Automakers: Page
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Courtesy of WardsAuto
China’s BYD Rolls Out Plug-In Hybrid
The Chinese auto maker says the F3 DM sedan is able to travel 62 miles in electric-only mode, after which it can be recharged via a 220-volt household outlet in seven hours.
By Ward's Staff • Dec. 22, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM Holden Confirms Small-Car Project; Oz to Provide Financial Aid
“The government that I lead will do everything physically possible to continue to support this great industry and this great company into the future,” says Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
By Alan Harman • Dec. 22, 2008 -
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
BMW AG: 3.0L DOHC Turbocharged I-6
Powerful, efficient and stimulating to drive, BMW’s 3.0L turbo-6 proves the only replacement for displacement is a pair of turbochargers and advanced fuel-injection.
By Ward's Staff • Dec. 19, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Honda Motor
Honda’s 3.5L V-6 in the moderately priced Accord coupe speaks to the enthusiast buyer who wants practicality most of the time, but superior performance all of the time.
By Tom Murphy • Dec. 19, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford to Extend Holiday Shutdown in North American Plants
Ford will implement a “line-speed reduction” at its AutoAlliance International joint-venture plant with Mazda in Flat Rock, MI, which builds the Mazda6 and Ford Mustang.
By Ward's Staff • Dec. 18, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Weathers Tumultuous 2008
Ford vowed to return to profitability by 2009, but little did it know the perfect economic storm was brewing that would force it to seek billions in federal aid by year’s end.
By Byron Pope • Dec. 18, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
VW to Move Brazilian CV Arm to MAN
MAN’s acquisition of VWCO is expected to be completed in first-quarter 2009.
By Alan Harman • Dec. 16, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Fiat Begins Extended Holiday Shutdown
CEO Sergio Marchionne already has said Fiat won’t survive long term without a partner, and reports surfaced in Italy over the weekend a tie-up with PSA Peugeot Citroen is under discussion.
By Giancarlo Perini • Dec. 16, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
SEAT Cuts CO2 With New Ibiza Ecomotive
Ecomotive achieves 64 mpg and best-in-class CO2 emissions with 1.4L diesel, SEAT says.
By Jorge Palacios • Dec. 9, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler Could Lose 500 Dealers Due to Floor Plan Issues
Editor's note: This story is part of the WardsAuto digital archive, which may include content that was first published in print, or in different web layouts.Chrysler has lost 240 dealers this year to bankruptcy because Chrysler Financial has not been able to access TARP funds to use for providing...
Dec. 5, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Nissan Explores New Electronics Strategy
The strategy shift would mark a reversal of sorts from the one Nissan launched in 2001, when it began to consolidate multiple functions in a standard body control module (BCM) used throughout its lineup.
By Roger Schreffler • Dec. 3, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Minn. Megadealer Sues Chrysler Financial
In September, it was Bill Heard that fell victim to having its floorplan financing yanked by a captive finance firm. Now it's Minneapolis megadealer Denny Hecker's turn. Chrysler Financial pulled all of its financing in November from Hecker's 18 dealerships and affiliated companies, according to a story first reported by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. Hecker promptly filed a lawsuit against
By Cliff Banks • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Former Dealer Jailed and Ordered to Repay $500,000
Former Bronx, NY, Lincoln-Mercury dealer Robert Federico has received a four-month jail sentence and five years probation after pleading guilty to stealing $500,000 from 50 customers over a 16-month period that began in January, 2005. Federico, 48, was accused of failing to pay off liens on used cars; pocketing purchase funds for extended factory warranties; and keeping proceeds from a second bank
By Mac Gordon • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
BMW Uses CRM To Aid Service Sales
BMW of North America LLC is trying to keep it simple as it uses customer-relationship management systems to supercharge dealership parts and service sales. We want to move auto parts, not come up with new programs that complicate the world, says Grant Paullo, the German auto importer's manager-aftersales marketing and communications. He cites three objectives for leveraging data to increase revenue
By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM Delays Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid
General Motors Corp. Delays Launch of the '09 Saturn Vue 2-Mode hybrid until next year, further illustrating how the auto maker intends to pinch its pennies for the remainder of 2008. Saturn's new hybrid was slated to begin output Dec. 1 in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, but GM now is postponing Job One until first-quarter 2009. The delay, which a spokesman characterizes as four to six weeks, also could affect
By James M. Amend • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
When Customers Walk Out
When a customer leaves his dealership without buying a vehicle, Darin Wade wants to know why. To find out systematically and then do something about it, Wade, vice president of Rich Ford, has set up a sophisticated customer-relationship center at his Albuquerque, NM, dealership. The center, using software that took more than two years to develop, tracks and follows up Internet and phone leads and
By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Camaro Concepts Stoke Creativity
Christmas Came a Month Early to Las Vegas as slack-jawed lovers of American muscle cars crowded by the hundreds into the General Motors Corp. pavilion to behold the Chevrolet Camaro of their dreams. Not just one Camaro, but a workshop full of custom-painted, Hurst-shifting, chrome-wheeled, attitude-drenched macho coupes powerful enough to pull Santa's sleigh clear around the world in the time it takes
By Tom Murphy • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Owner Feedback at 12,000 Ft.
