GM, Ford unveil biggest and fastest pickups at SEMA

LAS VEGAS - SEMA is as interesting a show for new-car dealers as any auto show. Not only can retailers get an idea of what's coming from the automakers but they can get ideas on what accessories are available to make the new models more profitable.Vehicles revealed at SEMA are usually equipped with the latest and greatest accessories, most of which are currently available or will be soon.This year,

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Dec. 1, 2000

Dealer Website Review

"Oldtimer" brings his dealership into the new-age web world When it comes to the Internet, Ed Rufo of James Corlew Chevrolet - Cadillac - Oldsmobile in Clarksville, TN, has acted like anything but the "oldtimer" he claims to be.Mr Rufo, the dealership's general manager, saw the value two years ago of getting in on what he calls "the wave of the future." He began to transform himself into an Internet

By Cliff Banks • Dec. 1, 2000

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

Ford’s Nasser Upbeat Despite Firestone Fallout

Give Jacques Nasser credit for candor. Asked what he has learned about tires in the wake of the Firestone tire recall, he throws his hands up and replies: "More than I ever dreamed I really needed."Most arrows for Ford and the 32-year Ford Motor Co. veteran and president and CEO since Jan. 1, 1999, were pointing upward until the Firestone firestorm erupted in August, triggering the recall of 6.5 million

By David C. Smith • Dec. 1, 2000

Olds wants to woo the young crowd

Oldsmobile is General Motors' oldest nameplate, with, alas, many of its oldest customers. That has fueled rumors of its impending demise over the last several years.Now it has established itself as GM's up-scale import-fighting division, separating itself from Buick and Cadillac. For Oldsmobile, that repositioning was like a trip to the fountain of youth.Last year, the division dropped the last of

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

Pontiac-GMC’s Lynn Meyers says “Keep the momentum going”

We'll pretty much keep the momentum going we have now, which is very strong," says Lynn Meyers, general marketing manager for Pontiac-GMC, about her 2001 goals for the division she has led for two years.In 2000, Pontiac will sell about 20,000 more vehicles than it did in 1999. GMC, during the same period, could set its eighth straight sales record."We're feeling pretty good about that," says Ms. Meyers.

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

Reinventing the Rouge

Ford merges environmental design with industry icon History is being rewritten at Ford Motor Co.'s manufacturing icon, heretofore known as The Rouge.That name is out. Now it's officially called the Ford Rouge Center.This poster child of the industrial revolution will be replaced by an eco-factory with air and natural light skylights, meadows and a 454,000-sq-.ft. (42,000-sq.-m) roof sprouting groundcover

By Alisa Priddle • Dec. 1, 2000

GM plans to shore up entry-level market share losses

LAS VEGAS - Admitting that nearly all of General Motors' widely publicized market share loss since 1977 has come in the entry level segment, the company's president for North America, Ronald L. Zarella, says the world's largest vehicle manufacturer has a plan in place to regain some of that lost share."In the next four years, we will introduce seven all-new new vehicles in a coordinated effort to

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

In the Driver’s Seat

GM's new CEO is optimistic but ready for a downturn Next time you see a Pontiac Aztek coming down the road, look carefully at who's driving. It might be G. Richard Wagoner Jr., General Motors Corp.'s chief executive officer. The Aztek is his latest company car.It's a fitting choice for Mr. Wagoner. The quirky Aztek symbolizes what is arguably his biggest challenge for the next several years: spicing

By Drew Winter • Dec. 1, 2000

Deville, Escalade catapult Cadillac

The strength of Cadillac's new Deville and its first SUV, Escalade, are expected to give the division a 10% increase in sales in 2000 compared to 1999.Cadillac dealers will sell close to 100,000 Devilles in 2000, up 20% over the previous year. Escalade, which is an admitted re-badge job of a GMC Denali - a stop-gap until a true Cadillac SUV was ready - has been very good for GM's luxury division."The

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

LincolnMercury looks to Mountaineer to boost Mercury side of house

The year 2000 has been an up-and-down period for Ford Motor Co.'s Irvine, CA-based LincolnMercury Division. But, the unit's general marketing manager, Jim Rogers, says 2001 should be more up than down with the addition of a new Mercury Mountaineer SUV.LincolnMercury's total 2000 sales are expected to be down 7% overall from 1999's 614,493 tally. Lincoln sales will be up about 14% while Mercury sales

