See today's article in the Wall Street Journal regarding Honda and Acura now surpassing BMW in resale value - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1164..._whats_news_us

Nice to see.

 

Any way to post article? WSJ is a pay site.

 

There's something on CNN about that...

http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/aut...ale/index.html

 

Actually, their opening page has several "free" articles that the public can generally access in their entirety without a fee. Let me know if the link doesn't work, and I'll see if I can get the article into a post.

 

Unless im missing something WSJ is a pay site. Couldnt get in. But High five on the better resale value!! =D

 

Let's try this -

How Much Is Your Car Worth?
Acura, Honda Pass BMW in Resale Value;
Pontiac Solstice Is Only Domestic Model in Top 10
By GINA CHON
November 29, 2006; Page D1

Sister brands Honda and Acura topped the latest list of vehicle brands with the best resale value -- an important measure for upscale car buyers -- edging out longtime leader BMW.

Volkswagen, which moved up to No. 2, and BMW and its Mini brand, tied for third, also earned high marks in Kelley Blue Book's survey for the 2007 model year, as foreign brands took almost all the top honors.
[2006 Acura TSX]
2006 Acura TSX

Kelley Blue Book expects Honda and Acura's latest vehicles to retain nearly 56% of their original retail price in five years. VW and BMW/Mini vehicles trail by less than a percentage point. By contrast, vehicles with low resale values retain just 18% to 24% of their original prices.

A good resale value can improve the perception of a brand; the nameplates that have strong resale values, like Honda and Toyota, have been gaining market share in the U.S. For car shoppers, a strong resale value reduces the total cost of ownership for a vehicle, as an owner can get more for the vehicle when it is resold. But strong resale values also tend to push up lease rates, making some brands less affordable.

Ford Motor Co. brand Land Rover came in fourth, and Porsche AG rounded out the list of the top five brands. Toyota Motor Corp. brands replaced Porsche in the fifth spot when vehicles produced in low numbers were excluded.
BEST BY CATEGORY

[.] [Best by Category]
These 2006 models had the best resale value in their category:
• Sedan: Acura TSX

• Luxury: BMW 5 Series

• Coupe: Honda Civic

• Pickup: Toyota Tacoma

• Convertible: MINI Cooper

• Sport Utility: Acura MDX

• Wagon: Volkswagen Passat

• Van/Minivan: Honda Odyssey

• Hatchback: MINI Cooper

• Hybrid: Toyota Prius

MORE

• The 2007 vehicle brands with the best resale values were Honda/Acura, Volkswagen, BMW/Mini, Land Rover and Porsche.

• Honda and Acura vehicles are expected to retain nearly 56% of their original retail price after five years of ownership.

• Vehicles with low resale values retain just 18% to 20% of their original prices.

• Plus, see a list of the ten 2007 vehicles that are expected to have the best resale value in five years.


Kelley Blue Book also listed the specific models with the best resale values, including the BMW 5-Series, the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius hybrid. The Blue Book's top 10 models are expected to retain 48% to 56% of their original sales price after five years of ownership. Despite quality improvements, only one domestic model made that list: the Pontiac Solstice, a hot convertible -- new in 2006 -- that General Motors Corp. has made in low quantities.

Resale value is partly a function of consumers' perception of the brand. Volkswagen improved its resale value this year because of its popularity among younger buyers and enthusiasts.

But it is also strongly affected by companies' success in keeping the number of cars on the market balanced with demand. Honda and Acura, both owned by Honda Motor Co., nabbed the top spot this year by keeping a tight rein on incentives such as cash rebates and on the number of cars they sell to rental fleets.

"Honda and Acura have been doing a great job for a long time," said Jack Nerad, editorial director of Kelley Blue Book. "What they are really doing is matching up their production with demand."

BMW AG spokeswoman Martha McKinley said while BMW would have liked to retain the top spot, BMW vehicles still made the top of several categories, including best resale value for a luxury sedan, which went to the 5-Series.

The vehicles with the lowest resale value include the Chrysler Sebring, the Ford Freestar, the Kia Sedona and the Lincoln Town Car. Detroit's Big Three have struggled to stop overproducing many of their cars, which generally forces the auto makers to pile on discounts -- which in turn undermine resale value down the road.

