Holden Pattern

Bob Lutz has discovered the cure for the common car at General Motors Corp. Too bad he had to travel halfway around the world to find it. It was late February when the jetlagged vice chairman and a team of top executives from the No.1 auto maker arrived in Australia to sample the works of Holden Ltd., its auto making subsidiary. There was nothing secret about the mission. The trip was well publicized,

By TOM MURPHY and BRIAN CORBETT with Alan Harman in Australia • May 1, 2002

Successor named for retired Ford dealer relations manager

J.C. Collins, Ford Division executive assistant and dealer relations manager, retires after nearly 30 years with Ford Motor Co. Succeeding him is Dave Alden, Lincoln Mercury's Chicago regional manager. Collins will work with Alden to ensure an orderly transition. Collins' responsibilities include the dealer council process, six-sigma deployment and coordination with the National Automobile Dealers

May 1, 2002

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

Two for One

SAVANNAH, GA Toyota Motor Corp. lately has endured a fair degree of flogging for missing the mark on markets outside its mainstay middle-class, Baby Boomer set. Its lack of appeal to the kids is prompting the launch of a third brand, dubbed Scion (see p.28), and the No.1 Japanese auto maker has been accused more than once of not paying enough attention to the U.S.'s minority and urban markets. Even

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • May 1, 2002

NEW FORD MINORITY DEALER PROGRAM STRESSES EDUCATION

PHOENIX Participants in Ford Motor Co.'s new minority dealer initiative will undertake five years of post-graduate college studies in dealership management. The goal is for as many of them as possible to end up running their own dealer-ships. Ford leads the industry in the number of minority dealers (360, about 7% of Ford's dealer base), but is looking to add more. The new program, in conjunction

By Cliff Banks • May 1, 2002

Ford monitoring GM’s ABS strategy

Unlike General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. is not considering a move to make antilock brakes optional on a greater percentage of its vehicles. But Ford is studying the strategy proposed by Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman-product development (see column, p. 52). WAW broke the story last month about GM's ABS strategy (April '02, p. 7). Nick Scheele, Ford's president and chief operating officer, says the

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • May 1, 2002

Ford dealerships use web-based digital photos to get fast responses back on warranty claims

It can take days and weeks for manufacturers to resolve some customer warranty concerns at dealerships. Now it takes minutes. That's with web-based camera equipment that records digital photos of potential warranty work, then sends the images to the automaker for a review and a quick decision on eligibility. About 260 Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealerships are the first to use the new system. Early

By Steve Finlay • May 1, 2002

McLaren’s Hot Rod Lincoln

McLaren Performance Technologies, carrying through on a strategy it announced a year ago, wants to kick start the stodgy reputation of Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln luxury brand by selling a high-powered aftermarket version of the LS sport sedan. The special-edition Lincoln LSE will carry the Powered by McLaren Engines moniker when it goes on sale this summer through select dealers. McLaren President and

May 1, 2002

Don’t Mess with ABS, GM

It was -35F (-31C) with a biting wind that tore through down-filled jackets and insulated pants, boots and gloves as if they were made of tissue paper. Nippy. Even by the standards of an American northerner accustomed to freezing, sometimes sub-zero, temperatures during long winter months. But this wasn't the U.S. It was northern Sweden near the Arctic Circle, where the mercury seldom climbs above

By David C. Smith • May 1, 2002

Greg Jackson heads GM Minority Dealer Association

Gregory Jackson is the new president of the General Motors Minority Dealers Association. He says that during his two-year term he'll focus on finding new opportunities for dealers and exploring ways to assist GM in giving minority dealers a solid chance for success and increased sales and profits. Jackson is president of Prestige Automotive Group based in Flint, MI.

May 1, 2002

MORE DEALERSHIPS KEEPING SATURDAY SERVICE HOURS

More and more dealership service departments keep Saturday hours as many manufacturers dealers to be open then. But few dealers, who are currently closed Saturdays, plan to extend their hours, and Chrysler dealerships are most likely to be dark that day for service and Ford dealer-ships are most likely to be open. That's according to a survey overseen by Carl Woodward of Woodward & Associates, a Bloomington,

May 1, 2002

Fewer brand managers at GM; and a greater focus on divisions

Brand managers, once the darlings of General Motors Corp., are fewer in ranks there. Meanwhile, the automaker is realigning its dealership field team and refocusing its branding efforts back to individual car divisions. GM has reduced the number of brand managers overseeing product lines from 39 to 31. The remaining brand managers will line up more with vehicle line executives the managers who oversee

By Steve Finlay • May 1, 2002

Hyundai’s Sweet Home in Alabama

Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman must love to gloat. At the groundbreaking of Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.'s first U.S. plant in Montgomery, AL, in mid-April the governor couldn't contain his excitement. When we break ground today, that crunching sound will be heard from Atlanta to Detroit, says Siegelman. Hyundai's choice of Alabama for its $1 billion plant is another coup for the state which, though relatively

May 1, 2002

VW’s Big Gamble

Like high rollers at a Las Vegas casino, Volkswagen AG's outgoing Chairman Ferdinand Piech and incoming CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder are gambling the auto maker's future on a strategy that has some onlookers worried. As the new leadership team begins to take the wheel at the world's No.5 auto maker, the plan is to continue on with Piech's controversial strategy to transform the VW and Audi brands into

