Automakers: Page 394

Ford Adopts Particulate Filters

French chemical supplier Rhodia SA says Ford Motor Co. will adopt its fuel-borne catalyst technology on the entire range of diesel engines it manufactures in Europe that are equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPFs). The technology will debut on a diesel Ford Focus, and Rhodia says the number of passenger vehicles with DPF-Eolys catalyst systems will rise from 400,000 annually in Europe in 2003

By Drew Winter • April 1, 2003

Spicy Controversy

Politically correct automotive wisdom insists Porsche has no business in the SUV business. Almost since the day it was known management at Porsche AG had green-lighted an SUV, the preferred sport of automotive writers and Porsche faithful became trashing the new Cayenne as a sellout by the deified sportscar maker. Be careful, though, about labeling the '03 Cayenne an SUV, because it's certainly no

By Bill Visnic • April 1, 2003

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

Win Some, Lose Some

As North America's Big Three auto makers rediscover the benefits of rear-wheel drive, Germany's Eberspcher Group couldn't be happier. The supplier has years of experience producing exhaust systems for rear-drive vehicles with pedigree badges such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Snaking exhaust pipe along cramped underbody real estate without disturbing driveshafts and rear axles requires considerable engineering.

By Tom Murphy • April 1, 2003

After Missteps, They Finally Got It Right

Bob Kinney, general manager for Capitol Honda, says he has no idea how many Internet sales his dealership had in 2001. What a difference a year and a concerted effort make. For 2002, the San Jose, CA-based store is the No. 1 ranked Honda dealership (4th overall) on the Ward's e-Dealer 100 with 2,308 Internet sales. We were just playing around with it as an ancillary to our normal showroom business

By Cliff Banks • April 1, 2003

Farewell, Aztek

Pontiac Aztek, one of the most ridiculed products in General Motors Corp.'s history, will go out of production in December 2004, Ward's learns. GM recently pulled forward plans to stop making Aztek from the fall of 2005 to next year, industry sources say. Aztek's earlier-than-expected demise frees up extra capacity at GM's Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, assembly plant to prepare for the introduction of the

By Brian Corbett • April 1, 2003

Dealers Show Growing Interest in Selling Used Cars on the Internet

Sales Manager Paul Miller of Capital Ford in Raleigh, NC, increased used-vehicle Internet-related sales for his dealership from 600 units in 2001 to 1,035 in 2002. New-car on-line sales went from 744 to 972. His dealership is one of three Ward's e-Dealer 100 stores that sold more used vehicles than new, at least via the Internet. Capital Ford was 29th on last year's Ward's Dealer 500, selling a total

By Cliff Banks • April 1, 2003

Soccer-Mom Nirvana

PALM SPRINGS, CA Toyota Motor Corp. hopes to set a new benchmark for the minivan segment when its all-new '04 Sienna arrives in showrooms in mid-March. With its trademark attention to quality and detail, an additional trim level, optional all-wheel drive, a laundry list of additional features and a pledge to price it $1,000 less than the outgoing model, it is entirely possible Toyota can establish

By Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2003

The Other Side

Carlos Mazzorin is not the first Big Three purchasing czar to cross over to the other side by joining a major supplier with whom he previously sat across the table negotiating contracts. Thomas Stallkamp, now chairman of MSX International, headed Chrysler Corp.'s purchasing during the 1990s before rising to president and then departed soon after the merger that created DaimlerChrysler AG in late 1998.

By David C. Smith • March 1, 2003

GM Plans 6-Speed

General Motors Corp. will build an advanced 6-speed automatic transmission at a former WWII bomber plant in Willow Run, MI, preserving nearly 600 jobs. The plant employs roughly 4,000 hourly and 400 salaried workers. The investment will cost GM $300 million. The new Hydra-Matic 6-speed automatic, says Homi Patel, vice president of GM Powertrain, is earmarked for up-level rear-wheel-drive cars and

By Bill Visnic • March 1, 2003

Infiniti axes QX4 SUV

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s Infiniti luxury division has quietly dropped its QX4 SUV. Production of the luxury truck stopped in November 2002, and the last units currently are being sold down. Instead of replacing the midsize luxury QX4, which sold just under 17,000 units last year, Infiniti will offer the FX45 and FX35 cross/utility vehicles (see story, p.58), which go on sale in the U.S. early this

March 1, 2003

EDS, IBM Battle Over Ford Deals

Ford Motor Co. becomes a virtual battleground for software giants Electronic Data Systems Corp. and IBM Corp. as the latter says it will supply the auto maker with design and data management applications. A resulting news report suggests EDS was spurned by Ford because its products are too pricey. An agitated Tony Affuso, EDS president-PLM Solutions, tells Ward's the report totally misrepresented

March 1, 2003

Shootout: Ford Tells Asbury No Deal

An unusual is taking shape in California over Ford Motor Co.'s refusal to allow publicly owned Asbury Automotive Group to buy one of its San Diego stores. Rebuffed multi-franchise dealer Robert H. Baker has taken the matter to the powerful California New Motor Vehicle Board (NVMB). The board, three of whose members are franchised dealers, has slated a March hearing in Sacramento. The case is called

By Mac Gordon • March 1, 2003

Texas Tundra

Toyota Motor Corp. addresses the colossal U.S. truck market and its own need for more capacity with plans to build an $800 million pickup truck plant in San Antonio, TX. The No.1 Japanese auto maker plans to produce 150,000 next-generation Tundra pickups annually at the plant, which will be its sixth in North America. The next-generation truck reportedly will be larger, in order to better compete

