Automakers: Page

Keep it Simple, Stupid

When General Motors Corp. made the bold move earlier this year to make antilock brakes optional instead of standard on a number of vehicles, it sparked quite a debate as to whether would become an emerging trend as Big Three auto makers try to stem further market share erosion by keeping vehicle prices down. Respondents to Ward's 24th Annual Supplier Survey demonstrate how passionate the debate has

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 2002

Dealership group tests the CRM waters cautiously

The Asbury Automotive Group is testing the waters as it prepares to use modern customer relationship management (CRM) in their stores. The dealership group is moving cautiously to avoid drowning in the hype. There's a lot of hype surrounding CRM, says Allen Levenson, chief marketing officer for the 89-store group based in Stamford, CT. He calls CRM one of the most overused terms in business America.

By Cliff Banks • Aug. 1, 2002

Explore the Trendline➔

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

What’s the Frequency, Ford?

So-called nanocomposites are one of the hottest areas in material science today, and Ford Motor Co. has developed a new process for making them that may lead to important new applications for big parts such as body panels. The process uses sound waves to improve the compatibility between the microscopic reinforcement materials and the plastic resin that are used to make nanocomposite parts. Reinforcement

By Brian Corbett • Aug. 1, 2002

BMW FINDS BIG DEMAND FOR NEW MINI

It's the kind of problem most auto makers want. BMW AG can't build the new Mini Cooper compact car fast enough to satisfy customer demand. Waiting lists per dealership are about 200-people long. The wait for the base model is about two months, and some buyers must wait up to seven months for delivery of the performance S model. Through 70 dealers in mainly metro markets, BMW of North America Inc.

By Steve Smith • Aug. 1, 2002

Deliverance

How fitting that Ford Motor Co.'s Special Vehicle Team chooses a southern setting to play possum. Until now, the word understated has never been applied to any SVT product. But it's appropriate here. Still smarting from braggadocio that proved hollow some years back, SVT engineers and publicists purposefully low-ball the horsepower generated by the '03 SVT Mustang Cobra. With poker faces firmly fixed,

By Eric Mayne • Aug. 1, 2002

Ford: Use It Or Lose It!

You want optimism on Ford? Read the other stories. I say that Ford's if you want to call it that, is going badly. Today's problems: There's no inspiring leadership; too many key executives don't know the American market; many of the if you want to call them that, like the plan to kill Escort, Cougar, Continental and Villager minivan were made years ago. And what I've heard of the new product plan

By Jerry Flint • July 1, 2002

Dealership creates an Evel Knievel F-150 Gladiator pickup truck

Beau Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Ford in North Hills, CA, is a lifelong fan of stuntman Evel Knievel. To honor his hero, Boeckmann conceived the Galpinized Evel Knievel F150 Ford pickup. Knievel attended the dealership debut of the truck named for him. The dealership also hosted a luncheon in his honor. I've always been impressed by his courage and determination to come back over and over

July 1, 2002

Daewoo suppliers may ship to GM worldwide

General Motors Corp. has a purchasing team in South Korea investigating ways to export parts from new equity partner Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd.'s suppliers to other GM operations around the world, Vice President Bo Andersson says. The worldwide purchasing executive says a dozen people are spending 90 days in Korea looking at opportunities to export parts to Europe, Mexico and Canada. Our least priority

By Brian Corbett • July 1, 2002

GM’s Jack Smith Set to Cap 42-Year Career

Jack Smith's office at 1660 L. St., General Motors Corp.'s Washington headquarters, is modest compared to his sprawling suite at GM's World Headquarters in Detroit. Not a phone booth, but modest in size and furnishings. Somehow it fits his personality: A small town boy from Worchester, MA, who despite his lofty title as chairman of the world's largest industrial corporation still clings to his Yankee

By David C. Smith • July 1, 2002

70 MERCEDES DEALERS WANTED TO SELL NEW MAYBACH

NEW YORK DaimlerChrysler AG will start selling its new $350,000 Maybach super luxury car in the U.S. next spring after the auto maker nails down which Mercedes-Benz dealers will move the precious metal. We're talking to 200 dealers, and looking for about 70 who are serious, says Fred Heiler, a Mercedes-Benz USA spokesman. Those 200 dealers out of 320 Mercedes dealers in the U.S. overall have exclusive

By Steve Finlay • July 1, 2002

AUTONATION BUYS 2nd BMW STORE

New- and used-car retailer AutoNation Inc. is purchasing Claridge BMW in Fremont, CA. Parties are mum on terms of the all-cash deal. The store had 2001 revenue of $63 million. Owner Tom Claridge will not stay on at the dealership. A letter of intent has been signed. This will be AutoNation's second BMW franchise and its 20th new vehicle franchise in the San Francisco Bay area. AutoNation CEO Michael

July 1, 2002

Lexus boosts its black-owned dealership ranks

Last year was not bad for Chatham Parkway Lexus. The year-old store near Savannah, GA, sold 479 units. Along with Chatham Parkway Toyota, which shares the 9-acre complex, the new enterprise earned almost $1 million. On the face of it, that's no big deal. But Winston Pittman owns Chatham Parkway Lexus. He happens to be black. His store is one of six points that Lexus has awarded to African-Americans

