Automakers: Page
-
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Courtesy of Toyota Motor North America
TrendlineTop 5 stories from WardsAuto
Automakers are evaluating their long-term strategies, revisiting their product mix, and approach to both retail and manufacturing approach along the way.
By WardsAuto staff -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Dealer Dodges Three Bullets
In the last year, Shuman Motor Sales has dodged three bullets as a Chrysler-Jeep dealership. But owner Bob Shuman is looking forward to a major upturn, especially when the Fiat 500 subcompact car goes on sale in 2010. Shuman headed off a proposed new Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep store five miles (8 km) away. Then he ducked the fate met by 789 other Chrysler-brand colleagues who received dealership elimination
By Mac Gordon • Oct. 1, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Equinox Builds on Proven Strategy
THE FORMER GENERAL MOTORS CORP. struck a winning strategy a couple years ago for its highest-volume products, exemplified most recently in the new-for-'10 Chevy Equinox. And if the new General Motors Co. is smart, it will stick with that same game plan. As with the redesigned '08 Chevy Malibu midsize car, an unqualified home run for GM, perhaps the Equinox's most impressive feat is its library-like
By James M. Amend • Oct. 1, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM Latches on to Reva as EV Maker Nears New Stage
Little-known Reva is building a new plant near Bangalore, where it will have capacity for 30,000 of its new low-cost electric hatchbacks.
By Sudhakar Shah • Sept. 30, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Honda Develops One-Piece Side Panel for Acura ZDX
The large stamped piece, which includes the side panel and the entire door ring, is stamped on three presses in three stages and has a draw 50% deeper than any panel Honda has produced in the past.
By Christie Schweinsberg • Sept. 28, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM China Plans Science Lab to Research Advanced Vehicle Technologies
When the facility is operational by the end of 2010, it will be staffed with up to 100 scientists and utilize the latest advanced scientific equipment.
By Vince Courtenay • Sept. 24, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM, Reva to Develop EVs for Indian Market
The two companies say they already have begun feasibility studies of GM platforms that might fit the program.
By Ward's Staff • Sept. 24, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford CEO to Headline Consumer Electronics Show, Again
CEA says overall sales of in-vehicle consumer electronics technology are expected to top $9.3 billion in 2009.
By Drew Winter • Sept. 22, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
V-6 Nice Addition to Acura TSX
The 3.5L engine is quiet and more than competent in Acura’s smallest sedan, which already offered a stellar inline-4.
By Christie Schweinsberg • Sept. 21, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Looking to Leverage Economies of Scale With Magna, Opel
Ford’s powertrain chief says she would not be opposed to Magna creating an Opel electric vehicle using the same technology the supplier plans to employ in the upcoming Focus EV.
By Byron Pope • Sept. 18, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Volvo Rolls Out C30 EV Prototype
Powered by an electric motor tucked under the hood, the C30 EV employs two lithium-ion battery packs that can be charged via a normal household electric socket.
By Ward's Staff • Sept. 17, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Opel’s Forster Pleads for Patience
Magna hints its assembly plant in Graz, Austria, could produce Opel vehicles, while GM says it will maintain a measure of influence in Opel product decisions.
By Eric Mayne • Sept. 16, 2009 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Redesigned Chevy Equinox Builds on Proven Strategy
Despite a couple wrinkles, GM delivers a nicely updated CUV, one that is quiet, stylish, safe and affordable to buy and drive.
By James M. Amend • Sept. 16, 2009
Previous