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 1, 2003

4Matic Growing

Traversing through just a few inches of snow could be a monumental feat for most luxury sedans, most of which feature rear-wheel drive. That isn't the case for the latest family of Mercedes sedans and wagons (E-Class, C-Class and S-Class), which now come with optional all-wheel drive, putting these formerly dry-pavement-only cars in a new light. Mercedes' AWD system, dubbed 4Matic, debuted in 1986

March 1, 2003

Sneak Peek

Early driving impressions on General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac SRX are promising. While the auto maker isn't permitting formal test drives until later this spring, GM offered Ward's and other media the opportunity to test drive pre-production SRXs at its winter proving grounds in Kinross, MI. Thanks to a dazzlingly engineered integrated chassis control system, the all-wheel drive SRX out-dueled the

By Brian Corbett • March 1, 2003

Titan-ic Significance

We're standing with a midlevel Big Three executive at the North American International Auto Show in January, and the tension is building as Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. prepares to unveil its first-ever fullsize pickup. The sheet is yanked and it's immediately obvious Nissan isn't fooling around: The '04 Titan is truly full-sized, assertively styled and almost brazenly presented. The exec turns and says,

By Bill Visnic & Katherine Zachary • March 1, 2003

EuroMotorcars Building 2nd Benz Store

After a major expansion and renovation of its Mercedes-Benz dealership in Bethesda, MD, EuroMotorcars plans to open a second Mercedes dealership nearby in Maryland's Germantown. EuroMotorcars Germantown will cover four acres and include over 40,000 sq. ft. of building space, a showroom for 15 vehicles and a multilevel parking area for new- and used-car inventory. An early 2004 opening is planned.

March 1, 2003

Mission: Refinement

Despite the incessant chatter about polishing the Ford oval, no bauble in the auto maker's global lineup is more treasured than the next-generation F-Series. Ford's fullsize pickup is the best-selling vehicle in automotive history, tallying more than 27 million unit sales since 1948. You're playing with the crown jewels here, Ford Motor Co. President and Chief Operating Officer Nick Scheele tells

By Eric Mayne & David E. Zoia • March 1, 2003

Mazda Zooms In With Fresh Look

BOUNTIFUL, UT Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) is trying to make its vehicles more exciting, and now wants to do the same thing to its dealerships. That's evidenced by a first-of-its-kind store here just outside Salt Lake City. Bountiful Mazda is the nation's first dealership off Mazda's Retail Revolution designs of how a modern Mazda store should look. Twenty more facilities like it are in

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2003

Bill Ford Jr. Does NADA

SAN FRANCISCO Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO William Clay Ford Jr., who cancelled his 2000 NADA convention appearance on short notice in 2000, was all over the place at this year's gathering. Ford delivered the convention's keynote address, spoke at a J.D. Power & Associates' conference associated with the convention, and hit the exposition floor to meet and greet dealers. It seemed to pay off. I

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2003

Defining Moment

SAN FRANCISCO The beauty of being first into a segment is the ability to define it. Chrysler Group enjoyed that luxury when it created the minivan, almost 20 years and 10 million people-movers ago. Today, from the same Windsor, Ont., Canada, plant that still makes minivans comes the all-new '04 Chrysler Pacifica, the product of an all-new platform. This cross between a minivan, SUV and sedan has been

By Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2003

What’s It Worth Now?

Dealerships in Georgia say it may be too soon to fully gauge the impact on body shops of a recent Georgia Supreme Court ruling that State Farm mustpay its auto policyholders for diminished value. It really hasn't hit us full force, but long term I know it will affect us, says Scott Porter, body shop manager for Curry Honda in Chamblee, GA. The ruling, and State Farm's subsequent $250 million settlement,

By John Yoswick • Feb. 1, 2003

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em

Carlos Mazzorin, Ford Motor Co.'s former group vice president of global purchasing who was vilified for his penny-pinching ways by supplier execs, will find out how the other half live. The 61-year-old Mazzorin comes out of retirement to become chairman and CEO of Magna Donnelly, the Holland, MI, subsidiary of Magna International Inc. that produces mirrors, windows, door handles and electronics. Oh,

Feb. 1, 2003

Flagship Maxima

SPECIFICATION 2004 Nissan Maxima SE Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel drive, 5-passenger 4-door sedan Engine: 3.5L (3,498 cc) DOHC V-6, aluminum block/aluminum heads Power (SAE net): 265 hp @ 5,800 rpm Torque: 255 lb.-ft. (346 Nm) @ 4,400 rpm Compression ratio: 10.3:1 Bore Stroke (mm): 95.5 81.4 Transmission: 5-speed automatic/6-speed manual Wheelbase: 111.2 ins. (282 cm) Overall length: 193.5

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Feb. 1, 2003

Good Samaritan Dealer Volunteers to Help the Dying

Dave Hines, co-owner of Snethkamp Chrysler-Jeep in Redford, MI, volunteers in his spare time at the Hospice of Michigan, doing what he can to ease the strain and pain of the dying. Typically, he spends about four hours each week with the person to whom he's assigned. You get close to people and when they die, says Hines, 56, a 30-year veteran of the automotive retail industry. He got involved with

Feb. 1, 2003