The main reason Hyundai market share didn't gain in 2013 and slow in 2014 was due to nothing new product wise. They were in a lull after their pretty dramatic wave of new cars around 2011.

With the new Santa Fe's and now new Sonata, Hyundai is picking up steam again (the just had their best July sales month ever). Kia will likely have some similar results, but theirs tends to lag a bit as their models get introduced slightly after the Hyundai models.

 

read my post carefully, i said for NON-luxury brand i would only consider Toyota or Honda, bmw, MB and audi are luxury brands

 

Hyundai and Kia prices have also been steadily climbing in the last few years...especially on the entry-level models. Probably the most obvious example was last year, when Accent/Rio base prices climbed some $2000. That's a pretty high percentage, in just one year, for cars that formerly started around 12K. Today, base models of the Nissan Versa can actually undercut them.

 

I'd say Nissan cars on average costs less than Hyundai

 

Well, you're correct on one thing.......the top-level Nissan Maximas and Altimas usually don't cost as much as the top-level Hyundai/Kia Equus, K900, Genesis, or Cadenza.

 

hardly surprising as maximas and altimas aren't even close as full featured, refined, or luxurious as equus, k900, genesis, and cadenza.

 

see your chart and raise.

 

Something doesn't make sense on the 2014 Dependablity chart. Why would Scions be that far below Toyotas on the list? Scions ARE Toyotas.

 

Off topic, but it's partially because Scion owners are much more particular about what they perceive as "issues" with their vehicles. It's often a person's first new car, they want it to be absolutely perfect. Expectations are extremely high, even for the low priced cars that Scions are.

 

^
The real answer to the Scion question all has to do with the AGE Scion buyers are. Scion buyers are kids, who are generally way more abusive, inexperiences, and reckless with their rides. Hence more problems reported. This is the case for most makes which draw in younger buyers with less discipline. Then you have brands like Buick who are on top, which is sometimes due to the older buyers not having all their faculties to report things like rattles and other problems. This is no joke. I've witnessed and interviewed hundreds people in the last 20 years and done my own studies and observations on this topic. AGE has absolutely everything to do with the rankings of these surveys.

 

The results of the APEAL survey above come at no surprise.

Hyundai & Kia's generally have better designs than the Japanese today.

I've noticed a trend in that ever since the 2011 Japanese disaster the Japanese vehicles have been very lost with their overall aesthetical appearance, layout and design.

 

I don't think the earthquake/tsunami had anything to do with it. It did temporarily disrupt production for a while, but not the way the cars were designed. That was affected by other factors.

 

I'm already aware of that part of it, at least in the past, but a lot of today's kids aren't that enthused with cars in general. Their whole world is wrapped up in their commnications-toys. Also, a surprising number of Scions are sold to older buyers for reasons which I mentioned in earlier posts.

But you're right...it's a little off-topic.

 

Isn't that problems of their own making, though? If one abuses his or her vehicle, that's not the manufacturer's fault.

 

This car is =zzzzzzzzzzz and most Lexus owners nor German car owners etc will blink at it.