Automakers: Page

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

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

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

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

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

UNDER RESTRAINT

It's Aug. 16, 1999. The place: an Oklahoma City courtroom where a jury hears testimony in Clingenpeel v. Toyota Motor Corp. The case stems from a crash involving a '93 Camry. High school cheerleader Amber Clingenpeel was a rear passenger, wearing the only restraint device available to her seating position a lap belt. She listens to the proceedings from her wheelchair. On the witness stand is automotive

By Eric Mayne • April 1, 2002

GM Eyes Option-only ABS

General Motors Corp. and some of its suppliers confirm the auto maker, a long-time proponent of antilock brake systems as a safety feature, is considering making ABS optional on some of its models to keep vehicle prices down. ABS, standard equipment on most GM models since the early '90s, is one of several features GM is considering making optional. Bob Lutz, vice chairman-product development, spoke

April 1, 2002

Chrysler: Not Dead Yet

Bring out your dead, the cart master's English accent rings out in a scene from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I'm not dead, is the feeble but persistent cry from an old man not ready to be tossed onto the cart. I'm getting better. You're not fooling anyone, you know, says the cart master, reluctant to move on. In the eyes of the onlookers, his fate has been sealed and no amount of protesting

By Alisa Priddle • April 1, 2002

Need an IRS ASAP?

Look what Ford Motor Co. has started. With the addition of independent rear suspensions (IRS) on Ford Explorer/Mercury Mountaineer and the upcoming 2003 Lincoln Navigator/Ford Expedition, surely every SUV producer will clamor for IRS. That appears to be the hope of at least two prominent automotive suppliers that are ready to take IRS to an even larger audience. Both ArvinMeritor Inc. and American

By TOM MURPHY and BILL VISNIC • 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

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

Next-generation Mustang to stay true to its roots

Mustang will not suffer through a mid-life crisis, as did Thunderbird, says Ford Motor Co. designer Mark Conforzi. The model's next generation will remain true to the vehicle's roots, assures the lead member of Mustang's design team. We do want all our vehicles, in all cases, to be contemporary, he says. We don't want old-fashioned cars. That was key when we developed the ('02) Thunder-bird. It is

March 1, 2002

GM tries to get dealers to sign off on Oldsmobile

Most of the dealers who sell General Motors Corp.'s dying Oldsmobile brand came to the national auto dealers' convention hoping GM would offer some new financial help for them, or even reverse course and decide to keep Oldsmobile going. But GM executives, in meetings with dealers, reiterated plans to kill the century-old brand by 2004, and said they saw no changes in the buyout offers. GM has mostly

March 1, 2002

FORD TO BUILD GT40; BILL FORD JR. APPEARS IN NEW ADS

Ford Motor Co. will build the GT40 a modern version of an historic two-seat supercar and CEO William Clay Ford Jr., despite some initial reluctance, is appearing in a series of new ads. Ford Div. President James O'Con-nor and a GT40 that shared the stage with him got a standing ovation from Ford employees and several dealers in the crowd as he announced that the car will be built to celebrate the

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2002

Lutz’s 6-Month Report Card

Bob Lutz turned 70 in February, the average age more or less of traditional Cadillac DeVille and Buick Park Avenue buyers. But Lutz is no geezer. He drives hot cars and motorcycles, flies his own jet and maintains a swirling pace at General Motors Corp. more fitting for one half his age. By now, everyone knows that the former Chrysler Corp. executive was recruited last summer by GM President and CEO

By David C. Smith • March 1, 2002

Covisint keeps HQ in Southfield

Covisint had an attractive offer to occupy six floors in downtown Detroit's Renaissance Center, but the automotive Internet exchange spends a little more money to keep its world headquarters in suburban Southfield, MI. The company decided against the Ren Cen because it did not want to be too closely allied with General Motors Corp., which is moving its world headquarters there. GM helped form Covisint

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

Chicago Auto Show

CHICAGO Ford Motor Co. had plenty of news to make here at the Chicago Auto Show in February, what with the arrival of the new SVT Mustang Cobra and the announcement that the auto maker's plant here in the Windy City will assemble the CrossTrainer in 2004 (see story, p.23). But the No. 2 auto maker gave equal billing to a year-old story: the propping up of Mercury. It was a year ago at Chicago that

By TOM MURPHY and KEVIN KELLY with Eric Mayne and Brian Corbett • March 1, 2002

CAN’T GET NO (COMPLETE) SATISFACTION

PAT LIND SUGGESTS REVAMPING CUSTOMER satisfaction surveys. Critics claim they're misleading. Lind cites the woes of a GM dealer who said here in January that most of his customers give his dealership a very satisfied score, but GM nevertheless wants more than that. The automaker wants completely satisfied scoring. The GM dealer says the automaker unfairly claims he has a customer satisfaction problem.

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2002

How 2 Hands Can Turn 4 Wheels

So far, General Motors Corp. is using its Quadrasteer 4-wheel steering (4WS) system exclusively on fullsize trucks, but supplier Delphi Automotive Systems predicts the chassis technology will be applied to more than just long wheelbase vehicles by 2007. A Delphi official sees Quad-rasteer expanding into minivans within five years, and possibly commercial trucks and cars. GM is so confident that 4WS

March 1, 2002

DON MASSEY SELLS DEALERSHIPS EN MASSE

For a couple years now, rumor was that Cadillac king Don Massey was planning to sell his 16-store empire. The 73-year-old dealer would coyly dodge questions about such a deal. But rumor turned to fact as Massey, in his biggest sale ever, sold his high-end chain to Sonic Automotive Inc., a dealership consolidator. It runs 165 dealerships and ranks No. 2 on the Ward's Dealer Business Megadealer 100.

March 1, 2002

SUPER STAR MEL FARR AND FORD PART WAYS

Mel Farr is trying to keep a positive attitude about the closing of his two Ford dealerships in Waterford and Oak Park, MI, suburbs of Detroit. Farr, once a top megadealer, now plans to pursue a dream of opening a used-car superstore and new-car stores in Detroit, says his spokeswoman Charlene Mitchell. Mitchell confirms that Farr will be making a complete break from Ford, and will soon sell his minority

By Christie Schweinsberg • March 1, 2002