Mercedes-Benz AMG Expands the Brand

AFFALTERBACH, Germany — AMG, the sporting arm of Mercedes-Benz, is opening 175 new AMG Performance Centers around the globe by the end of 2009. The goal is to expand the brand and enhance customer relationships in 15 countries, including the key markets of Germany, the United States, Japan and China.

The new AMG centers will feature a redesigned sales showroom with consistent furnishings, materials and color palettes. Through the designo program, customers will be able to personalize their vehicles with unique paint, materials, trim and content, and a customer hotline will connect each center to AMG headquarters in Affalterbach.

Each center will also offer the AMG Performance Roadshow, a total customer immersion in the AMG brand, including talks from expert presenters and "intensive" test drives in a variety of AMG products.

From Edmunds Inside Line

Myths About Leasing - Part 3 of 5

Myth 3: Excess wear-and-tear charges are unfair.

Not so. These charges are designed to make you pay for your (over)use of the vehicle. You'd face the same financial hit if you had purchased the car. Dings in the door or tears in the upholstery would cut into how much you'd get when you traded it in. The charge on a lease is more in-your-face, but the financial pain should be about the same.

But don't leasing companies pile on charges for wear and tear? No, says Jerry Mahoney, who provides leasing for American Automobile Association members. "If anything, they have become more lenient, giving the consumer the benefit of the doubt."

Myths About Leasing - Part 2 of 5

Myth 2: A lease consigns you to everlasting payments.

It's common knowledge that leasing makes sense only for those who get a new car every two or three years, those masochists who hit the showrooms as soon as a loan is paid off. The corollary is that if you love the no-payment years of owning a car, you should scorn leasing.

Whoa. Not necessarily.

If you want to buy the car at the end of the lease, your contract will give you a right to do so -- at a set price.

And as Myth 1's example shows, you wouldn't be a chump if you went the "lease now, buy later" route. In fact, it affords you some protection. If you no longer want the car at the end of the lease, you can just walk away. If you had purchased the car new, you'd be stuck with selling it or trading it in, and there's no guarantee how much money you'd get.

Scion Tops Cosumer Reports Reliability Study

Once again, the quality, durability and reliability of Toyota Motor Corporation and its brands is ranked at the top. The following article was found on MSNBC.com.

NEW YORK - Toyota Motor Corp.’s Scion brand topped the list of most reliable cars in Consumer Reports’ annual vehicle reliability rankings released Thursday, as Asian automakers continued to crowd the top of the magazine’s rankings.

Meanwhile, Chrysler LLC vehicles saw their scores fall sharply from 2007, while Ford Motor Co.’s nameplates gained ground over their Detroit rivals.

“Scion has a portfolio of three fairly small, fairly well equipped vehicles,” said David Champion, director of Consumer Reports’ auto test center. “It’s a basic form of transport, but put together well.”

The study compiled responses from Consumer Reports readers for more than 1.4 million vehicles this spring, using the results to predict reliability of 2009 models. The results are closely watched by automakers because of their influence on car buyers.

In this year’s study, Honda Motor Co.’s Acura and Honda lines ranked right behind Scion, followed by the Toyota nameplate and Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus. Asian names occupied all of the magazine’s top 10 slots, with a domestic automaker not appearing on the list until No. 11 with Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln brand.

Toyota spokesman Xavier Dominicis said Toyota was pleased to see Scion — which just launched two 2008 models, the xB and the xD — top the list.

“Generally speaking, when a vehicle first launches, that’s when you’re more apt to have any issues that need to be worked out, and this is a vehicle that came right out of the gate and earned this praise right away,” Dominicis said.

For more on this story, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27341890/from/ET/ .

Myths About Leasing - Part 1 of 5

Myth 1: Leasing a new car costs far more than buying it.

A hard look at the numbers reveals that leasing can be as good a deal as buying. Just as the lower monthly payments don't automatically make a lease vastly cheaper, neither does the fact that you own nothing at the end of a lease mean you're throwing your money away.

To compare buying and leasing fairly, don't forget to take into account the economic power of money you don't put into a down payment or sky-high monthly payments on a purchase deal.

For example, consider a recent deal on a $35,320 car: a 48-month lease for $359 a month and $2,646 down. At the end of the lease you could buy the car for $13,775. That brings your total out-of-pocket costs to about $33,650, assuming you pay cash at lease-end rather than finance the purchase.

Buy the car for a haggled-down price of $33,900, put the same $2,646 down and finance the car for four years with a 6% car loan, and your monthly payments jump to $734. After four years, your total cost is $37,880 -- in this case, about $4,200 more than the lease cost.

This manufacturer happened to be offering a superlow interest rate on the lease, and more often the numbers favor buyers. But what if you leased the car and saved the extra $375 (or whatever the difference comes to) you would have made on purchase payments? Invest that money, or
pay down expensive debt and you're even further ahead with the lease.

Other factors give a lease a leg up on a purchase. For example, most leases include free gap insurance, which covers the difference between the lease payoff and an insurance settlement if your car is totaled or stolen. It's unlikely you'll find that kind of protection when you buy an automobile. If it's totaled, the difference between the balance due and the insurance settlement comes out of your pocket.

MPG, whats yours?

I have gotten a lot of responses so far on the new blog... thanks to all who have visited and emailed/posted comments. So let's start posting comments on what your 'REAL WORLD' MPG is with your current vehicle. Whether you drive a Prius or a 4wd Tundra... tell us what kind of mileage you are getting. I know of one Prius owner who went to Houston and back without having to stop at a gas station. A recent Yaris purchase is getting one owner 36 mpg.

Post your MPG and see how you compare to other owners!

Toyota's Newest Crossover

The All New Toyota VENZA

At launch, the five passenger Venza will be equipped with the Camry’s 268 HP V6 and a six speed automatic transmission with sequential shift. Towing capacity of 3,500 lbs is more than double the capacity of the average sedan. All six cylinder Venzas will be fitted with dual exhaust and 20 inch alloy wheels. Later in the year a 2.7 liter four cylinder with 19 inch alloys will join the lineup.

Styling is similar to the Lexus RX, sleeker than other Toyota SUVs. The grille is a bolder design than the usual Toyota grille; Bob Carter, VP and general manager of the Toyota division described it as an "imposing front fascia.”

The interior is an uncluttered design, with the shifter positioned in the vertical portion of the center console, freeing up the floor console for storage. Interior room was described as "making each front seat occupant feel they have 60 percent of the total room.'

Venza was designed by Toyota in California and developed in Ann Arbor Michigan at Toyota's technical center. Production will be at the company's Georgetown, Kentucky complex exclusively for North America.

Venza is aimed at those consumers on the fence between an SUV and a sedan, combining the best of both. Carter says Venza offers "sedan features and the utility of an SUV.”

Information from http://www.toyoland.com/

Here For You

I started this blog as a way to let you know the latest news from Toyota and the car industry, as well as keep in touch with all my customers. My goal is to have current incentives and any last minute specials available to you on this site.

Also, I want to hear from you. Tell me about your car buying experience - post your likes and dislikes about the vehicle you purchased. I would also like to know what kind of mileage you are getting on your vehicle. Anything that would help future buyers make an informed decision on their next purchase and help me do my job better.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you check by in from time to time to see what's new!