By Frank S. Washington • July 1, 2002

Wolfsburg award goes to Fox

FOX Volkswagen of Rochester, MI, as the top-performing VW dealership in the U.S. and Canada last year, gets Volkswagen of America Inc.'s prestigious Wolfsburg Crest Club Award. Candidates are judged by how well they meet sales objectives, annual volume planning, customer satisfaction, VW parts sold and the number of employees who are certified. It was another year of tremendous growth, Michael Fox

July 1, 2002

Chrysler Wish: No More Gray

Occasionally, when a defective part on a vehicle requires attention, identifying the responsible party is simple. For the Chrysler Group, the significant majority of problems are not so black and white but fall instead into a gray area, where laying blame is extremely difficult, says Peter Rosenfeld, vice president-worldwide procurement and sourcing strategy. To minimize this oft-contentious finger-pointing,

July 1, 2002

SOME CADILLAC DEALERSHIPS GET FRESHENED LOOK

General Motors Corp. is partially bankrolling renovation work at about 150 key Cadillac dealerships so the showrooms better reflect the luxury division's new styling and products. One dealership has done the facelift, and work is underway at 12 more, says Kim McGill, Cadillac director-retail development. About 75 dealerships will complete the upgrades this year, followed by another 75 in 2003, says

July 1, 2002

SELECTED DEALERS SELL SOUPED-UP CADILLAC SLADE FOR $75,000-$100,000

Classic Cadillac in Atlanta, GA, Bud Davis Cadillac in Memphis, TN, Williamson Cadillac, Miami, FL and Cadillac Village, Norwood, MA, are the latest to join the list of XS-500 Escalade dealers. Approximately 20 Cadillac dealers are now building and selling supercharged 500-plus hp XS-500 Escalades. More than twice that number have ordered CoolCharger Supercharger Systems and PowerPak Kits as used

July 1, 2002

Baseball coach hits a BMW homer!

William Avelis, 34, of Kissimee, FL, (left) a minor league baseball coach for the Cleveland Indians, won a new BMW X5 Sport Activity Vehicle in a BMW Financial Services sweepstakes. It was held for BMW credit card owners. Delivering the prize is salesman Steve Deharde at Fields BMW of Orlando.

July 1, 2002

Hemi’s Back For DC’s Heavies

CHELSEA, MI The storied Hemi engine's back from Chrysler Corp.'s past, but this time it's thanks to a little help from its friends. Chrysler's merger friends, that is, at DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit. The claim to fame for the all-new '03 Hemi Magnum V-8 to be launched this fall in DC's all-new Dodge Ram heavy-duty pickups is its unique hemispherically shaped combustion chambers. But an

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2002

Betting on Ford

That sound coming from the future site of Ford Motor Co.'s $250 million supplier park in Chicago isn't excavation. It's the echo of rolling dice. At the table are nine suppliers. But the buzz is that up to six more could join the game, inking long-term leases on plants dedicated to serving Ford's Chicago assembly operations soon to feature a highly flexible body shop. From there in 2004, the auto

By Eric Mayne • July 1, 2002

State-of-the-part facility

What better facility to use as a combined parts warehouse than one that was designed and used as a parts warehouse? The Tonkin Dealerships, a group in Portland, OR, had been planning for years to merge its 10 lines of wholesale parts business into one centralized facility. The company had plans in place for a warehouse facility just south of the city. But when America Honda closed its regional warehouse

By John Yoswick • July 1, 2002

He’s lauded for saving a failing dealership

Lomberto L. Perez's creative use of computer technology and the Internet dramatically turned around a failing South Florida dealership. That's earned Perez and his Autocity Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Homestead a coveted Dealer Innovation Award from the National Automobile Dealers Association. The award goes to franchised car dealers who've improved their businesses through technology. Autocity had been

July 1, 2002

Honda Attacks Another Key Market Segment

Anatomy of auto makers heading in different directions: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. introduced the '03 Pilot, its first-ever Honda-badged midsize SUV on June 3. In the first full year of production, Honda plans to sell 80,000 units of the around-$30,000 competitor for the industry standard Ford Motor Co. Explorer and recently reinvigorated General Motors Corp. stalwart for the segment, the Chevrolet TrailBlazer.

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2002

JM Lexus flexes as new-car powerhouse

JM Lexus in Margate, FL, has been the number one Lexus retailer in the world for the last 11 years. The dealership jumped to 5th on the new Ward's 500 ranking from 11th last year. With $243.6 million in new retail revenue, the store is one of the nation's new-car powerhouses. I guess you could say ego keeps us there, says General Manager David Mullen. He also credits dealer principal Pat Moran for

By Cliff Banks • June 1, 2002

BENCHMARK YOUR EXPENSE CONTROLS

Thanks to automakers' incentives programs, new vehicle sales continue at a rapid pace as we hit the mid-year point. We're on pace for a 17.5 million-unit sales year. Question? In your dealership operation, what is your year-to-date sales and profit trend? Is it consistent or better than your forecast? Is your pace consistent with the industry? The NCM Client database 2002 shows an increase in sales

By Tony Noland • June 1, 2002

The service bays are even air-conditioned

Location, location, location, are Robert Kirland's first words when asked how the service department in his Autohaus Pompano Mercedes-Benz store in Florida has become so successful. Ranked 45th overall on the Ward's 500 and fifth in service revenue, the store has become a model for other Mercedes stores in the country. Five years ago the dealership moved from Federal Highway to Interstate 95 and took

By Cliff Banks • June 1, 2002