Fourth consecutive quarter ranked No. 1 in quarterly industry study

DETROIT – General Motors remains the No. 1 innovator for the fourth-consecutive quarter among 183 companies ranked by The Patent Board in its quarterly automotive and transportation industry scorecard.

GM was granted 1,123 U.S. patents in 2011 applied to global product engineering, global powertrain engineering, global research and development and OnStar organizations.

The Patent Board is the leading independent provider of best practices research tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investment.  It tracks and analyzes innovation and patents across 17 industries on a global basis.

Among recent technology patents:

Quiet Brakes – A friction-damped disc brake design that uses a thin metal ring embedded in the brake rotor to absorb vibrations and mute the squeal. The quieter brake is expected to be available on some cars and trucks within two to three years.

OnStar Voice Recognition – OnStar’s speech recognition method can identify the location of the speaker within the vehicle and adjusts its microphone pick-up pattern or magnitude to respond to location-specific commands.

eAssist Thermal Management – Vehicles with engine shut-off capability, such as Buick LaCrosse with eAssist, use an innovative thermal management system that maintains occupant comfort during engine-shut off, and prevents engine shut-off if comfort will be lost, such as during extremely cold or hot weather conditions.

“We are in the midst of redefining the automotive DNA, and these efforts are driving our people to reinvent every subsystem on the vehicle” said Alan Taub, GM vice president of Global Research and Development. “Being the recognized leader in innovation is important, because it tells our customers and shareholders that we are working on the leading edge of technology.”

2012 to be the next Cadillac Milestone year?

2012 Cadillac SRX

DETROIT – Cadillac completed 2011 with total U.S. sales up 4 percent from the year earlier and its best retail sales month in nearly four years, boosting momentum for the brand’s major expansion in 2012.

The year concluded with Cadillac registering its best month of retail sales since March of 2008. Strong demand drove a 10.5 percent increase in retail sales for 2011, as Cadillac continued its reduced emphasis on fleet sales.

The brand’s centerpiece CTS product line saw retail sales increase 24 percent over last year, buoyed in part by sales gains of the CTS Coupe, which is the segment’s best-selling midsize luxury coupe, outpacing European competitors.

Cadillac’s SRX luxury crossover model, featuring a new standard 3.6L V-6 engine for 2012 models, gained 13 percent in retail sales for the year. December was also the best month ever for the SRX, selling 7,324 units.

Escalade, which also had its best retail and total sales month since of 2011 and retains its top U.S. sales spot in the full-size luxury SUV category.

Despite phasing out two models in preparation for the upcoming 2013 XTS, Cadillac completed 2011 with 10.2 percent share of the market, practically unchanged from the previous year.

“Clearly the data shows luxury consumers were feeling more confident in December and we’re very pleased with our growth and market position, especially heading into 2012, when we will see new products in new segments,” said Kurt McNeil, Cadillac vice president of Sales and Service. “We expect growth to continue in the luxury market in 2012.”

The 2013 Cadillac XTS is a technology-packed luxury sedan that goes into production in late spring. The 2013 ATS, an all-new compact luxury sedan, will be unveiled on Sunday (Jan. 8th) before the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The two new Cadillacs will bookend the already popular mid-size CTS cars.

Also in 2011, Cadillac continued its Defining Moments program co-developed with the Ritz-Carlton Institute. The program targets excellence in Cadillac’s customer experience through a series of training programs and the redesign of many of the brand’s dealerships. The result has been steady increases in consumer and industry satisfaction surveys with Cadillac top among U.S. brands in customer satisfaction and more than doubling scores in dealer satisfaction surveys since 2009.

“We take the health and viability of our dealer network very seriously, and we’ve instituted a number of new initiatives to help our dealers build a more successful business, and to reinvent the customer experience” McNeil said.