minute now and GM is introducing the car to the press at events all over the country. Like the new LaCrosse, the Regal is built off the Opel Insignia platform and initially will be offered in only one trim level -- GXL -- and with one engine -- a 2.4-liter DOHC Ecotec I-4 producing 184 horsepower. Prices start at 26,995 including destination charge.

The standard I-4 produces adequate power and is relatively smooth but buyers interested in performance may want to wait until the 220 horsepower 2.0-liter direct injection turbocharged I-4 becomes available later in the year. Engine noise and vibration are well isolated and only become apparent under hard acceleration. The ride is smooth enough but road noise is more noticeable than one might expect.

Not so smooth is the 6-speed automatic transmission. Shifts weren’t particularly harsh but they were not unobtrusive and the transmission seemed to have a hard time finding the right gear under some circumstances such as accelerating up hills. The transmission can be shifted manually for drivers who think they can do it better themselves. Brakes were effective but the pedal felt surprisingly spongy.

The interior is nicely done, if a bit “blingy”, with very supportive seats and decent quality materials on most surfaces. Controls are well laid out but you will want to spend some time studying the array of center stack buttons and knobs before you hit the road. And turn up the stereo a bit if you want to tune out the minor squeaks that the interior produces, especially over rough roads.

The Regal is attractive enough, nicely complements the new LaCrosse and should compete effectively in its class, especially if some of the minor imperfections are ironed out.

--M.D.

Last month, in a barrage of television ads, GM chief Ed Whiteacre bragged that his company had paid off it loans to the U.S. government five years ahead of schedule.

Republicans, including Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, said, “Not so fast.” They maintain that GM used TARP money (which they also received from the feds, of course), to repay those loans and that the taxpayers are still on the hook for a big piece of the corporation.

And they have a point.

GM’s health may be improving but it still isn’t generating the kind of profit it would take to pay off the loans. Those funds did, indeed, come from the other pot of money that the feds handed the company last year.

But as far as the public perception of the company, such inconvenient truths don’t seem to matter. A London-based public opinion firm says that their polling shows public opinion of the automaker has improved since the Whiteacre ads aired and now rates higher than the once golden Toyota (which, of course, is suffering as a result of the recall crises).

Who said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time?

--M.D.

(Source: Automotive News)

Toyota published its fiscal year results and for 2009 it is reporting a profit of $2.3 billion, beating all projections, including its own. This stands in sharp contrast to 2008 when the company posted an operating loss more than twice that large. The company spent heavily in recall repairs and incentives but also managed to cut costs sufficiently to improve its bottom line.

Total sales started to rebound in 2010 but not enough to offset declines last year and the car maker reported consolidated sales of 7.24 million units, a 4% drop from 2008. The company is cautiously projecting a modest increase in sales for the current fiscal year with a commensurate increase in net profits.

Meanwhile, Toyota’s recall woes continue as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigates whether the company reported a 2005 steering problem in a timely fashion as required by law. One bit of good news came last week as Consumer Reports removed its “Don’t Buy” warning from the Lexus GX 450 after retesting the vehicle following Toyota’s fix for the problem.

--M.D.

An interesting bit of data buried in the April auto sales statistics was Honda’s tepid 13% improvement over April of 2009. Up is always better than down, but Honda is underperforming the market right now and its leaders are concerned, according to Automotive News.

With U.S. car makers lavishing more attention on their passenger cars (i.e. Fusion, Taurus, Malibu, LaCrosse, Regal, et al) and with Korean manufacturers Hyundai and Kia continuing to draw attention away from Japanese brands, Honda faces an increasingly competitive playing field. Whether it can join the rebound party many of its competitors are enjoying is another question.

Things should be better for Honda right now with overall car sales surging and its chief rival, Toyota, mired in recall problems. Yet Honda’s market share is heading in the wrong direction. While Nissan, Ford, GM and VW are seeing gains in share, Honda is slipping, from 12.4% in the first four months of 2009 to 11.6% in 2010 (Wards Automotive data).

Obviously, Honda isn’t going away. It still has 3 models in the top 10 (Accord, Civic and CR-X) and has improved its profitability. (And it should be noted that Honda has the stingiest incentives of any top-tier car maker.) So its situation is cause for concern, not alarm, but the company will have to work harder to achieve the 14% fiscal year increase it is projecting.

--M.D.

April sales numbers are in and the automobile market continues a pattern of growth that began in December. Overall sales were up 20% with every major car maker posting an increase. Only Suzuki

(-23%) and Porsche (-6%) saw declines.

The largest increases were posted by minor players Subaru (+48%), VW (+39%) and Maserati (+74%). Nissan led among the major manufacturers with a 35% increase followed by Ford at 25%, Hyundai and Toyota at 24% and Honda at 13%. GM managed to show a 7% increase over last year but when just its current core brands are compared, the increase is a more respectable 20%.

The big surprise was Chrysler which finally was able to report an increase, up 25% over April of 2009. Interestingly, Chrysler’s older platforms, the much maligned Avenger and Sebring, recorded the biggest increases while its recently redesigned and well received Ram pick-up continues to struggle.

While April sales were at a slightly slower annualized rate vs. March, the market obviously is turning around and nearly every manufacturer is sharing in the spoils. At an annual rate of 11.3 million units, the market is still well below its all-time high of a few years ago, but does seem to be on a sustainable growth trend.

--M.D.

Source: Automotive News

A completely redesigned Grand Cherokee, Chrysler’s first new product since last year’s acquisition by Fiat, will begin production this month and arrive in show rooms in June, according to The Detroit News. The updated styling retains the vehicle's distinctive looks but is said to be all new from stem to stern.

The Grand Cherokee will still be built in Chrysler’s Jefferson North plant in Detroit but Fiat has installed new production systems which promise to dramatically improve the quality of the vehicles. CEO Sergio Marchionne says that the new Grand Cherokee will boast a level of quality that “is unprecedented in the history of the place”.

The new Grand Cherokee will be the first to offer Chrysler’s new Pentastar V-6, a brand new family of engines said to be more powerful, more efficient and produce lower emissions that the company’s current engine line-up. The vehicle will also sport more advanced suspension and four-wheel-drive systems.

As the first new vehicle since last year’s reorganization, there is a lot riding on the Grand Cherokee and some are faulting Chrysler and Fiat for not doing more to build excitement ahead of its introduction. Marchionne’s strategy seems to be to play his cards close to his vest, which is all well and good but he has to get this one right -- and he knows it.

--M.D.