Telluride, CO Kevin Metz talks of not goofing up, as he drives a Jeep up a narrow and jagged 4X4 mountain trail, one side ending in a sheer drop. He's not referring to erring and plunging the $40,000 Commander into the white aspens far below. Rather, Metz is talking about his job, about doing right as the brand manager for Chrysler LCC's Jeep Div. I see myself as the protector of the brand, he says.
By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler Starts Online Dealership Job Program for Veterans
A federally-approved online military training program for dealership and corporate jobs has been launched by Chrysler LLC with better than expected results. The program, open to all veterans of the armed forces and their spouses, has already placed 387 Iraq veterans at dealerships and 67 in Chrysler corporate departments, says Kurt Crisman, marketing director of the program's creator, Latitude Consulting
By Mac Gordon • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM/Chrysler Merger a Bad Idea
GM Announced in Early November it has suspended its effort to merge with Chrysler. Let's hope that's the end of it. I don't think I've ever heard a worse idea. Unless GM and Cerberus Capital Management, which controls Chrysler, come up with a better rationale, I could see angry mobs taking to the streets before they ever let this kind of deal go through. First off, if we're to believe what Chrysler's
By John McElroy • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Dangerous World
As dealers, you now are facing the greatest threat to your business that you have ever seen the increasing unavailability of floor plan financing. It is a world in which your finance firm might be your worst enemy. Forget about the state-franchise laws protecting you. It's a new world today. Some of you who have had decades-long partnerships with firms such as GMAC or Chrysler Financial are now finding
By Cliff Banks • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
BMW Seals Up Plastics Award
Times May Be Tough, but it was Obvious at the annual Society of Plastics Engineers Automotive Innovation Awards banquet Nov. 20 in suburban Detroit that there still is no shortage of innovation in the auto industry. Organizers say this year saw one of the most competitive fields of parts nominations in the nearly four decades of the program's history. The Grand Award, the SPE's highest honor, went
Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Cutting Deep Into Supply Base
Ford Motor Co. Will Shed More Than half of its current roster of 2,000-plus suppliers, trimming the number to 700-800 long-term, the auto maker's purchasing chief says. It will happen over a period of years, Tony Brown, senior vice president-global purchasing, tells reporters in New York of the supply-base downsizing. We have to get capacity out of the system to get the industry healthy, Brown says.
By Herb Shuldiner • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Some Dealers Miffed at Credit Unions
Some dealership managers are feeling burned by credit unions. Several credit unions have established working relationships with auto dealers looking for consumer auto loan sources. But Zain Haroon, general sales manager of Hamer Toyota in Mission Hills, CA, regrets hooking up with those lending institutions. Five or six years ago, we started sending a lot of deals to credit unions, but we're never
By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2008 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Casual Speech No Problem
Toyota Motor Corp.'s New Lexus RX cross/utility vehicle debuting next year will be the first in the U.S. to offer casual-speech software with its voice-recognition navigation system, sources tell Ward's. The casual-speech system is different from other voice-recognition technologies on the market because it does not require users to memorize canned phrases to activate certain functions. The RX's system
By Christie Schweinsberg • Dec. 1, 2008
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