Automakers: Page

Ford Gay Ads Bring Threat Of Boycott

The American Family Assn. (AFA) claims Ford Motor Co. has reneged on an agreement to halt advertising of some brands in gay publications and is now considering reinstating a boycott of Ford products. We had an agreement with Ford, worked out in good faith, Donald Wildmon, chairman of AFA, says in a statement. Sources say Ford, in an effort to placate the AFA, previously agreed to pull ads for luxury

Jan. 1, 2006

Buick, Martha Stewart Launch New Sedan

Martha Stewart is pardoned, by General Motor Corp. anyway. Stewart, who has revived her media superstar career after serving prison time in an insider-trading caper, is helping GM tout its new Buick Lucerne. She gave away a Lucerne to an audience member of her daytime TV show. On her prime-time show, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, teams competed to design a dealership launch showroom display for

Jan. 1, 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

A Story That Won’t Die

It is the story that Ford dealers want to go away. Yet it seems there's always a new chapter. Ford Motor Co. is in the middle of a cultural battle between religious conservatives and gays. The auto maker, acting like it isn't sure what to do, has its dealers scratching their heads. After six months of a threatened boycott, secret talks to avoid a boycott, and then allegedly reneging on a deal with

By Cliff Banks • Jan. 1, 2006

Tahoe’s Heady Mission

This is the big one for General Motors Corp. The '07 Chevrolet Tahoe is the first of the GMT900 family of fullsize trucks to hit the streets, and it needs every bit of its increased dimensions and high-strength steel. The load expectations of maintaining high-volume sales and profits is so crucial that GM accelerated development of this mega-platform. The first GMT900-based SUV, the Tahoe, began salable

By Alisa Priddle • Jan. 1, 2006

Asian Invasion

The Big Three U.S. auto makers traditionally hold little back as they prepare a glut of product unveilings for the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, their backyard. This year, however, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group dialed back the lengthy media previews of each company's offerings in the months leading up to this year's show. GM went so far as to

By Tom Murphy • Jan. 1, 2006

Aveo Facelift

General Motors Corp.'s redesigned '07 Chevrolet Aveo sedan will make its North American debut in January at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. The Aveo, first introduced in December 2003, has been a solid performer for GM, becoming the leader in the subcompact segment within nine months, capturing a 41% share, says Ed Peper, general manager-Chevrolet. The 4-door gets a major facelift inside and out

Jan. 1, 2006

Bright Idea

Ford Motor Co.'s new electronically sensored adaptive lighting system has eyes. When the concept sedan (set to debut at the Detroit auto show) eases into a curve, its light-emitting-diode panel in the front headlight assembly glows a soft white to follow the contour of the road, giving the driver a wide view of the dark. The panels are at once a safety feature and a technological strike for Ford,

Jan. 1, 2006

Topless Wonder

This spring, when Volvo Cars begins selling its second-generation C70 convertible, the 4-seater will feature advanced active and passive safety systems that combine to produce a high degree of occupant protection, despite the absence of a fixed roof much of the time. It is a major challenge, but today we know considerably more about safety in convertibles than we did with the first C70, says Ingrid

By Herb Shuldiner • Jan. 1, 2006

Crossovers Gaining on SUVs

Cross/utility vehicles, amalgamations that look like SUVs but offer kinder rides because they are on car platforms, will outsell traditional SUVs by the end of 2006. So predicts George Pipas, manager of U.S. sales analysis for Ford Motor Co., who has tracked the phenomenal growth of since 1996. That's when the first CUV debuted, the Toyota RAV4. By 2000, crossovers still were a niche segment with

By Steve Finlay • Jan. 1, 2006

Geely Bound for U.S.

Geely Holding Group of China says it plans to enter the U.S. market before the end of the decade. Geely's engineers are currently working on design, engineering, and manufacturing changes that will bring their products into full compliance with U.S. safety and emission standards, says John Harmer, vice president-Geely-USA Inc., in a statement. Although Geely importer EER ISUZU de Puerto Rico has purchased

Jan. 1, 2006

Hits & Misses

It was love at first sight, even though Jacquelyn Koslowski only could see the back of the all-new '06 Volkswagen Passat. The rest of it still was shrink-wrapped, freshly delivered to a car dealership near Boston. Koslowski, 52, went to the dealership in July intending to buy a previous-generation Passat. When she expressed an interest in the newly delivered car, it was unwrapped, test driven, purchased

By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2005

New and Modern Dealerships Keep Coming

New dealerships are opening across the country. Dealer principals include a famous sports legend. Designs include a 2-story showroom with room upstairs for displaying dozens of cars. Here are some recent openings: Baseball legend Hank Aaron adds to his dealership holdings with the opening of Hank Aaron Toyota in McDonough, GA. The 52,000-sq.-ft. facility incorporates Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.'s new

By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2005

Ford’s Way Forward

Ford Motor Co. plans to reduce its salaried personnel costs in North America by an average of 10%, Wards has learned. The sweeping move will cut the equivalent of about 4,000 positions as part of its restructuring plan, referred to as Way Forward, which will be announced in January (see story, p.30). The involuntary cuts will involve the reduction of salaried, agency and purchased services, according

