Automakers: Page

Acura Design Center Under Construction

The center is slated to open in summer 2007, when it will be charged with creating concepts and designs for future Acura products.

By Ward's Staff • March 28, 2006

GM’s Determination Has Costs

GM will resist the urge to buy short-term market share with incentives, even as the competition increases discounts in some segments, marketing executives say.

By Alisa Priddle • March 28, 2006

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 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

GM Buying Into Tesco Measurement Cell

Since last year, GM has purchased eight I3 automated 3D non-contact measurement cells from Tesco and partner CogniTens. Two more are on the way.

By Tom Murphy • March 23, 2006

Scion tC Special Edition Going on Sale in April

Just 2,600 units will be built and the vehicle will sticker for $18,260, $1,960 more than a base tC, Toyota says.

By Ward's Staff • March 23, 2006

Tweaked Freestyle, Montego on Tap

A restyled version of the Ford Five Hundred also is due in ’08, and could bow at the Detroit auto show.

By Jim Mateja • March 23, 2006

Delphi, GM, Reach Attrition Plan Deal With UAW

The agreement provides retirement incentives for hourly UAW employees and the flow-back of up to 5,000 Delphi workers to GM.

By Mike Sutton • March 22, 2006

Changing Perception May Prove Toughest Task for Chinese

After surveying American consumers following its Detroit debut, Geely found it already has a not-so-stellar reputation to overcome.

By David E. Zoia • March 22, 2006

As Nissan Departs, Kia Builds California Campus

Kia is investing $70 million in the main corporate facility in Irvine, the same amount Nissan is investing for its new headquarters near Nashville.

By David C. Smith • March 22, 2006

Why Nissan is Leaving ‘Lalaland’ for Tennessee

Moving Nissan’s headquarters from Los Angeles to Tennessee promises big savings and even bigger changes for employees.

By David C. Smith • March 22, 2006

Nissan Makes More Executive Changes

Nissan says John French will step into the new role of vice president-global sales and finance, effective May 1.

By Ward's Staff • March 20, 2006

Mercedes Builds GL Slowly to Validate Quality

Currently, only 30-40 GLs are being built per day, a deliberately slow pace.

By Herb Shuldiner • March 16, 2006

Pickup Still in Play for New Kia Plant

Although neither Kia Motors Corp. nor its U.S. sales arm, Kia Motors America, is specifying which models will be built at the forthcoming West Point, GA, plant, one official says a long-spoken of large pickup truck is a possibility. Len Hunt, KMA chief operating officer, says such a vehicle still is on the table. “(It’s) part of the discussion about what we’re going to build and what we’re going to

By Christie Schweinsberg • March 14, 2006

Lutz Warns of Hazards Inherent in Global Industry

GENEVA – With first-quarter results still a month away and the next round of United Auto Workers union contract talks more than a year out, General Motors Corp. is in full spin mode. Vice Chairman-Global Product Development Bob Lutz warns that job losses for salaried and hourly personnel will become a way of life in the U.S. and Europe unless there is a significant restructuring of GM’s fixed costs.

By Eric Mayne • March 6, 2006

Oz Supplier Profits From Demand for New GMT900 SUVs

CANBERRA – Australian parts maker Pacifica Group says encouraging sales of General Motors Corp. fullsize SUVs based on the new GMT900 platform are boosting its shipments of brakes. Pacifica was queried by the Australian Stock Exchange after its shares rose 21%, from A$1.70 ($1.70) to a 4-month high of A$2.07 ($1.55) in just one week. GM’s Tahoe sales in February rose 47.2%. The new GM900-based ’07

By Alan Harman • March 3, 2006

Dacia Logan Steppe Concept Close to Final Wagon Design

GENEVA – Automobile Dacia S.A.'s Logan Steppe concept unveiled at the auto show here provides a hint of the new Logan station wagon set to launch this fall. The Romanian auto maker chose Geneva to introduce its first-ever show car built by Renault Design. Renault SA holds a controlling interest in Dacia. The company says the Logan Steppe is a station wagon concept designed with winter in mind. The

