Jeep Gets Hemi Badge

NEW YORK – One of America’s emerging status symbols will make its way to the body of Jeep’s Grand Cherokee. Jeep Design Director John Sgalia tells Ward’s the Hemi badge, affixed to Chrysler and Dodge brand products, will be added to the back of Jeeps carrying the 5.7L Hemi V-8 under the hood starting in the ’06 model year. The new ’05 Grand Cherokee went on sale last year with three powertrain options:

By John D. Stoll • March 24, 2005

Dodge Nitro a Go; New Liberty to Follow

NEW YORK – Chrysler Group will build the Dodge Nitro SUV and follow it up a year later with “a major rework” of its platform-mate, the Jeep Liberty. The auto maker first showed the Nitro at the Chicago auto show last month, hinting the concept was headed for production.(See related story: Public Will Help Determine Dodge Nitro Fate) Jeep Design Director John Sgalia tells Ward’s the Nitro is a go during

By John D. Stoll • March 23, 2005

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

Martens: IRS ‘Not Necessary’ for High-Powered Shelby Cobra

DEARBORN – When Ford Motor Co.’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) returns to the U.S. performance scene in the summer of 2006 with the Mustang-based Shelby Cobra GT500, something will be missing. Yes, it will come with output rated well in excess of 450 hp, and its price tag will toe the $40,000 line, but crawl under the rear overhang and you won’t find an independent rear suspension, even though it originally

By John D. Stoll • March 23, 2005

Sport Trac Gets SVT Treatment in 2007

DEARBORN – Ford Motor Co.’s Special Vehicles Team (SVT) is back in business, promising a super truck by 2007 based on a revised Explorer Sport Trac sport/utility truck. The auto maker plans to unleash the Sport Trac Adrenalin with all-wheel drive and a 4.6L V-8 – grabbed from the ’04 Cobra Mustang and fitted with a Roots-type supercharger – capable of 390 hp and 390 lb.-ft. (529 Nm) of torque. The

By John D. Stoll • March 21, 2005

Nissan Opens New $14 Million Design Studio, Shows Sport Concept

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI – Nissan North America Inc. opens a new $14 million design studio here, Nissan Design America-Farmington Hills. The studio is the second NDA facility in the U.S. The first, located in San Diego, currently is undergoing its own expansion. NDA-Farmington Hills is situated here on the grounds of Nissan’s technical center, which opened in 1989. The new 50,912-sq.-ft. (4,730-sq.-m)

By Christie Schweinsberg • March 18, 2005

Rio, Exports Top Kia’s European Agenda

GENEVA – The resurgence of Kia Motors Corp. began in North America, but the revival may be completed in Europe. Kia unveils its all-new subcompact 5-door Rio here at the Geneva auto show and predicts Europe will surpass North America as its top export destination this year. “Our total export target to European countries for the current year is just over 412,000 vehicles,” says Kim Yong-Hwan, Kia senior

By Brian Corbett • March 7, 2005

Chrysler Cautious On Sales Outlook

GENEVA – Even as Chrysler Group continues to break away from the pack reporting a 7.5% U.S. light-vehicle sales increase in February, its top sales executive says he is cautious about what the rest of the year will bring. Unlike its domestic competitors, Chrysler saw car sales increase 21% during the month, while truck sales rose 4%. (See related story: Chrysler Sees February Gain; Grand Cherokee

By Kevin Kelly • March 3, 2005

Dodge Will Not Change Character for Europe

GENEVA – Now that Chrysler Group has made the decision to go all-out with plans to launch Dodge in Europe, executives caution not to look for a change in the brand’s design to cater to European tastes. Dodge’s “in-your-face” design cues are seen as archetypically American in the minds of many Europeans and could work for and against the brand. But Chrysler has no plans to drastically compromise design

By Kevin Kelly • March 2, 2005

Opel, Chevy Join Cadillac, Saab in Geneva

GENEVA – Not to be overshadowed by the debuts of the more luxurious Cadillac BLS sedan and Saab 9-3 SportCombi wagon, Adam Opel AG’s redesigned Zafira monospace, an updated Chevrolet Matiz minicar and new Opel Astra OPC coupe also bow on the General Motors Corp. stage at the auto show here. “This is the embodiment of a multi-brand strategy,” says GM Europe Chairman Fritz Henderson. The 7-seat Zafira,

By Brian Corbett • March 2, 2005

Dodge Right ‘Caliber’ for Europe

GENEVA – Chrysler Group uses the auto show here to launch the Dodge brand in Europe with the unveiling of the Caliber concept vehicle. While the Viper already is on sale in Europe, the true launch for Dodge begins in 2006 with the Caliber, a production-ready concept for world markets. (See related story: Dodge Reveals Entry-Level Car Concept) The 5-door hatchback slots into the C segment, replacing

By Alisa Priddle • March 2, 2005

Quadrasteer Off Course

General Motors Corp. will discontinue its Quadrasteer 4-wheel steering technology as an option on fullsize pickups and SUVs by the end of the '05 model year, Ward's learns, and the feature will not appear on the next-generation GMT900 fullsize vehicles, which begin production next year. Quadrasteer, developed by Delphi Corp., was an expensive option that was extremely popular with a small number of

By Tom Murphy and Brian Corbett • March 1, 2005

1 Buys Other

A long-established remarketing provider, Vehicle Inspection Services (VIS) of Solon, OH, is now owned by Atlanta-based DataScan Technologies, which furnishes wholesale floorplan finance accounting and risk management systems throughout the U.S. One of the chief functions of DataScan, says its president and CEO, Tom Martin, is to perform floorplan audits at dealerships for financial institutions and

