Harsh Words for Chrysler from One Angry Woman Dealer

Colleen McDonald thinks it was about her and 46 other women. They are among 789 Chrysler brand dealers that Chrysler LLC cut as part of an effort to reduce its distribution network. The auto maker says the eliminations were done using a data-based matrix. McDonald, daughter of a longtime metro-Detroit Ford dealer, Tom McDonald, is unconvinced. She contends her gender played a role in Chrysler's decision

By Mac Gordon • Nov. 1, 2009

Digital Content Must Click

All automotive advertising matters, including established forms such as television, even though 20% of people watching prime-time TV are either drunk or asleep, quips Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.'s communications and marketing guru. While not abandoning traditional media, Farley is spurring a drive to digital, with about 25% of Ford's media buys now going online. About 50% goes to television. The auto

By Steven Finlay • Nov. 1, 2009

Explore the Trendline➔

Artificial Intelligence

Automakers and dealers alike are increasingly seeing the use case for AI within their operations. Explore some use cases in this trendline.

By WardsAuto staff

Ford: Maybe Driving and Cell Phones Not Such a Bad Mix

Using handheld devices such as cell phones or iPods while driving is less dangerous than commonly believed, Ford Motor Co. research indicates. Since 1995, cell phone subscriptions have skyrocketed from 28 million users to 270 million. But during that time period, auto fatalities have declined, says Louis Tijerina, technical specialist-Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. The seemingly contradictive

By Byron Pope • Nov. 1, 2009

From Midnight Factory Worker To New GM Sales Chief

Susan Docherty, a longtime General Motors Co. executive who cut her teeth working midnights at one of the manufacturer's transmission plants, will take over the auto maker's U.S. sales operation. Docherty, 46, was general manager of Buick-GMC. Her new appointment will place her among the highest-ranking women in the industry. The Windsor, ON, Canada, native replaces Mark LaNeve, who leaves the auto

By James Amend • Nov. 1, 2009

GMC Covers New Terrain

A few short years ago, the thought of a GMC Terrain based on the Chevrolet Equinox would have made us cringe with low expectations of badge engineering, a now infamous practice allowing the former General Motors Corp. to share vehicle platforms across eight divisions with little or no differentiation. The strategy often watered down the auto maker's brands, leaving little to distinguish a particular

By James M. Amend • Nov. 1, 2009

Unlike Competitors, Ford Avoided Reinventing Itself

Unlike its distressed U.S. counterparts, Ford Motor Co. has not resorted to itself, making it more attractive to consumers, says Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president-marketing and communications. It's nothing against our competitors; I'd be doing the same thing if I were in their position, Farley says, referring to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, auto makers that went in and out of bankruptcy

By Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2009

Mercedes-Financial First To Let Customers Pay by iPhone

Mercedes-Benz Financial becomes the first automotive financial services company to let customers pay their car loans using hand-held iPhone and iPod Touch devices. It's the next step in a trend of more consumers using the Internet for banking and bill-paying, says Jennifer Springer, manager-dealer and consumer point of sale for Mercedes-Benz Financial. Fifty percent of our loan payments come from

By Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2009

Intake

Regarding Jerry Flint's column about culture change at GM (see WAW — Aug. '09, p.32): I remember working at Toyota's Engineering Center in Ann Arbor in the late 1990s as a product engineer and having to prepare for design reviews with the president of the company.

Nov. 1, 2009

GM Sees Trouble Ahead for Suppliers

The new purchasing chief at gen- eral Motors Co. expects more turmoil in the supply base as production volumes gain steam and says his shrunken organization is learning to do more with less. Bob Socia, a 34-year veteran of GM who took over from Bo Andersson earlier this summer, also hints GM will start bringing in some suppliers earlier on product programs and says changes he has implemented to the

By James M. Amend • Nov. 1, 2009

The Color of Money

HIGHLAND, MI Battling backlash from its controversial plan to shutter thousands of dealerships this year, General Motors Co. points to LaFontaine Buick-Pontiac-GMC and Cadillac as the sort of store to which restructuring survivors should aspire. Located some 60 miles (97 km) north of GM's world headquarters in Detroit, the 63,000 sq.-ft. (5,853 sq.-m) LaFontaine Green Auto Campus opened about a year

By James M. Amend • Nov. 1, 2009

UAW Disconnect in Ford Concession Vote, Analysts Say

At stake are more than $2 billion in investments that would support some 7,000 jobs – including new hires.