By Kevin Kelly • May 1, 2002

G-Whiz

SAN DIEGO Credibility, thy name is G35. Barely a decade into its crusade to stand toe-to-toe with German-made sport/luxury sedans, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s Infiniti upscale division launches its most convincing thrust yet, the athletic and accelerative G35. Oh, Infiniti and its arch-rival, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus division haven't exactly shamed themselves with their prior efforts at chipping at

By Bill Visnic • May 1, 2002

Certified used cars can be a boon to dealers

The certified used-car business gives dealers an additional franchise to complement sales of new cars, says Bill Bates, BMW's certified pre-owned vehicle program manager. It also brings in customers who may not be able to afford a new car, especially a premium brand such as BMW. Auto manufacturers benefit because the certified programs strengthen dealers financially, increase parts purchases and build

By Herb Shuldiner • May 1, 2002

Screw This

Politics, religion and Ford vs. Chevy are universally recognized as taboo topics for folks who value lasting relationships. Now add a fourth forbidden forum of discussion Roots-type vs. the screw supercharger. The debate over which blower is best is itself supercharged. One enthusiast's Website begs this indulgence: You're free to disagree with me, so please don't send me any nasty letters And within

By Eric Mayne • May 1, 2002

Strange Fruit: Who Says Dumb and Ugly Cars Won’t Sell?

The most interesting, or maybe the dumbest, or maybe the ugliest, or maybe the most important are the Honda Element and the Toyota bbX.

By Jerry Flint • April 29, 2002

Chrysler Backs Away From Plastic Car Program

The former Chrysler Corp.'s grandiose dream of building sexy, lightweight and low-cost plastic cars is stalled in the research phase, apparently a victim of budget cuts and changing priorities at the auto maker following its acquisition by Daimler-Benz AG in 1998. A major research and development partnership formed to carry out the effort was dissolved at the end of last year, and a giant plastic

By ALISA PRIDDLE with Drew Winter • April 1, 2002

Two dozen VPs are shuffled at Nissan

A shakeup at Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. leads to the retirement of six key company officials, part of Nissan 180 the auto maker's next phase of revitalization. CEO Carlos Ghosn says 18 vice presidents will be moving while six will retire. The most senior is Hisayoshi Kojima, leaving to become president of former Nissan transmission group Jatco TransTechnologies. The reshuffle comes as the Japanese auto

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • April 1, 2002

Hyundai Favors Kentucky, Alabama

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. narrows its search for a North American plant site down to Montgomery, AL, and Glendale, KY. The final site, where Hyundai most likely will build a new midsize SUV, will be selected this spring, Hyundai officials say. Original estimates said Hyundai would make a final decision in the year's first quarter. South Korea's No.1 auto maker has been studying locations for its first

April 1, 2002

John Coletti: Ford SVT’s Proud Papa

PASADENA, CA John Coletti acts like a proud papa as he boasts that during its 10-year history the Ford Motor Co.'s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) has built its 100,000th vehicle, a 2002 SVT F-150 Lightning pickup. It doesn't matter to Coletti, chief engineer and driving force behind SVT, that the Ford Div. alone sells twice that many cars and trucks each month. The SVT badge, he says, proclaims that these

By David C. Smith • April 1, 2002

Bell Sounds for Bentley

CAPETOWN, South Africa The moment of truth draws near for Bentley Motor Cars Ltd. The race-bred British ultra-luxury-car builder is approaching the starting line of an aggressive make-it-or-break-it growth strategy designed to swell annual sales from less than 2,000 vehicles today to 8,000 by 2006. Failure to execute could land Bentley forever at the back of the growing pack of super-sedan producers.

By David E. Zoia • April 1, 2002

Runnin’ With The Big Dogs

ROME An ill-tempered Italian mongrel owes its life to a group of Mazda engineers. North of here, on the picturesque rural road to Lago di Bracciano, the mutt bolts from some tall grass and tries to make sport of the all-new Mazda 6 I'm evaluating. Part German Shepherd, part Clydesdale, it bares its considerable bite while its vector suggests an imminent test of the car's integrated bumper beam that

By Eric Mayne • April 1, 2002

More Honda Hybrids to Come

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. kicks off sales of its all-new, gasoline/electric hybrid-powered 2003 Civic, and the company isn't about to relinquish its burgeoning lead in the development of hybrid-powered passenger vehicles. We view hybrids as an investment in the future that will soon pay dividends, we believe, says Peter Rech, manager of product planning for Honda division. That's not to say that Honda

April 1, 2002

Truce Turf?

Ford Motor Co. is throwing Firestone to the Lions the Detroit Lions. Ford Field, the NFL team's new domed stadium, will feature an artificial playing surface composed partly of rubber reclaimed from recalled Firestone tires, WAW has learned. A Detroit Lions spokesman confirms the deal with FieldTurf, a Montreal-based company that has already installed its unique surface in more than 400 athletic complexes

By Eric Mayne • April 1, 2002