March 1, 2005

Peugeot Unveils Final 407 Coupe Prototype, Czech Car at Geneva

GENEVA – PSA Peugeot Citroen presents a nearly finished version of its 407 coupe, billed as the Prologue concept car, at the Geneva auto show here, as well as its version of the 107 small car to be produced by the Toyota Motor Corp.-PSA partnership, based in Czech Republic. The 407 coupe will be sold with a 2.7L V-6 turbodiesel developed with Ford Motor Co., connected to a 6-speed Aisin automatic

By William Diem • March 1, 2005

Ideas, Barbs Spice Event

NEW ORLEANS New ideas for dealers and their products have been a National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention trademark, but perhaps never more so than at this year's sessions held here Jan. 29-Feb. 2. For the first time, even the sponsoring NADA and No.1 auto maker General Motors got into the new-ideas rollout scenario. The atmosphere for concepts and programs was contagious on the exposition floor,

By Mac Gordon and Steve Finlay • March 1, 2005

That Car Looks Great On You

Customers show tremendous confidence in an auto maker when they buy one of its vehicles, says James J. Padilla, president of Ford Motor Co. It's the most expensive suit of clothes they'll ever buy and they want to wear it proudly, he says. It's up to the auto maker to develop and produce a product that not only inspires consumer loyalty and confidence, but also pays mind to costs or you end up upside

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2005

On Skeptics, Dealers, C.S. Lewis, Freud and God

Ward's interviewed Carlos Ghosn just before he delivered his keynote speech to the 2005 National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention in New Orleans. Here's an edited version of the interview: Ward's: When Renault acquired control of Nissan, a lot of Detroit folks, remembering the failed Renault-American Motors Co. merger, said it wouldn't work. Why were they wrong? Ghosn: People are usually pessimistic

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2005

Pininfarina, Motorola Create Maserati Techno Concept

Italian design house Pininfarina SpA teams with Motorola Inc. and Maserati SpA to create a technological concept car, unveiled at the Geneva auto show this week. The prototype “is a rolling high-tech sculpture that demonstrates technologies that are imaginary but possible,” a statement released by Pininfarina says. The car was conceived as an afterthought to a deal Pininfarina had with Motorola to

By Ward's Staff • March 1, 2005

Everything BIG

There was an abundance of at last month's Chicago auto show, although few of the new production and concept vehicles displayed seemed to add up to anything but small potential sales gains for an industry eager to light a fire under 2005's projected flat sales figures. The Chrysler Group's Dodge division typically isn't shy, and Chrysler's chief unveiling in Chicago was the appropriately named Dodge

By Ward's Staff • March 1, 2005

Saab Honing Premium Status

CHAMONIX, France – As the decision nears on the fate of Saab Automobile operations in Sweden, Christopher McKinnon, Saab 9-3 brand manager, smiles and plugs ahead with his job of making sure customers know just what a Saab is. McKinnon lives and works in Trollhattan, Sweden, which is awaiting the March decision by parent General Motors Corp. as to whether the next-generation Epsilon platform (Saab

By Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2005

Citroen Stretches Spectrum at Geneva

GENEVA – Automobile Citroen extends its range of products at both ends of the spectrum at the Geneva auto show, with the addition of the new Citroen C1, slotted in the small city car segment, and the C6, which will chase BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans. The C1 is the small car shares its platform with the Peugeot 107 and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Aygo. The three small cars debut at the show

By William Diem • March 1, 2005

Hurricane Shelved

Ford Motor Co.'s aggressive Hurricane engine program has been shelved due to cost concerns, Ward's learns. Ford was planning to build a 6.2L V-8 in Romeo, MI, designed to trump Chrysler Group's Hemi V-8 powerplant, but sources within the company say the engine has been put on hold indefinitely because the investment is too high and Ford's immediate spending priorities don't include winning the horsepower

March 1, 2005

Flooring It

The fifth-generation Chevrolet Corvette pulled off a technological feat when it was introduced in 1997 with marvelously engineered floor panels consisting of lightweight balsa wood coated with fiberglass and polyester resin. Each floor panel was about 4 ft. (1.2 m) long, 2 ft. (0.6 m) wide and about a half inch (1 cm) thick and would contribute significantly to improved ride and handling that, until

By Tom Murphy • March 1, 2005

Saab Debuts New GM Turbo V-6

Making its debut powering the high-performance Saab Aero SportCombi this fall is a new, General Motors Corp.-made all-aluminum 2.8L turbocharged V-6 that also will be made available for the '06 9-3 Aero Sport Sedan and 9-3 Aero Convertible. With 32 valves, variable intake valve timing and twin-scroll turbocharger, the V-6 pumps out 250 hp and, true to Saab heritage, the performance centers on low-end

March 1, 2005

Kia Wants Plant

Kia Motors America still wants a U.S. manufacturing plant and a fullsize body-on-frame pickup truck. Right now we need to build in the U.S., KMA President and CEO Peter Butterfield tells Ward's. He says when U.S. sales reach 300,000 units, Kia will build a plant. He declines to set a timeframe on a pickup. We are continuing to talk about North American manufacturing, and our positioning is not a question

March 1, 2005

D-Sourced

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. decides it now will not use a new D-segment platform it co-developed with Chrysler Group. The Japanese auto maker says it plans to continue to use the smaller C-segment platform, but will forgo development of D-segment products. We recently decided to cancel the D portion and develop derivative products off the C-segment on our own, a Mitsubishi spokesman tells Reuters. The

March 1, 2005