Aisin Readies Tundra Gearbox

DETROIT – When Toyota Motor Corp. begins producing its fullsize Tundra pickups deep in the heart of Texas in 2006, its 5-speed automatic transmission will come from Aisin AW Co. Ltd.’s new plant in Durham, NC. The new plant represents the first time the Japanese-based Aisin, a major transmission player in its home market, has produced automatic transmissions outside Japan, says Junichi Nishimura,

By Tom Murphy • March 15, 2004

Martens: Shelby Cobra ‘Has My Vote’

DETROIT Ford Motor Co.’s celebrated Shelby Cobra concept soon may muscle its way to market, if Phil Martens has anything to do with it. Ford Motor Co.’s group vice president-North America product creation, tells Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress show-goers the open-air 2-seater, unveiled at the 2004 Detroit auto show, is under serious consideration as part of future product plans. The

By John D. Stoll • March 15, 2004

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

Ford to Match Employee 401(k) Again

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. will revive partial matching on 401(k) accounts starting July 1 to 45,000 of its U.S. salaried employees and will pay bonuses to 6,200 middle and upper managers worldwide. Ford President Nick Scheele says the matching program is being reinstated permanently, now that the auto maker is in a better financial position and looking positively at the long term. “We said we would

By John D. Stoll • March 12, 2004

Toyota Technology ‘Kick-Started’ Ford’s Hybrid Escape

DETROIT Ford Motor Co. acknowledges it has licensed the rights to about 20 Toyota Motor Corp. hybrid system patents in order to help the American auto maker develop its first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. A hybrid version of the Ford Escape which is the first hybrid SUV for the North American market and the first carrying a U.S. nameplate bows this fall, employing variations of the technology

By John D. Stoll and Katherine Zachary • March 12, 2004

Dodge Changes Performance Unit Name

DETROIT – Two years after the formation of its in-house performance unit, Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO), DaimlerChrysler Corp. is changing the name to Street and Racing Technology (SRT), which is already familiar to PVO customers thanks to vehicle branding.(See related story: Chrysler’s Performance Group Has Triplets) The move comes as an attempt to “eliminate a lot of the confusion” created

By John D. Stoll • March 11, 2004

Henkel Group Integrates Industrial Business

DETROIT – Henkel KGaA bows to wishes of employees and customers, consolidating its three industrial businesses – Henkel Surface Technologies, Henkel Loctite Corp. and Henkel Adhesives – into a single business unit called Henkel Technologies. Ford F-150. The move, announced at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, is an attempt to better serve the Düsseldorf, Germany, company’s worldwide

By John D. Stoll • March 10, 2004

Toyota to Continue North American Part Sourcing

DETROIT Sourcing more parts from China and other emerging markets may be the trend, but Toyota Motor Corp. chooses to buck it. Those markets will remain small for the North American arm of the Japanese auto maker, which plans to continue to source an increasing amount of its components in North America, says Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president-external affairs and public policy for Toyota Motor North

By Alisa Priddle • March 10, 2004

New Study Confirms ESC Effectiveness

DETROIT Until now, statistical data with regard to the effectiveness of anti-skid electronic stability control (ESC) in preventing accidents was incomplete. Both Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp. concluded from their own separate research that ESC could reduce the number of single-vehicle impacts by about 30%, and Volkswagen AG found ESC could cut fatal crashes in Germany by 20%. That research,

By Tom Murphy • March 10, 2004

Toyota Develops 6-Speed Gearbox

Transmission development at Toyota Motor Corp. is shifting into a higher gear the sixth gear. The auto maker has developed a 6-speed automatic transmission for rear-wheel-drive application that first will be seen in the Lexus LS 430 flagship sedan and likely will be offered in other higher-end Lexus models as well. The A761E transmission, which Toyota unveiled here at the Society of Automotive Engineers

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 9, 2004

Dura Opens Tech Center in France

DETROIT Dura Automotive Systems Inc. makes the transition from shuttering non-core global operations to opening new facilities with the announcement of a new technical center in Velizy, France. Dura, which has been knee-deep in a financial restructuring aimed at eliminating a $1 billion debt load, says the new facility is designed to attract local customers. Until now, Renault SA, PSA Peugeot-Citroen

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 9, 2004

VW Expands Convertible Lineup

GENEVA Volkswagen AG will expand its convertible lineup beyond the Beetle to include a new model based off the Concept C, which bowed at the auto show here. The concept is said to provide a clear interpretation of new styling cues that will appear on future Volkswagen-brand vehicles. “This is the latest VW baby,” says Murat Gunak, head of Volkswagen Group design. “This vehicle provides a look at the

By Kevin Kelly • March 8, 2004

Next PT Could Use C/D Platform

GENEVA Chrysler Group says it is looking closely at whether to build the next-generation PT Cruiser on the upcoming C/D segment platform under joint development with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Chrysler Group CEO Dieter Zetsche says the auto maker is in the process of determining whether the C/D platform would work for the next PT. He firmly dismisses any possibility the PT would use a unique platform.