By Peter Homola • March 2, 2006

It’s Easier Than It Looks

There is no magic in maintaining a highly-profitable dealer-owned vehicle service-contract program. The lowering of loss ratios is the key to lowering extended-warranty rates, and lower rates make vehicle service agreements more affordable for consumers and ultimately more profitable for the dealer. Controlling and lowering loss ratios requires everyone to be on the same page. Everyone in this case,

By ERIC A. KAUK • March 1, 2006

Generous Dealers Honored

Dealers are the backbone of our system, says Edsel B. Ford II, who notes that his great-grandfather, Henry Ford, established the dealership franchise system in the early 20th century. Dealers also are often the backbone of their communities, as demonstrated by their civic involvement and generosity. In its annual Salute to Dealers program, Ford Motor Co. honors nine such dealers who went above and

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2006

Chrysler Eyes Toluca, Newark Retooling

Chrysler Group assembly plants in Toluca, Mexico, and Newark, DE, are next on the auto maker's list for retooling. Hard-charging Chrysler is in the midst of an investment blitz that will, by 2008, see 60% of its assembly plants feature flexible manufacturing technology. Belvidere, IL, is the first to go online, thanks to a $419 million investment. The manufacturing system allows simultaneous building

March 1, 2006

GM Opens Harlem Auto Mall

NEW YORK Auto carriers this week delivered the first vehicles to General Motors Corp.'s new Harlem Auto Mall, the first new-car dealership in upper Manhattan in 40 years. However, some of the 350,000 motorists who pass the site daily have been coming in for weeks in an attempt to service or buy vehicles, officials say, even though the mall didn't open for business until this month. The mall contains

By Herb Shuldiner • March 1, 2006

Chrysler Hopes for Caliber Material Success

Chrysler Group is steeling its '07 Dodge Caliber against the rigors of crash testing by using materials new to the auto maker's lineup. While the auto maker hopes this strategy improves the Caliber's chances of a high rating on front- and side-impact trials, including the demanding offset crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), the new materials also achieve significant

By Eric Mayne • March 1, 2006

Put Dealers on Boards

The issue of dealer and factory relations remains on the front burner. It has been there for quite a while. The National Automobile Dealers Assn. was founded in 1917 when there were more than 80 auto makers in the U.S. They were 100% domestic, of course, all hoping to copy the success of Henry Ford and the Dodge brothers. Image what factory-dealer relations were like in those days. Franchises were

By Mac Gordon • March 1, 2006

Silky Smooth

A resource from Toyota Motor Corp.'s homeland is providing a fabric treatment that gives the new '07 Camry sedan's plain cloth seats a silkier, softer feel. Already found on some of Toyota's microvans in Japan, cloth seats treated with the Fraichir process will be standard on 4-cyl. Camry XLE models sold in the U.S. Fraichir (pronounced fray-sheer) is a brand name used in women's and children's apparel

By Christie Schweinsberg • March 1, 2006

Irate Customer Torches Florida Dealership

Apparently irate from a pricing dispute with Metro Ford in North Miami, FL, a man drove his new SUV into the dealership, doused it and other vehicles with gasoline and set them on fire. Flames spread throughout the dealership, destroying cars, computers and the like. Total damage is an estimated million dollars. Eleven vehicles were destroyed, including the perpetrator's. Also damaged: a limited-edition

March 1, 2006

Cutting-Edge Solution

DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz brand is on the cutting edge of occupant safety. Literally. The all-new '07 S-Class sedan features markings to show rescue workers where it's safe to cut when removing a vehicle's roof one of the first actions taken to free a crash victim trapped in a wreck. But this operation can be hazardous. Rescue workers cut roof pillars that often house airbag inflators. If

By Eric Mayne • March 1, 2006

Haden Stumbles

Chrysler Group is bankrolling the troubled Toledo operations of Haden International Group, a key supplier to the auto maker's next-generation '07 Jeep Wrangler scheduled for production this summer, sources tell Ward's. Haden, based in Auburn Hills, MI, was unable to meet payroll in early February and reportedly closed its doors and walked away from several contracts. But the company is back in business

By Tom Murphy and Eric Mayne • March 1, 2006