Automakers: Page
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Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Courtesy of Toyota Motor North America
TrendlineTop 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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford Adds Jobs in Chicago
CHICAGO Ford Motor Co.’s investment in a Chicago-area supplier park, as well as its manufacturing facility here, will result in 400 to 600 more jobs than originally expected, the auto maker’s top executive says. Initial estimates called for about 1,000 jobs to be added. Chairman Bill Ford, speaking at a meeting of the Economic Club of Chicago, says the new job figures will bring Ford’s Chicago-area
By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Feb. 5, 2004 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
’05 Solara Convertible Marks Development First for Toyota
CHICAGO – The all-new, second-generation Camry Solara Convertible unveiled at the auto show here enjoyed a unique development process, Toyota Motor Corp. officials say. All-new Solara convertible developed separately from Solara coupe. Toyota engineers say the Solara Convertible was designed and developed from the onset as a wholly distinct model from the Solara Coupe, meaning it was not engineered
By Bill Visnic • Feb. 5, 2004 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Tucson Small SUV Bows at Chicago
CHICAGO Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. continues to expand its U.S. offerings with the Tucson small SUV. The Tucson, which carries the Southwestern theme begun with the Santa Fe, the South Korean auto maker’s first utility vehicle, will go on sale in late summer in the U.S. as an ’05 model. Hyundai says it is targeting the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander as its primary competition. The auto
By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Feb. 4, 2004 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
All-Wheel Drive May Strike Chord for Mercury
CHICAGO – All-wheel drive, an increasingly popular feature in many segments of the U.S. light-vehicle market, may prove to be an important selling point for Ford Motor Co.’s Mercury brand, says Lincoln-Mercury President Darryl B. Hazel. Mercury unveiled its ’05 Montego fullsize sedan this week at the Chicago Auto Show here, and Hazel says the availability of AWD may play well with potential Mercury
By Bill Visnic • Feb. 4, 2004 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chevy, Pontiac Debut Minivans
CHICAGO The second half of General Motors Corp.’s four minivans will debut here at the 2004 Chicago auto show, along with an updated ’05 Pontiac Vibe. The unveiling of the ’05 Pontiac Montana SV6 and Chevrolet Uplander minivans follow last month’s introduction of the Buick Terraza and Saturn Relay at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. (See related story: GM Debuts Saturn Relay,
By Brian Corbett • Feb. 2, 2004 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Nissan Could Make Auto Industry Sales History in 2004
Nissan North America Inc. could make history in 2004: It may see its U.S. sales increase an astounding 200,000 units from 2003. So far the biggest year-to-year gain by a non-Big Three company is a 180,005-unit jump by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. in 1977. Nissan North America ended 2003 with 794,784 unit sales, its second best ever behind the 830,767 vehicles it sold in 1985. But back then, half
By Haig Stoddard • Feb. 1, 2004
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