By Kevin Kelly • March 3, 2004

Kia to Fill New Hyundai Group Plant in Slovakia

GENEVA Kia Motors Corp. will fill the new Hyundai Group factory in Zilina, Slovakia, with 200,000 units beginning in 2006. The 700 million ($855 million) factory was expected to be shared by Kia and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd., but Kia alone has enough growth potential to fill it, says Kia Chief Operating Officer Yong-Hwan Kim. Kia expects to have 2% of the European market by the end of 2005, or about

By William Diem • March 2, 2004

Hyundai Unveils Tucson SUV in Geneva

GENEVA Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. presented its cars and ambitions at the annual auto show here, confirming the company remains on track to become one of the world’s top five auto makers. Hyundai Europe President Ken Um presented the Tucson SUV and the EQ Concept car, which presages an upper-middle entry due later this year. “The SUV segment has an important potential in the European market,” he says.

By William Diem • March 2, 2004

Citroen C4 Concept Hints at Shape of Xsara Replacement

GENEVA Automobiles Citroen introduces the shape of the Citroen C4 that will replace the Xsara at the end of 2004 under the guise of its rally version at the annual auto show here. The C4 Citroen Sport concept, with its rear wheels at the end of the body and short front overhang, accurately forecasts the coming C4 production cars, even if the racing seats, brakes, wheels, engine and roll bars do not.

By William Diem • March 2, 2004

Ford, ZF: No Bad Blood

For four years, Ford Motor Co. and ZF Friedrichshafen AG worked side by side in preparing Ford's Batavia, OH, powertrain plant to produce a completely new type of transmission that would improve fuel economy by at least 4%. ZF purchased a majority 51% stake, while Ford retained the remaining 49% in the ZF Batavia LLC joint venture that would run the plant beginning in 1999. In February, as the plant

By Tom Murphy • March 1, 2004

Buick Bucks

General Motors Corp. will spend slightly more than $3 billion during the next five years to overhaul the Buick lineup, company executives say. The investment includes the Buick Terraza minivan, which debuted in January at the Detroit auto show, and the '05 LaCrosse midsize sedan unveiled in Chicago. However, the cash infusion does not include the Rainier midsize SUV, which went on sale in late 2003.

March 1, 2004

Ford Tweaks Styling

J Mays is the likeable 49-year-old American who has been head of Ford Motor Co.'s global design team since taking over from Jack Telnack in 1997. It came as a surprise to some, therefore, when Ford announced in December that it was transferring Peter Horbury, former head of its Premier Automotive Group based in Europe, to the U.S. to run Ford's U.S. design studios. Horbury, who took up his new post

By Peter Robinson • March 1, 2004

Mini Fighter

Ford Motor Co. expects to complete studies by year-end on how best to compete in the subcompact segment in North America and likely will tap Mazda Motor Corp. to engineer the necessary small car. With the success of BMW AG's Mini and DaimlerChrysler AG's plan for its Smart products in the U.S. next year, Ford is giving the segment serious consideration, says Phil Martens, Ford group vice president-North

March 1, 2004

3 Is Not Always a Crowd

The most successful dealerships today have Internet strategies that leverage a combination of their own web sites and partnerships with third-party lead aggregators. Case in point: Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix, AZ. Its Internet department alone generated more than $200,000 in additional gross profit last month. Robert Revere, director of Courtesy's Internet and Business Development Center, explains,

By DEAN EVANS & SEAN WOLFINGTON • March 1, 2004

Mercury’s Name Game

The Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego debut fall as '05 models, followed by the Mazda6-based Ford Futura and an unnamed Mercury companion for the '06 model year. Ford is already promoting Futura. What's the snag naming the Mercury? My staff keeps serving up names. Getting agreement on a name is very difficult, says Lincoln-Mercury Div. President Darryl Hazel. They have a name they like, but I

By Jim Mateja • March 1, 2004

Dealers Say Aye, Aye to AYES

For 17 of the 22 years that Larry Cummings owned an Oldsmobile-GMC dealership in Crawfordsville, IN, Olds was the No.1 seller in that market despite the brand's fatal decline nationally. Now Cummings is trying to make another mark in the auto industry as the new president and CEO of the Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES), an alliance formed to ease a serious shortage of qualified dealership

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2004

Advantage: Aluminum

An innovative metal-forming process developed for automotive parts by General Motors Corp. could replace steel with aluminum for numerous applications across the auto maker's lineup. Called quick plastic forming (QPF), the proprietary technology overcomes the forming limitations of aluminum. With QPF, GM can form more complex shapes with aluminum than steel. This is a breakthrough, says Alan Taub,

By Brian Corbett • March 1, 2004

Volume Leader

The Pontiac G6, due to arrive in dealer showrooms this fall, will be the division's volume leader when all variants are finally on sale, a General Motors Corp. executive says. We're hoping to be north of 200,000 units when all the models and powertrains are up and running, says Jim Panaretos, in charge of marketing for the G6. He forecasts the models equipped with 3.5L V-6 and 4-cyl. engines each

March 1, 2004

JV Partners Expanding Dundee

DaimlerChrysler AG, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. will expand their Global Engine Mfg. Alliance plant in Dundee, MI, increasing annual capacity to 840,000 4-cyl. engines. The joint-venture partners agreed to invest an additional $323 million to fund the 450,000-sq.-ft. (41,805 sq.-m) expansion. Another 250 jobs will be created at the plant as a result. Dundee will supply engines

March 1, 2004