Growing Interest for 4-point Seatbelts

Ford Motor Co. took a trio of seats to the Frankfurt auto show in Germany last month to see if Europeans have similar tastes to North Americans when it comes to being strapped in. The carmaker conducted similar seatbelt tests in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show in January. The 2,000 showgoers who tried them favored the 4-point seatbelts over the current 3-point system on all

By Alisa Priddle • Oct. 1, 2001

DEALERSHIP PITCHS IN DURING THE WTC DISASTER

It began as a somber day for Tom Gowen, general manager of Kelle Chevrolet in Howell, NJ. And it got a lot worse. The mother of one of the dealership's principals was being buried that day and the World Trade Center was not even on his radar screen the morning of September 11. But before the day was over Mr. Gowen was to play an important role in the lives of many survivors, bystanders and others

By Herb Shuldiner • Oct. 1, 2001

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

Terror Attacks Stall Industry; Long-term Impact Unknown

September's devastating terrorist attacks on the U.S. continue to hold the country's auto industry hostage. In terms of human loss, the tragic event claimed the life of Linda Gronlund, 46, environmental compliance manager for BMW of North America and former assistant general council for Volvo Cars in North America. She was a passenger on United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, one

Oct. 1, 2001

Can Premier Automotive Group Answer the Call to Save Ford?

Cue the cheesy theme music and hammy narrator Deep inside the bowels of Ford Motor Co.'s world headquarters, the storied automaker's sharpest minds are in a dither. For with each passing day, the news is increasingly dreary. And every dispatch arrives like a punch from an arch nemesis. Dwindling market share. Wham!Declining truck profits. Biff!Waning consumer confidence. Thwump! Desperate, the brain

By ERIC MAYNE with Herb Shuldiner and David E. Zoia • Oct. 1, 2001

Too Hot to Handle

General Motors Corp. says it will debut, by 2005, a motion sensor embedded in headliners that will detect if a child, pet or vulnerable adult is left inside a dangerously hot vehicle. The low-energy sensor, being developed using the automaker's minivans, uses technology similar to Doppler weather radar. It measures the temperature in the vehicle and how fast the mercury is rising. The sensor is delicate

Oct. 1, 2001

UPBEAT DEALER MEETING TURNS SOMBER

THE 2001 NISSAN NATIONAL DEALER MEETING IN Las Vegas was intended as an upbeat event, a pep rally of sorts by a car company that''s coming off some bad years. More than 2,000 dealers, family members and others flew in, ready to get down to business and to hear of Nissan''s comeback plans, leveraged by the redesigned 2002 Altima. Then came the horrible news of the day: terrorists had drilled airliners

By Steve Finlay • Oct. 1, 2001

Survey says body shop technicians’ pay and benefits increasing

Some findings of a survey on collision repair technicians didn't surprise D.J. Shepherd, manager of the Dub Miller Ford body shop in Rosenberg, TX, near Houston. The survey of 400 independent and dealership collision repair shops around the country found that the average age of body shop technicians is rising. Mr. Shepherd says most of his shop's 13 employees are in their mid-40s or older. The survey

By John Yoswick • Oct. 1, 2001

Four-Door Sedan as Benchmark

I would be delighted to tell you that the all-new 2002 Toyota Motor Corp. Camry is a rollicking, rollercoaster of a car to drive. That would fill in the final blank on Camry's job application for Best Car In The World. The Camry, after all, is every competing automaker's benchmark for engineering, build quality, refinement. All-around goodness. But Camry's never been emotional either to look at or

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2001

“Yellow” is the new rebel’s yell! “Orange” may be next!!

Blue is making a car-color come-back. But yellow is gaining ground with motoring non-conformists. So says Alan Eggly, a Ford senior color and trim designer. Before, if you saw a yellow vehicle, it was a school bus, taxi or sports car. Now, yellow -- from bold to subtle hues -- leads Ford Motor Company's vehicle color palette for 2002, says Mr. Eggly. “In the past, it was rare to see yellow on anything

By Steve Finlay • Sept. 28, 2001

GM, Ford announce 0% financing

In an attempt to invigorate sharply declining vehicle sales following last week's tragic attack, both General Motors and Ford Motor Co. this week announced no-interest vehicle loans. The programs are scheduled to run from September 20 through the end of October. General Motors was first to introduce its "Keep America Rolling" program, announcing it early Thursday morning. As early as Thursday afternoon,

By Wire Reports • Sept. 21, 2001

GM, Daewoo Iron Out Last-Minute Details

SEOUL -- After 10 months of complicated negotiations, General Motors Corp. and Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. are poised to sign a memorandum of understanding stating the terms under which the GM and alliance partner Fiat Auto SpA alliance will acquire selected Daewoo assets. Along with Daewoo’s two most modern Korean car plants, the Daewoo Technical Center and Daewoo Motor Sales’ dealership network, the deal

By Vince Courtenay • Sept. 19, 2001

Four-wheel Steering Finds its Home

GMC's Sierra Denali performance truck, formerly Sierra C3, will head into production this fall offering an innovative standard feature: 4-wheel steering. Although the idea hardly is new for passenger cars (several automakers have tried, without success, to feature 4-wheel steering as a performance-handling enhancement), GMC's application is a world-first for the light-truck segment. Called Quadrasteer

By Brian Corbett • Sept. 1, 2001

Audi Pumps Up New A4 with Larger V-6, CVT

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA Audi AG's A4 could, arguably, have been its most successfully car ever. After all, it almost singlehandedly put Audi back on the map in the U.S. And in Europe, the original A4 (introduced in 1995) proved Audi now is serious about competing with the holder of the German-performance crown, BMW AG. But the market moves swiftly now and it's high time the original car was updated. So for

