Automakers: Page
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Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford to Take Control of Romanian Daewoo Plant
Ford has committed to spending €675 million to upgrade and modernize the plant, with plans to produce up to 300,000 small cars and 300,000 engines per year.
By Peter Homola • Sept. 12, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler Unveils ’09 Dodge Journey With Eye on International Growth
Chrysler believes the ’09 Dodge Journey will emulate the Nitro’s success in moving the auto maker closer to its goal of doubling sales in Western Europe.
By James M. Amend • Sept. 12, 2007 -
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
GM Holden Makes Way for New Commodore at Elizabeth
The VZ Commodore and its earlier derivatives were critically important to securing GM Holden’s manufacturing base in Australia over the last decade.
By Alan Harman • Sept. 12, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Porsche CEO Rebuts Greenpeace ‘Climate Pig’ Charge
A cutaway model of the Cayenne showing the German auto maker’s upcoming parallel hybrid powertrain is on display at the luxury brand’s auto show stand.
By William Diem • Sept. 11, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Dealers Helped Convince Chrysler to Hire Jim Press
Toyota’s top American executive “became a very attractive candidate” as a result of dealers’ talks with Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli.
By Steve Finlay • Sept. 11, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Small-Town Chrysler Dealer Speaks Out
Octogenarian Duane Schultz has seen a lot in his neighborhood – and beyond – selling cars for the last 60 years.
By Mac Gordon • Sept. 11, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Things Looking Up at Volkswagen
The proposed B-segment vehicle would be VW’s first rear-engine car since the Beetle.
By Eric Mayne • Sept. 10, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Honda Doesn’t Try to Undercut Competitors With Accord
Accord pricing has increased approximately $600, or 2.5%, on a sales weighted basis from ’07 to ’08.
By Ward's Staff • Sept. 10, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Suzuki Gets Emotional With New SX4 Sport
The new sedan is the latest example of today’s affordable compacts that are sporty and stylish.
By Steve Finlay • Sept. 10, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Press Departure a Blow, But Unlikely to Slow Toyota
Toyota’s No.1 American executive likely wanted to get back to his roots by being involved in the sales and marketing side of the business, analysts and dealers say.
By Christie Schweinsberg • Sept. 6, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Focus-Based Kuga CUV Ready to Roll
Despite its off-road ability, the Kuga will put the accent on “driving quality,” Ford says.
By Ward's Staff • Sept. 5, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler Warranty Program Shows Promise
The program is among the reasons why, despite a devastating housing-market downturn, Chrysler remains confident in the wake of August’s sales decline.
By Eric Mayne • Sept. 5, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
First the Alamo, Now Trucks
Jordan Ford in San Antonio, TX, takes its brand's slight truck lead in the state personally. Texas is where American pickups are king, and the domestics run almost neck-to-neck. It's also where the Big Two Chevrolet and Ford are watching their backs as Toyota Motor Sales USA challenges them on their own turf with the new full-size Tundra pickup, now made in San Antonio. Also in the fray is the Chrysler
By Lillie Guyer • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Punchline No Longer
Time to bury those old jokes. You know the ones. What does B-U-I-C-K stand for? Big-Ugly-Imitation-Chrome-King. For the better part of two decades, the venerable brand has been stigmatized as a retiree's ride. But since the Lacrosse and Lucerne sedans launched in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Buick has been engaged in a race to become relevant. The carefully executed cars have helped raise the bar.
By Eric Mayne • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM Brazil Confident In Growth
The Brazilian market, notorious for bipolar ups and downs, is in the midst of another high, but this time there are signs the recovery may last, says General Motors Corp.'s top executive in the region. That's good news for GM, which counts more heavily on non-North American operations for an increasing chunk of its revenues and is beginning to eye adding third shifts at its South American assembly
By David E. Zoia • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
A Coming Storm?
Is there a storm front brewing in the area of dealer-manufacturer relations? One of the more pressing questions the next six months is how far if at all will Chrysler go in trying to reduce its dealership count. Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. actively have been reducing their numbers. So far, there have been few complaints on their process. Chrysler's strategy the last several years has been
By Cliff Banks • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
VW Says Dealer Profitability Looking Better
Volkswagen of America Inc. says VW dealer profitability has increased to as high as 2.45%, ahead of the 2006 industry average of 1.5%. In a tough year for vehicles sales, Volkswagen-exclusive dealers have reported an average return on sales of 2.45%. Across all dealers in the Volkswagen network profitability has improved to 2.05%. These numbers are up compared with December 2006 where profit percentages
Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Former Olds Store Celebrates 30 Years of Selling Hondas
Vidmar Motor Co., which opened in 1945 selling Oldsmobiles in Pueblo, CO, observes its 30th anniversary as a Honda dealer this year. Vidmar was one of Colorado's first dealerships to represent Honda. Last year, Vidmar strengthened its Honda presence by moving the Honda dealership to a larger building next to its Volkswagen store and across the street from its Chrysler/Jeep dealership. Jake Vidmar
Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Getting Rid of the Assassins
Robert Waltz's job is to eliminate the assassins. He's not a counter-terrorist government operative. He's Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.'s vice president-customer satisfaction, a new department created to try to fix Toyota dealerships' overall poor satisfaction scores. Waltz describes assassins as vexed customers who, because of perceived ill treatment, leave a dealership without buying, then badmouth
By Steve Finlay • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Body-in-Lite
Chrysler LLC believes it has a jump on the competition in reducing vehicle weight, thanks to a new approach in body engineering the auto maker says will begin to pay big dividends in cars and trucks slated to hit the market in the next three to five years. The new holistic approach to body-in-white (BIW) engineering was developed by Chrysler and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and MBTech in collaboration
By David E. Zoia • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Honda Falls Behind 6-Speed Trend
As with it its chief competitor Toyota Motor Corp., which has had to delay the launch of new models due to too few employees, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. also is being affected by its growth. Honda, the No.2 Japanese OEM globally, has seen 11 consecutive years of record-setting sales in the U.S., with demand growing from slightly less than 800,000 units in 1996 to a projected 1.37 million this year. This
By Christie Schweinsberg • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Formulates Global Succession Plan
Ford Motor Co.'s top executives are assigning considerable importance to devising succession plans for the auto maker's key executives. We spent six hours today working on succession planning together, President and CEO Alan Mulally tells reporters in Dearborn, MI, at an event marking his first year in office. We went through all the talent inside Ford and looked at talent outside Ford. It's not just
By Byron Pope • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Looks To Simplify Organization
Reducing complexity is key to Ford Motor Co.'s turnaround, the company's top executive says. Since taking his post last September, Alan Mulally, president and CEO, has stressed the importance of simplifying the auto maker's massive global operations. Everything from personnel to factories, vehicle architectures and the number of option packages offered on a particular car or truck is being streamlined.
By Byron Pope • Sept. 1, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM to Cut Shift at Oshawa Truck Plant
Capacity at the Oshawa plant, which produces the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, goes from 300,000 units annually to 210,000 with the reduction to two shifts.
By Ward's Staff From Wires • Aug. 30, 2007 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Nissan Mixim Concept for Those Who Shun Cars
The auto maker says it created the electric concept car to appeal to future adults, who as today’s teens view cars as archaic and dirty.
By Christie Schweinsberg • Aug. 30, 2007
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