Automakers: Page

Staying the Course

Scorched by Standard & Poor's and singed by sagging car sales, Ford Motor Co. is feeling some heat. Nevertheless, Jim Padilla feels right at home. Padilla means in Spanish, says Ford's executive vice president and president-North America. And as the auto maker's revitalization plan enters its third year, Padilla prepares to dish up some crow for the auto maker's critics. In '03, we made a lot of progress

By Eric Mayne • Dec. 1, 2003

2 Kids, On Welfare, Broken Car. What To Do?

Susan Christophersen was a welfare mother of two in 1979 when the brakes went bad on her old Ford Maverick in a local college parking lot. She was taking general classes at Oakland Community College in Auburn Hills, MI, preparing for some sort of a career that would get her off welfare. She considered something in the medical field until her brakes failed, and she lacked the money for repairs. An

By Steve Finlay Reference to New F&I story here. • Dec. 1, 2003

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Top 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

Accounting as Weapon

When Toyota announced it would make a profit on the new version of its Prius hybrid car, it got me thinking. Are Toyota's engineers really better than everyone else's, or is something else going on? I think there's something else. For one, what does Toyota mean when it says As anyone who has studied the most rudimentary basics of accounting knows, there are different ways of reporting profits. There

By John McElroy • Dec. 1, 2003

New F&I Initiatives Sprout Up

New initiatives and alliances are sprouting up across the industry to help stimulate prime and subprime sales of dealership finance & insurance products. Entry into the market of the industry-wide Route One credit network will likely accelerate contract acceptances and marketing programs. Co-owned by Chrysler Group, Ford Credit, GMAC and Toyota Financial Services, Route One could reduce dealer F&I

By Mac Gordon • Dec. 1, 2003

Price of Perfection

Exhibit A on the unintended consequences of perfection: BMW AG's '04 5-Series sedan. Not that the all-new 5 isn't incredibly good. The problem is, it's got to take over from the previous-generation car and that one was nigh on perfect. Beautifully balanced. Meticulously assembled. The outgoing 5, internal designation E39, was fabulously almost organically complete. Now, the 7-year run of one of the

By Bill Visnic • Dec. 1, 2003

Ford Drops Ingeni Design

First Standard & Poor's cut Ford Motor Co.'s debt rating to the lowest level above junk bonds, and now the auto maker's chief designer J Mays says the Ingeni European studio will close. The two events are inexorably linked. Ford no longer can afford the luxury of a studio, largely funded by its Premier Automotive Group Land Rover, Volvo, Jaguar and Aston Martin that's effectively outside the traditional

Dec. 1, 2003

Flush with New Product, Nissan Infiniti Brace for Growth

For Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., China promises to become tasty frosting, but North America remains the irreplaceable 3-layer cake U.S., Mexico and Canada where most sales are made and most profits are generated. Norio Matsumura, executive vice president of Japan's No.2 auto maker as well as president of Nissan North America Inc., underscores this reality in an interview in Gardena, CA, with Ward's. China

By Mack Chrysler • Dec. 1, 2003

Don’t Build Sissy Jeeps

At a recent press event, Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Bernhard publicly aired a question that's been asked internally at the Chrysler Group for many years: Does every Jeep have to be able to traverse the Rubicon Trail? This famously rugged path in California separates real SUVs from pretenders, and it long has been a test bed for measuring the mettle of off-road vehicles. Because Bernhard is Chrysler's

By Jerry Flint • Dec. 1, 2003

Magnum Classified As Truck

With its fold-flat seating, Chrysler Group expects its new '05 Dodge Magnum wagon to meet federal light-truck classification, a boon for the auto maker's truck fleet fuel economy ratings. This is not a new pattern if you look at the classification for fuel economy. Obviously this isn't a pickup, but neither is a PT Cruiser or minivan (which are classified trucks by NHTSA), says Craig Love, Chrysler

Dec. 1, 2003

Honda contemplates Survival despite record earnings

Takeo Fukui minces no words when asked about the main challenge facing Honda Motor Co. Ltd. today. snaps the auto maker's new president, identifying global competition as five to 10 gigantic rivals. Yet Honda, with worldwide annual sales of about 3 million automobiles, annual revenues of more than $70 billion and a market cap of $39.7 billion seventh largest among all Japanese companies and almost

By Mack Chrysler • Dec. 1, 2003

Dodge Sees Boost From Durango

When the '04 Dodge Durango reaches showrooms in mid-November, Chrysler Group intends to ride its coattails to an end-of-year sales surge. We're going to leverage the dickens out of Durango, John H.O. Sloan, senior manager-car marketing, says of a vehicle he believes can be a showroom traffic driver. Dodge sales are down, Sloan says, because it did not keep up with General Motors Corp. in incentives

Nov. 1, 2003

Chrysler Denies Seeking Dealer Margin Cuts

NEWARK, DE - Chrysler Group denies reports it's seeking to reduce dealer margins in order to improve profits. The auto maker says its dealers are a crucial part of its turnaround plan. None of our top management thinks dealer margins are too high, says Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche during ceremonies here for the production launch of the Dodge Durango SUV. He says the reports are unfounded, adding that