By Barbara McClellan • Sept. 1, 2001

Kia Takes a Big Leap

SEDONA, AZ With the all-new Sedona, Kia Motors Corp. not only takes its first leap into the U.S. minivan segment but also taps into its largest engine ever. And the all-new 3.5L V-6 engine is going to get more play than just minivans. It is slated to power Kia's next entry in the U.S. market a midsize sport/utility vehicle (SUV), codenamed the due out in about a year in the U.S. and most likely to

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Sept. 1, 2001

Ford axes white-collar employees

Describing announced cuts of 4,000-5,000 white-collar jobs in mid-August as an initial action, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jacques Nasser tells reporters the following day that there may be more. Speaking at the Concours d'Elegance auto show in Pebble Beach, CA, he points to what continues to be a sluggish economy as the culprit for the voluntary separation program, saying he sees no turnaround for another

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • Sept. 1, 2001

Teaching tomorrow’s dealership staff is a labor of love and frustration

For 19 years, Jay Knobbe, service director for Bernard Chevrolet, Libertyville, IL has taught automotive technology at a local community college. The extra income is nice and so is the opportunity to observe talent he might one day hire to work in his service department. Mr. Knobbe is a good instructor. He interacts well with his students. He's hands-on and offers an on-the-job perspective to help

By Jim Leman • Sept. 1, 2001

Space Invaders and Asteroids?

What do Space Invaders, Asteroids and a good old-fashioned game of checkers have to do with selling cars? Apparently a lot, if you ask Tom Vann. They're all part of a strategy that has enabled his Chrysler dealership, Team Hillsdale, to more than double its yearly sales total in five years. In that time the dealership in Hillsdale, MI, with a population under 10,000, went from being ranked 260th to

By Cliff Banks • Sept. 1, 2001

Fiat seeks agreement with Brazil metal workers

Fiat Auto SpA is seeking an agreement with Brazil's metal workers union to reduce production and inventory, after sales fall 7.5% in June. The Italian automaker is proposing to split the 30-day workers' vacation into three 10-day vacations until Jan. 31. If the union fails to agree, Fiat would be obliged to dismiss workers, says Osmani Teixeira de Abreu, director of labor relations. Fiat sales fell

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE INTERNATIONAL • Sept. 1, 2001

Chapin Brought Jeep into AMC Fold

Roy D. Chapin Jr., a true who grew up in the auto industry, died last month at the age of 85. Mr. Chapin's father was a founder of Hudson Motor Car Co. in the early 1900s and, after graduating from Yale University in 1938 he joined Hudson. In 1954 Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corp. to form American Motors Corp., and he stayed on as treasurer. Under first George Mason and then George Romney,

Sept. 1, 2001

Powder Metal Use Continues to Grow in ‘02

Applications on several key new engine and transmission programs will increase the use of powder metal parts by 4% in the '02 model year, representing a gain of 1.5 lbs. (0.7kg) per vehicle over last model year, according to industry estimates. For instance, the trade paper American Metal Market says automatic four-speed rear-wheel drive transmissions on the new Chrysler fullsize Dodge Ram pickups

By Drew Winter • Sept. 1, 2001

On the cutting edge

Toyota of Puyallup (WS) principal Glen Sawyer (right) and his daughter and general manager Kerry Bivens are joined by Jeff Bracken, a Toyota regional manager in presenting a ceremonial Kitana sword. It marked the opening of the dealership's new 42,000-sq.-ft. sales, service and administrative center. Mr. Sawyer, a 31-year Toyota dealer, is one of nine among Toyota's 1,200 U.S. dealers to win the importer's

Sept. 1, 2001

THEY’LL BUY IF IT’S FUN, FUN, FUN

Look at Disney World. Do people go there just for the rides? No, you can find rides at local amusement parks. People go to Disney World for the experience. It's the same way at Planet Ford. IT WASN'T INTENDED TO BE ONE OF MY FIRST questions to Randall Reed, but it just came out. How old are you? I said. he said. Forty-two? You look like you're in your mid-20s! Yeah, I know, he said with resignation.

By Steve Finlay • Sept. 1, 2001

RECALLING THAT VISIT FROM PETE ESTES

We toured the entire dealership. Mr. Estes interviewed every employee! His questions were direct. He even wrote notes of employees' suggestions. ALTHOUGH CAR DEALERS OFTEN WONDER ABOUT some auto company executives, two such General Motors' executives gained my lasting respect. The leader by far was Elliot Pete Estes, followed by Bob Burger. I had personal contact with both. I admire them now as much

By Nat Shulman • Sept. 1, 2001

Keys to Planet Ford’s success are tracking and training

Billed as the world's first Autotainment Mall, Planet Ford is a fun place, what with a space-age theme throughout. What other dealership calls its showroom the mothership, its children's playroom Starbase One, and its delivery area a launch pad (complete with a light and sound show to send customers off in style)? But they take selling cars seriously at the 32-acre facility in Spring, TX, a northern

By Steve Finlay • Sept. 1, 2001

GENERAL MOTORS’ EDGY CONCEPT VEHICLES POINT BOLDLY TO THE FUTURE

PEBBLE BEACH, CA Cadillac for some time now has been trying to make its cars more appealing to a younger audience. But the Cadillac Cien concept car not only looks youthful, it looks fast and furious. The sleek and low-slung Cien, with a brute V12 engine, looks like it could go head-to-head with Ferrari and Lamborghini. GM unveiled the Cien (Spanish for 100, acknowledging Cadillac's 100th anniversary

By Steve Finlay • Sept. 1, 2001