Saturn, Cadillac and Pontiac were the top domestic brands.

GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group have all been forced to cut production this year because of lower-than-expected demand for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

"It's about rationalizing the production process," Mr. Nerad said. "They are making those attempts with plant closures and other efforts, but it doesn't happen overnight."

Ford spokesman Jim Cain said the company was closing the resale-value gap, partly by improving quality. He noted Ford's high marks in the latest Consumer Reports 2006 Car Reliability Survey.

To improve resale value, he said, Ford was producing vehicles with more appealing, exciting designs, was adding more standard features and had extended warranties. Carefully managing rental-fleet sales "is also part of the equation," he said.

 

Good stuff. I just did a back of the envelope calculation and in 2009 my TL will theoretically be worth roughly $17,000. If it was made by Chrysler, it would be worth only $6,400. Quite a difference.

 

definitely part of the reason I bought the car. Once you figure in the relatively low depreciation, the TL has a pretty low cost per mile. Nice bit is those figures are probably based on MSRP, so real retained value is much higher.

 

not trying to turn this into Domestiv vs. Imports thread but i would never buy a domestic because of this.

 

While I'm inclined to agree, consider that the % value retained is based on MSRP. If a vehicle sells for huge discounts, rebates, etc., it's going to look worse in these simplified calculations. Vehicles that sell at MSRP or higher (like I presume the Solstice currently does) are going to look very good. So a $35K American car that actually sells for $25K, and is worth $15K used can't really be compared to an imported $35K car that actually sells for $34K and is worth $24K used, based on the WSJ criteria. They are too simple to be useful.

In that example, both cars lost $10K in actual depreciation to the buyer/owner, but the percent depreciation, based on MSRP, was huge for the American car compared to the import, and not completely fairly. To get a meaningful list, you'd have to compare actual selling prices, on average, to value as a used car.

 

Not trying to hijack this into Domestic vs. Imports OT thread either, but Honda Motor Co., LTD. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, uses American-developed statistical quality control techniques, and builds the TL and Accord in Ohio using American workers.

I don't remember the numbers for the Honda Accord, but the Toyota Camry has a greater US parts content than the Ford Mustang.

I would never buy a car built by one of the three dying US dinosaurs. Or buy stock in one of the companies. But it's a global economy. The big three dinosaurs have big, big problems and would even if their HQs happened to be in Japan.

 

My back-of-the-envelope calculations, using the kbb trade-in price as the retained value, and cars-direct-dot-com offering price as the actual new car transaction price, show Honda-Acura and Toyota-Lexus head-and-shoulders above the rest. Based on estimated transaction prices, BMW looks a little worse to me than the usually-deep-discounted Volvos.

I was amazed by how much I was offered for my 2004 TSX when I traded it in on a 2006 Honda Accord for my daughter.

 

You're looking at irrelevant things...at the end of five years, you can either have a car worth $15k or one worth $24k...which would you rather have? You have to remember, not everyone paid $25k for the American car by buying at the end of the year with employee pricing, rebates, and 0% interest...someone paid the $35k in the middle of the year, so it truly is a loss of value.

 

you do have to remember, these resale %'s are based on something like 13,000 miles/year.

Those of us that put 25-30/year, the value is gonna be a good bit different.

5 years from when i bought my car, i may have almost 150,000 miles, while that car would only have 65,000. Thats a big difference in price, who wants to buy a car with 150,000 miles on it????

 

Good article and not surprising at all.

Yeah at first I was like you don't have to be a member to look at that link. Then I realized that I was logged into the WSJ here at work.

 

Seems to me they are talking about the TSX (made in Japan) which is also less common
as opposed to the TL (made in Ohio)..

 

that's a given, HONDA/ACURA alway's had bettre resale than BMW, for the most part , the only car's that most likey hold value for them is theye'r M car's !...and some times not even them .

 

that's a given, HONDA/ACURA alway's had better resale than BMW, for the most part , the only car's that most likey hold value for them is theye'r M car's !...and some times not even them .

 

What retained value will the TL have after 3, 5 years ?

 

Around 50% after 5yrs if edmunds is to be believed (IIRC)

 

According to this article I will only loose $11000 on my TL over 5 years, since I bough it $5000 below the MSRP – not bad at all.