Automakers: Page 387

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ford Seeks Aid for Oakville

The Ontario government's plans to make strategic investments to help attract automotive assembly to the Canadian province bodes well for Ford Motor Co.'s desire to make its Oakville operations a flexible campus. Comments by Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade Joseph Cordiano in mid February that the province will compete against U.S. states for plants with incentives coincides with

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

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

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

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

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

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, 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

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

Dealers Fear They’ll Feel Profit Pinches

LAS VEGAS Like nearly all dealers attending the National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention here last month, Robert L. Beadle was in a great mood. We've had five straight year of good business, says the president of Beadle Ford-Chrysler, in Bowdle, SD, north of Pierre. The mood was joyous throughout the convention parties, from one end of the sprawling exposition to the other and for the most part,

By Maynard M. Gordon • March 1, 2004

Northwood Honors Six

Northwood University honors six of its graduates, two of them dealers, as recipients of its annual Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award. The dealers are James J. Doyle II, owner and CEO of Jim Doyle Ford and Kane Doyle Jeep, Kenmore, NY; and Mark J. Snethkamp, president of Snethkamp Automotive Group, Highland Park, MI. They were feted at the Midland, MI university. Its curriculum centers on dealership

March 1, 2004

DEW Drop

Inner debates? How about fights, laughs Phil Martens as he describes the reaction in Ford Motor Co.'s inner sanctums when the decision was made early in the design of the '05 Mustang to abandon the DEW platform for an all-new architecture. Engineers were not far into the program when it became evident the expensive DEW98 platform (Lincoln LS, Ford Thunderbird, Jaguar S-Type) would not provide Mustang

By Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2004

Flip, Flop & Fly in Baja

ENSENADA, Mexico Expect the unexpected, says Adam Pettis, who deals with credit-challenged customers at Bill Heard Chevrolet outside Tampa, FL. The dealership is in Plant City, the Strawberry Capital of the World. Pettis has seen ragged but rich strawberry farmers in overalls plunk down $35,000 for a new Silverado pickup. Conversely middle-aged people, who look affluent enough, can carry a lot of

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2004

On a Roll

One-time Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean had it. John Kerry grabbed it away from him. The New England Patriots rode it all the way to a Super Bowl triumph. It's called momentum that intangible phenomenon that makes a body in motion stay in motion, or perhaps creates the aura of a charmed existence. Infiniti believes it's got momentum, too. After years at the bottom of the luxury-car pecking order,

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 1, 2004

GM Is Getting Sick of High Health-Care Costs

LAS VEGAS National health-care coverage should be an issue in this year's presidential campaign, says Gary Cowger, president of General Motors Corp.'s North American operations. We need to start a discussion on it now, he tells a J.D. Power & Associates' International Automotive Roundtable held in conjunction with the 2004 National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention here. Cowger says GM, the nation's

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

Alfa Visconti Concept Gives Peak at Upcoming 157

TURIN – ItalDesign SpA’s Alfa Romeo Visconti concept car, to be unveiled in Geneva next month previews the front end of Alfa’s new 157, due in May 2005. Designer Fabrizio Giugiaro says the Visconti – named after a famous Milanese family from whom Alfa borrowed its serpent badge – is another attempt (the most recent being the new Maserati Quattroporte) to create an Italian rival for the Mercedes S-Class

By Peter Robinson • Feb. 23, 2004