Automakers: Page 401

Texas-style dealership opening

The cowboy hats were on for the grand opening of the Beck Automotive Group's Park Cities VW in Dallas. From left are operating partner Leo Griggs, VW of America VP Frank Maguire, Mayor Ron Kirk, VW of America President Gerd Klauss and managing partner Robert Beck.

Feb. 1, 2002

Can the Chrysler Group just get a break?

Last year, Chrysler reorganized its field organization into five regional business centers. The idea was to allow the company's field staff to make decisions on vehicle content, incentives and marketing in each region. The shakeup was intended to make the company leaner and allow it to directly service dealers in their local market. But has or will the reorganization help Chrysler boost sales? Although

By Frank S. Washington • Feb. 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

GM Drops Its Stake in New Venture Gear

New Venture Gear, the powertrain joint venture formed in 1990 between DaimlerChrysler Corp. and General Motors Corp., is being dissolved. DCC, which had a 64% stake in the venture, will assume complete ownership of NVG. The operation will remain a separate company and continue to independently manage its business with GM and other customers. GM relinquishes its stake in NVG but will manage its plant

Feb. 1, 2002

GM market share up; Ford vows to break even

General Motors Corp. reports earnings of $1.5 billion on revenues of $177.3 billion in 2001 a year rife with unprecedented retail challenges. GM's results are down from earnings of $5 billion and revenues of $183.3 billion in 2000. The No.1 auto maker earned $255 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $609 million in like-2000. Halting eroding North American market share up to 27.6% from 27.5%

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

Few honor students, but manufacturers’ marks improve over last year

To view grades, click here. Automakers finally seem to be making some progress in their relationships with dealers, according to results of Ward's Dealer Business' second annual Industry Report Card. The Report Card surveyed dealers in December, asking them to assign a letter grade (A - F) to their manufacturer on 11 categories. Dealers gave the manufacturers an overall B this year up a grade from

By Cliff Banks • Feb. 1, 2002

Visteon Battles Ford

Suppliers routinely grouse about pricing from their OEM customers, but to do it in public is rare. When hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, the dispute becomes too serious to contain. Visteon Corp. questions the productivity price adjustments requested for 2001, 2002 and 2003 by its largest customer and former parent Ford Motor Co. It's way too much, Visteon says, exceeding the supplier's

Feb. 1, 2002

King of CAD

Much of the auto industry is contracting and downsizing, but not EDS. The information technology company founded by Ross Perot and later partly owned by General Motors Corp. has been quietly executing a growth strategy that promises to drastically alter the way North American auto makers and suppliers access and trade product data. The strategy began in September 2000 when EDS acquired EAI Inc., a

By Tom Murphy • Feb. 1, 2002

Toyota Financial opens first of three new service centers

Toyota Financial Services' beginnings date to 1983 with a loan for a used Corolla. The company then began opening full-service branches to handle dealer and customer financial services. A local office would get so big, and a new branch would open. Over time, there were 34 branches around the country. But three years ago, the firm began looking at its setup, says George E. Borst, CEO and president

By Steven Finlay • Feb. 1, 2002

Toyota, Honda chase young buyers

Toyota Motor Corp. will finalize plans and launch a third brand to appeal to the youth market in the U.S. within six months. The youth brand will carry its own separate name such as Lexus does for the luxury market and likely will launch with multiple entries. Though a name has not been chosen, it won't be Genesis, which Toyota used internally for its previous youth marketing and design efforts. Meanwhile,

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

Ford slashes 22,000 jobs, four model lines

Ford slashes 22,000 jobs, four model lines Detroit -- Ford Motor Company will slash jobs, close plants and end model lines as part of its long-anticipated restructuring plan to revive profitability. The plan, finally announced Friday, involves cutting 22,000 jobs by 2005 and ceasing production in 2002 of what Ford President Nick Scheele called four low-margin vehicles – the Ford Escort, Lincoln Continental,

By Cliff Banks • Jan. 11, 2002

Mitsubishi Electric adds GM business

Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America has won contracts to provide ignition coil modules and ignition coils to General Motors Corp. for car and truck engines worldwide. The supplier will eventually supply all ignition coils worldwide for GM, tripling Mitsubishi's current business with GM. MEAA will make the ignition coil modules at its plant in Maysville, KY. The plant will be expanded to hande the

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Jan. 1, 2002

Nissan’s Fabulous 3L VQ: Thanks for the Memories

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI It started innocently enough in Japan at a Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. advanced-powertrain discussion in 1990. Engineers believed the company needed to replace its iron-block V-6 engines with a new-generation V-6 design that would be lighter and markedly more emissions-friendly. Five years of painstaking development later, Nissan launched the first of its all-new modular V-6 engine

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 2002

VW-Japan to expand brand range

Being No.1 in Japan's import car market year after year is not limiting Volkswagen AG's ambitions. Next step up is to become a major brand player in the world's second-largest car market. Our goal is not to challenge Honda or Nissan but to become an influential player in the Japanese market with benchmark brands, says Tsutomo Umeno, the new president of Volkswagen Group Japan K.K. We already sell

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE INTERNATIONAL • Jan. 1, 2002

What price peace?