By Kevin Kelly • Nov. 1, 2003

Big 3, Toyota Launch Network

RouteOne, a new dealer finance communications network owned by the Big Three and Toyota, has started a rollout schedule that calls for coverage of the entire U.S. by mid-2004. The 10 members of the Southfield, MI-based network's dealer advisory board constitute the first pilot of the precedent-setting system. Next is a 30-dealership pilot in Atlanta, GA, and an expansion throughout the entire Southeast

By Mac Gordon • Nov. 1, 2003

Accord Tops Online Interest

Kelly Blue Book's most researched vehicle online is the Honda Accord, even though its archrival, the Toyota Camry, is outselling it. Every month more than five million unique visitors go online to Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com, many of them researching new vehicles. More than 28 million vehicle pricing reports were generated in August and in-market shoppers' top-research pick was the Accord. It's held

Nov. 1, 2003

AutoTrader Study Finds Best Practices

Autotrader.com conducted a study of all of its dealership clients to determine the best practices of its most successful dealers. The idea came from California dealer Joe Drew, says Autotrader CEO Chip Perry. I was visiting Drew Ford in San Diego, says Perry. Mr. Drew called me into his office and wanted to know what we could tell him about the best practices of other dealers using our service. Autotrader,

Nov. 1, 2003

Out of Focus

Ford of Europe's Belgium investment cancellation should shake out before second-quarter 2004 with the announcement of production plans for four new products, Ward's learns. Having reversed a decision to spend E900 million ($1.05 billion) on flexible manufacturing capability to build the next-generation Focus at its 39-year-old Genk assembly plant, Ford is expected to announce before year's end where

By Eric Mayne • Nov. 1, 2003

Is It a Fake or Real Auto Part?

DEARBORN, MI From brake-shoe linings made from shredded grass to fully assembled counterfeit engines, imitation parts are becoming a serious issue for auto makers, their suppliers and their dealers. Counterfeit parts have become so pervasive, the automotive industry has trouble determining the full impact. That's what Tom Strohm, general director-marketing for General Motors Corp.'s Service and Parts

By Cliff Banks • Nov. 1, 2003

Jeweler-Turned-Dealer Builds Facility Gem

Champion Motorsport, a new subsidiary of Champion Motors, the world's largest Porsche dealer since 1989, is building a new 22,000-sq.-ft. showroom, service and design facility in Pompano Beach, FL. Designed by architect Neil R. Duputy, the new structure will be completed this year and sport the same design construction in its central cylindrical section as the Epcot Center at Disneyworld. Champion

Oct. 1, 2003

What’s After Zoom-Zoom?

HANTILLY, France What's after for Mazda Motor Corp., which has centered its advertising campaign worldwide on the catchy slogan, sometimes whispered, sometimes chanted to the beat of not-so-distant drums? It's been so successful in the last year that it's almost become a global catch phrase. But no ad campaign lasts forever, even though some enjoy greater longevity than others. Were it creatively

By Steve Finlay • Oct. 1, 2003

Profitable Prius

Toyota Motor Corp. traditionally has viewed its gas-electric hybrid technology as a solid investment for the future, but officials say the '04 Prius will be profitable from the get-go. If we couldn't make a profit, we wouldn't be doing it, says Ernest Bastien, corporate vehicle marketing manager, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. The auto maker claims the first-generation Prius, which launched in the

Oct. 1, 2003

Testbed Hotbed

It may be the birthplace of the Big Three, but southeastern Michigan increasingly is playing host to the Asian auto makers as well. A trio of recent announcements by Toyota Motor Corp., Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp. amount to significant investment in the Ann Arbor area. Toyota's effort, a production design center, aims to make North American concept cars production-ready, while Hyundai

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Oct. 1, 2003

Popular GMAC Conference Rescheduled to November

GMAC's popular national F&I conference is Nov. 19-23, moving from a May date, but remaining in the same locale the Double Tree/Paradise Valley Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ. Approximately 250 dealers with General Motors Acceptance Corp. provider agreements took part in last May's conference. It includes seminars, social events and exhibits. Cost of the impending conference is $1,900. A guest package costs

Oct. 1, 2003

Power of 3

In one of the most significant redesigns in the 50-plus-year history of its V-8 engine architecture, General Motors Corp. powertrain engineers are developing a new 3-valve-per-cylinder layout for GM's overhead-valve V-8 and V-6 engines. The new 3-valve design is meant to enhance the performance of the OHV V-6 and V-8 engines currently using 2-valve-per-cylinder layouts that GM prefers to the overhead-camshaft

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2003

F-150 Hits Info Superhighway

With the efficiency of a computer virus, Ford Motor Co. spreads its '04 F-150 marketing message in cyberspace. In a 1-day push on Sept. 4 that coincided with the launch of a campaign aimed at National Football League fans, Ford exposed its redesigned flagship to 75% of the Internet's portal traffic with high-profile ads on Yahoo!, MSN and AOL. The auto maker also launched an animated, interactive

By Eric Mayne • Oct. 1, 2003

Immaculate Conception

DRESDEN, Germany Rich parquet floors, a 5-star restaurant, interactive displays and a climactic burst of light and music serve as the prelude then cylindrical doors open to reveal a customer's new Volkswagen Phaeton luxury sedan, ready to be driven home. Welcome to Die Glaserne Manufaktur, also known as the Transparent Factory, in historic Dresden, a city restored to its culturally rich past on the

By Alisa Priddle • Oct. 1, 2003