Dec. 1, 2005

Zetsche Gave Chrysler a License To Thrill

LAS VEGAS DaimlerChrysler AG Chairman-Elect Dieter Zetsche promises to maintain close ties with Chrysler Group dealers as he bids them farewell during a sentimental and off-beat send-off here. Zetsche, who relinquished leadership of Chrysler in September, received a standing ovation from the 7,000 dealers and dealer representatives gathered to say and to the charismatic executive who engineered the

By Eric Mayne • Dec. 1, 2005

How Dealers Saved Lexus

In 1995, Toyota's fledging Lexus brand was hit by currency fluctuations, low volume and a trade-dispute threat of a 100% tariff on foreign luxury vehicles. Confidence in the then 5-year-old luxury brand was pretty low, Irv Miller, group vice president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. tells the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' National Auto Dealership Conference in Baltimore, MD. What's

By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2005

Upside of Complaints

A customer complaint is an opportunity, but one that many dealership personnel pass up. So says Christine MacKenzie, who tracks customer satisfaction as vice president-corporate research and reporting for DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group. Missed or muffed chances can damage profits, even though many dealership complaints are easily resolved by an apology or giving an unhappy customer a chance to vent,

By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 2005

An All-New Type of Body Shop

Ken Schneider, who owns Metro Toyota Scion in Brook Park, OH, with his father, decided they needed to get into the collision-repair business. We were losing parts sales and car sales because we were sending our customers who needed collision repairs to other dealerships, Schneider says. We needed to close that loop. One problem, though. Schneider wanted to get into a business at a time when many dealers

By Cliff Banks • Dec. 1, 2005

Nissan to Focus on New Small Cars, HQ Move

It isn't often an auto maker picks up and moves its headquarters 2,000 miles (3,219 km), especially if the former location is in sunny Southern California, home to a booming car culture. But Nissan North America Inc. will be doing just that next summer. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Renault SA CEO Carlos Ghosn announced in early November the auto maker would hitch up the moving van and say so long to

By Christie Schweinsberg • Nov. 30, 2005

Chrysler’s ‘Everyman’ CEO Promises to Continue Momentum

AUBURN HILLS, MI Frankness comes naturally to Tom LaSorda, who is more Everyman than executive. His forthright manner makes life interesting for those charged with crafting the official corporate image that emanates from Chrysler Group headquarters. In an exclusive interview with Ward's, the new CEO broaches the subject of supplier bankruptcies. Every year, LaSorda says, Chrysler evaluates the financial

By Eric Mayne • Nov. 30, 2005

Ford Averts Potential Boycott

Ford Motor Co. has averted a boycott scheduled for Dec. 1 by the American Family Assn. (AFA), Ward’s has learned. The proposed boycott, which was halted in June, a few weeks after its start, was in protest of what the AFA calls an “enthusiastic” support of the gay rights agenda. In averting the AFA boycott, Ford may have made some concessions in its policy of advertising and support of gay publications

By Cliff Banks and Steve Miller • Nov. 30, 2005

Delphi CEO: I’m not blaming General Motors

Delphi Corp. stock has been delisted on Wall Street; its bond rating has been downgraded; a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York will oversee a massive restructuring of the Troy, MI-based supplier's U.S. operations; and thousands of employees fear for the loss of their jobs and benefits. Could Delphi's Oct. 8 bankruptcy filing have been avoided if 3-way negotiations with General Motors Corp. and the

By Tom Murphy • Nov. 1, 2005

Titanic Performer

Bentleys used to be fuddie-duddie cars, high-powered but low-revving cruisers Hollywood dentists and screenwriters bought to prove they had arrived. But with '03's sinewy, titanically successful Continental GT and now the Silver Spur, the GT's 4-door variant that stereotype no longer is valid. These new-age Bentleys are cool, calculated and covetable in the businesslike fashion of many highline German

By Bill Visnic • Nov. 1, 2005

A Manufacturing Gem

Inaugurating production Oct. 3 of its all-new 4-cyl. engine family at the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA) in Dundee, MI, GEMA and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group executives promise the engine-manufacturing joint venture between DC, Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will be a model of lean-manufacturing productivity. Although manufacturing of production engines officially

By Bill Visnic • Nov. 1, 2005

Ford, Firestone Reach $240M Deal

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC will pay Ford Motor Co. $240 million to cover its obligation in connection with a pair of recalls that cost the auto maker more than $2 billion and tarnished the reputations of both companies. The joint settlement covers Ford's voluntary recall of 6.5 million tires in August 2000, and its Firestone tire replacement program, which culled 13 million tires

Nov. 1, 2005

Jeep, Hummer, Suzuki?

In Europe, the Suzuki Grand Vitara is a segment leader among compact SUVs, distinguished by its off-road capability. Suzuki Motor Corp. took great pains, in switching to a cross/utility vehicle architecture for the all-new '06 model that replaces both the Grand Vitara and Vitara SUVs, to preserve that rugged image. The new vehicle is a bit wider and 11.5 ins. (29.2 cm) longer, but the overhangs are

By Alisa Priddle • Nov. 1, 2005