What's your price for a little peace and quiet on the motorway? Delphi Automotive Systems figures it's in the range of $1,500, which may sound outrageous until you consider that a lot of optional equipment (navigation systems and all-wheel drive, for instance) can cost as much or more. On the Internet (www.delphiauto.com), Delphi is selling its seat-top Rear-Seat Audio Video System for $1,495, which

By Compiled by Senior Editor Tom Murphy [email protected] • Jan. 1, 2002

Ferrari picks cream of crop for new Maserati franchises

Ferrari's acquisition of the Maserati marque in 1997 cleared the way for Maserati to focus on global sales growth. After investing $350 million in revamping Maserati's production and headquarters facilities, Ferrari SpA is ready to take Maserati on its largest global expansion in recent years including the opening of several U.S. dealerships. A big milestone will take place in March, when Maserati

By Kevin Kelly • Jan. 1, 2002

Hyundai hobbled by demands for job guarantees

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. may be enjoying record export sales in the U.S. and Korea and record high profit figures, too, but the company's production operations recently were hamstrung by union walkouts that gave executives the jitters and cost the company millions. While workers recently called off the strike after agreeing with management on wage increases, Hyundai reportedly lost $577 million in sales

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE INTERNATIONAL • Jan. 1, 2002

CADILLAC EXT BEATS LINCOLN BLACKWOOD TO MARKET

Cadillac was accused of being a copycat when it unveiled its Escalade EXT luxury sport/utility pickup several months after Ford Motor Co.'s Blackwood debuted, but the roles are reversed regarding first to market. Cadillac began shipping Escalade EXT Nov. 7 and sold 16 units as of Nov 28. Meanwhile, Blackwood, which was supposed to be out earlier this year, currently is being shipped to dealerships,

Jan. 1, 2002

THUNDERBIRD IN THE PINK ALMOST

When Ford Thunderbird's color palette is changed for '03, one of the new hues will likely recall romantic Oceanfront sunsets, the automaker hints. Asked if pink so popular when the first T'Birds were built will be among the new fashion colors expected when two '02 tones are dropped, Mary Ellen Heyde, Ford's vehicle line director-lifestyle vehicles, says: Actually, it was called coral. Sunset coral

Jan. 1, 2002

All-New A4, A6, Too

CHANTILLY, VA An onslaught of new product is making its way into Audi AG's stable in 2002 as the division continues on its path to sell more than 1 million cars annually within the next five years. Although the biggest buzz surrounds the new 2002 A4, there's also a new S6 Avant and a revised A6. The A4 is new from the ground up, taking most of its styling cues from the highly successful A6 sedan,

By Kevin Kelly • Jan. 1, 2002

Dealership body shops face a new competitor: Allstate

It's easy to hear anger in the body shop manager's voice as he talks about the new competitor his Ford dealership in Houston has for collision repair work: a shop down the street. I've had several customers insured by Allstate told they have to take their car there, the shop manager, who asked that neither he nor his dealership be named, says of the competition, one of 39 Sterling Collision Centers

By John Yoswick • Jan. 1, 2002

BMW, GM Change Leadership

A new year often brings with it plenty of new faces in top management at auto makers, and 2002 is proving to be no different. At BMW AG, Joachim Milberg will step down in May as chairman of the parent company's board of management, a year earlier than anticipated. Milberg took over in February 1999 after then-chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder was pushed out in a boardroom coup for failing to revive Britain's

Jan. 1, 2002

Getting It Right

No need to have your eyes checked, and the writer of this story isn't heavily medicated. What you're about to read is actually happening. General Motors Corp. is becoming a leader in manufacturing efficiency and technologies. That was unthinkable only a few years ago. But the auto maker is pulling off a quantum leap for the ages. Just check out the Harbour Report released last June. GM has cut its

By Brian Corbett • Jan. 1, 2002

Global Growth: Ferrari SpA invests $350 million in Maserati venture

BOLOGNA, ITALY – Ferrari SpA is in the final stages of completing its E391 million (US$350 million) investment in the Maserati marque, which it acquired in 1997. The company has invested E111 million ($100 million) in the past three years revamping Maserati’s production facility in Viale Ciro Menotti, Modena, Italy, and plans to invest another E280 million ($250 million) in the next four years in

By Kevin Kelly • Dec. 6, 2001

2001 Tokyo Motor Show: The Quirky and the Quick

Early talk was that this year's Tokyo Motor Show would be more occurring as it did barely a month after the September U.S. terrorist attacks. Subdued, perhaps somewhat, but the auto show here has earned a reputation as the industry's biannual weird-fest and the 2001 edition didn't disappoint. In fact, there may have been more offbeat and bizarre concepts than usual. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. unveiled perhaps

By Alisa Priddle, Katherine Zachary and Bill Visnic • Dec. 1, 2001

GM and Isuzu: partners for pickups

General Motors Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. have joined forces to develop the next-generation S-10 family of small pickups, a program expected to yield 500,000 units annually the largest project undertaken by the two in their 30-year partnership. The Isuzu-badged concept truck, recently unveiled in Tokyo, will give way to production versions for both Isuzu and GM with distinct exteriors. The joint

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