By Byron Pope and Eric Mayne • Oct. 30, 2009

GM Eager to Retain Pontiac-Saturn Customer Base

October could mark the first month since January 2008 that GM can claim a year-over-year sales hike. Meanwhile, this year could see the Chevrolet Camaro outsell its archrival, the Ford Mustang.

By Eric Mayne • Oct. 28, 2009

Kia Preps Most-Expensive Ad Campaign Ever for New Sorento

The official push for the CUV begins in January, with five months of network and cable TV commercials and one year of print ads, compared with the typical four to six months.

By Christie Schweinsberg • Oct. 28, 2009

GM Partners With Shape Memory Alloy Experts on $2.7 Million R&D Project

GM says the project reflects a new age in research, where the auto maker must partner with others that can take its ideas from concept to commercialization.

By Ward's Staff • Oct. 27, 2009

Smyrna Preps for Nissan Leaf

Nissan expects to add up to 1,300 jobs in Smyrna, assuming the vehicle and EV battery plants are running at full capacity. Employment is down to 4,000, from an all-time high of 9,000.

By Tom Murphy • Oct. 26, 2009

GM Poised to Sell Delaware Assembly Plant to Fisker Automotive

Fisker’s ultimate goal is to export 50% of the company’s production, which founder and Chairman Henrik Fisker estimates could be “several hundred thousand” vehicles.

By James M. Amend • Oct. 23, 2009

GM Battery Lab Now Testing Cells, Packs, Potential Suppliers

“Understanding cell chemistries is the key to becoming a smart cell buyer,” says Andrew Leutheuser, GM’s lead battery-systems engineer.

By James M. Amend • Oct. 23, 2009

Kia Names New Luxury Sedan K-7 in Korea, Cadenza in Other Markets

The Cadenza will go on sale in Middle Eastern markets in early 2010 and arrive in the U.S. in 2011.

By Vince Courtenay • Oct. 20, 2009

Mitsubishi i-MiEV to Join U.K. Police Agencies; Rollout Begins in Oz

The first full-production i-MiEVs arrive in the U.K. in November and will be on roads in December.

By Alan Harman • Oct. 19, 2009

Lincoln Takes Aim at Gen X

Ford marketers say the age group born between 1965 and 1976 is an ideal target because members are at the peak of their earning power.

By Byron Pope • Oct. 16, 2009

Toyota Begins Highlander Production in Indiana

The Highlander originally was slated to be built at Toyota’s plant in Blue Springs, MS, which now is on hold.

By Ward's Staff • Oct. 8, 2009

Mercedes-Benz Financial First with Data Validation System

Mercedes-Benz Financial is the first luxury captive to introduce a full contract data validation system integrated with a dealer service provider It's called eValidate and integrates with the dealer management system. The captive finance arm is rolling out eValidate with dealer service providers who have Mercedes dealerships as clients across the country. Advent Resources, Inc., of San Pedro, CA,

Oct. 1, 2009

Wary Rich Create Pent-Up Luxury Demand

They may not have been stung personally by the global recession, but luxury-vehicle buyers are mindful of those who have suffered. So they are restraining themselves, luxury-marque executives tell Ward's at the auto show in Frankfurt, Germany. Given that many Maserati-brand aficionados own businesses so stricken by collapse they've been forced to cut their payrolls, moderated spending is absolutely

By Eric Mayne • Oct. 1, 2009

Chrysler Dealers Enjoy a Boon of Sorts

The once-feared 'B-word' has turned from into for the 2,400 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers who survived Chrysler Group LLC's wipeout of 789 stores in late May. We're short of our core vehicles across the board, says Alan Helfman, owner of Houston's River Oaks Chrysler Jeep dealership. I'm sending drivers all the way to Kansas City to pick up more Chrysler Town & Country minivans and Jeep Wranglers.

Oct. 1, 2009

Ford Studies Soy Byproducts

FORD MOTOR CO. HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT progress in using soy oil in place of petroleum in some automotive foam but now faces the dilemma of what to do with the leftover portions of the soybean. When a soybean is crushed, it results in only 18% soy oil, which Ford uses in foams and some sheet-molding-compound material. The remaining 82% is soy meal and soy flour. So when Ford starts implementing the soy

By Byron Pope • Oct. 1, 2009