Autoblog

This quarter, the Volkswagen Rabbit knocks the Toyota Yaris out of the top spot on Gaywheels.com's list of top-researched cars. The Yaris, which had hung on to the numero uno spot for the last twelve months, dropped to third place as the VeeDub managed to snag the second spot as well with the hardtop-convertible Eos, which is also a chick car. Making their first appearances on the list are the Volvo C30 at number nine and the Mazda 3 at the tenth spot.

Interestingly, Joe LaMuraglia from Gaywheels.com points out, "60% of the vehicles on the most-researched list are hatchbacks and four of those six have a MSRP starting at under $16K." You'll also see that the entire list, which is available after the jump, is populated with gas-sippers.

Note too that each vehicle on the Most-Researched list is offered by a gay-friendly brand -- based on corporate policies for offering domestic-partner benefits to employees in the U.S.

Comments, as always, are welcome. Please remember to keep 'em clean.

[Source: Gaywheels.com]

Most car brands that sell in the U.S. are defined as gay-friendly by the website Gaywheels.com. Only five are not, and one of them is Honda. The Japanese automaker took a step towards moving into the majority recently when it decided to begin offering insurance benefits to same-sex partners at some of its U.S. operations, which include the headquarters at American Honda Motor Co. Inc., the R&D facility in Torrance, CA.; its manufacturing facility in Lincoln, AL; and Honda Power Equipment Manufacturing Inc. in Swepsonville, NC.

While this decision is a step forward for Honda, it's not a big enough step to change its status in the eyes of the editors at Gaywheels.com. While the website applauds the move, a company must offer insurance benefits for same-sex couples to all of its employees before it can move onto the list of Gay Friendly carmakers. Honda, however, says it will be offering these benefits to all of its gay and lesbian employees in the next 12 to 24 months. Apparently its corporate structure is too complicated to do it all at once.

NOTE: Regardless of your views on homosexuality, please be civil in the comments or else your comment will be deleted and you will immediately be banned from commenting on Autoblog in the future. Thanks!

[Source: Automotive News via Gaywheels.com]

Gaywheels.com was started in 2005 and has since become a unique resource for GLBT auto enthusiasts and consumers. In addition to providing original content like interviews with gay members of the industry and, of course, vehicle reviews, the site maintains a list of gay-friendly automakers which provide domestic partner benefits to employees.

The newest member? BMW. While the automaker's MINI and Rolls-Royce divisions were already accounted for, the parent was omitted because of it maintained unfriendly policies at a US facility . That's over now. Beginning January 1, 2008, BMW joined the club when it officially began granting partner benefits to employees at its South Carolina assembly plant. BMW's inclusion on the gay-friendly list brings the total count of marques to 35, leaving out only 1. As a benefit of making the list, gaywheels.com will now endorse the German automaker.

[Source: Gaywheels.com]

Our friends over at GayWheels.com have summoned the strength to knock out their own Best Cars list for the year that was 2007. Each of the site's four editors chose winners in six categories, which include Best New Car, Best Makeover, Best Date Car, Best Family Car, Best Club Car and Best Car for Me. There wasn't much agreement among the editors on Best New Car, which was awarded to no less than four different cars: the Volvo C30, Audi R8, Audi A5/S5 and Saturn Astra. The only thing on which they could for the most part agree was which car received the best makeover in 2007, with the Cadillac CTS and its sharp-as-an-Armani-suit styling getting the nod from three out of four editors. Of course, the categories of Best Date Car and Best Club Car contain the most interesting choices, with both the Dodge Viper SRT10 and Lincoln Navigator being named as winners, among others. The Viper would be the Brian Kinney car, useful for arriving at the velvet ropes and angering a mob of hopeless club-goers as you cut in line. The Navigator, meanwhile, is what Michael would use to carpool all his buddies to Babylon, where he would then wait in line.

Click the Read link to see the rest of the Best Cars of 2007 from GayWheels.com.

[Source: GayWheels.com]

If you weren't aware, the website GayWheels.com has been compilling a list for some time now of gay friendly automakers. Entrance into the club is simple, an automaker just has to offer domestic-partner benefits to its GLBT employees regardless of where they work or live in the U.S. Nissan has recently announced that it will be extending domestic-partner benefits to its employees (including those employed by infiniti) in the U.S., and thus has become the 31st and 32nd name on the list of gay friendly automakers. Nissan's revision to its domestic-partner policy will go into effect on January 1st, 2007. Employees in the sales and marketing division of the company have had domestic-partner benefits since early last year, but this will be the first time the benefits have been extended to workers in the manufacturing division.

Feel free to comment, but keep it civil or the privelage will be turned off.

[Source: GayWheels.com]

Gaywheels.com has released a Top 10 list of the most researched vehicles on its site based on statistics gathered from April 1st through June 30th. The site acknowledges in a press release that there are many stereotypes about what the gay community drives, but that the community itself is as diverse as the rest of the population. True enough, and while some of the vehicles that landed on the list have in the past been considered as favorites of the gay community, many of the models would no doubt land on any Most Researched list. Topping the list is the Saturn Sky roadster, which has been garnering everyone's attention as of late. Here's the rest...

1. Saturn Sky
2. Toyota Yaris
3. Dodge Caliber
4. Volkswagen Jetta
5. Toyota Camry
6. Audi A3
7. Toyota Prius
8. Saab 9-3 (sedan and convertible)
9. Pontiac G6 (sedan, coupe and convertible)
10. Mazda MX-5

All of the vehicles on the list are also products of gay-friendly brands, which are defined by Gaywheels.com as manufacturers with policies offering domestic-partner benefits to their employees in the U.S. Indeed, every manufacturer in the Top 20 fits that description. This suggests that the gay consumers do reward those brands that support them.

(Find the full press release from Gaywheels.com after the jump)

As in the past, please keep your comments respectful.

[Source: Gaywheels.com

The proposed alliance between GM and Nissan/Renault leads off the Autoblog Podcast, Episode #34. Do we think it will happen? What would the effects of such an alliance be? We also talk about the Chinese coming to town in the form of Nanjing Automotive opening up operations and a productions facility for MG in Oklahoma. GayWheels.com and its Top Ten Most Researched Vehicles list also makes the cut, along with news from our sister-site, AutoblogGreen. Enjoy.

Get the podcast
[MP3] Listen to the show now.
[iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[Vote] Vote for us in Podcast Alley!

Hosts
John Neff and Sebastian Blanco

Producer
John Neff

Length
28:28