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

Buick banks on Tiger and Rendezvous to attract younger buyers

A TV ad during the Summer Olympics featured golf superstar Tiger Woods winning a gold Buick, rather than a gold medal. The humor of Mr. Woods throwing an iron instead of a javelin and hitting an archery bull's eye with a golf ball is an indication of the division's attempt to attract a younger audience to its vehicles."We view 2000 as a year when we're setting the stage," says Roger Adams, Buick's

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 2000

Toyota North America

2 million sales target set for American market Toshiaki (Tag) Taguchi doesn't mince words about the space North America occupies in the pie chart of Japan's leading vehicle maker: more than one-third and rising.In fact, Mr. Taguchi, president of Toyota Motor North America, says "the U.S. and Canadian markets not only fit into Toyota's past, present and future but are crucially important to our global

By Mack Chrysler • Dec. 1, 2000

From giddy-up to getting on line

Internet conference participants embrace these fast-changing times SAN DIEGO - Angel Grajales remembers his younger years when he'd get around on horseback. Now he's galloping into the age of the Internet.He's learned a lot about on-line auto shoppers in the year he's been Internet manager at Davis Chevrolet in Houston."People are different," he explains. "Some people dive right into a swimming pool,

By Tim Keenan and Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2000

MAZDA TO BUILD 5-DOOR SPORTY PROTEGE WAGONS FOR 2002 MODEL YEAR

Amid a preview for its 2001 models, Mazda announces that it will build a sporty, five-door wagon for 2002, based on the Protege. The vehicle - called Protege 5 - will debut at the Los Angeles and Detroit auto shows in January.While most details about the new vehicle were kept close to the vest at the surprise sneak preview, it was revealed that Protege 5 will appear in the spring of 2001 as a 2002

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Nov. 1, 2000

Brazil’s Automakers Wage War in a Land of Promise and Crisis

If there's one country where global automakers are drawing their lines in the sand both longer and deeper than any other, it's Brazil. Not only have imports been driving into the market in greater numbers in recent years, but also foreign carmakers increasingly are inaugurating new plants, bringing other new investments along and quickly transforming Brazil into a manufacturing laboratory for innovative

By Barbara McClellan • Nov. 1, 2000

At Large with Dave Smith

Those Jailhouse Blues New safety defect law could be tough on automakers I can't imagine Jac Nasser in prison stripes. As the automotive industry's most smartly, elegantly tailored executive, the image of Ford Motor Co.'s president and CEO behind bars for producing defective, unsafe vehicles simply doesn't fit.Yet, that's what theoretically could happen if he were to be found guilty under a new hastily

By David C. Smith • Nov. 1, 2000

Industry Sets Sights on Night Vision Systems

The jury is in.General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac Motor Car Div., which pioneered the use of night vision with its '00 model DeVille sedan, appears to have a solid hit on its hands - and other automakers are beginning to take notice, suppliers say.Raytheon Corp., which provides the thermal imaging-based system used on the DeVille, says it now expects to sell 500,000 to 1 million Night Vision systems

By Dave Zoia • Nov. 1, 2000

CUSTOMER-FIRST FOCUS UNIQUE AT TOYOTA UNIVERSITY

Highly professional training solves consumer satisfaction shortfalls The problem was the same - whether at Crown Toyota of Knoxville, TN or the top-volume Longo Toyota in southern California. Plainly stated, it was customer satisfaction.That Toyota's 10-year-old Lexus franchise placed high in CSI while Toyota did not has been a heavy-duty problem.Studies by Toyota Motor Sales and Toyota dealers centered

By Maynard M. Gordon • Nov. 1, 2000

Rollovers: Understanding Key to Prevention

Automakers are introducing rollover protection systems at a time when interest in them has never, arguably, been higher.The harsh reality remains that while today's vehicles are equipped with safety features such as sensors, air bags and restraint systems, the 9% of accidents that result in rollover are responsible for a disproportionate number of fatalities.The key to preventing rollover fatalities

By Alisa Priddle • Nov. 1, 2000

FORMER DEALER TRIES SOMETHING NEW

Rob Mancuso gave me a copy of a 1976 Automotive News column my dad did on Rob and his dad, James Mancuso.Rob back then was 25 years old and running the family Cadillac dealership in suburban Chicago. The article centered on him as a young dealer and on his father as a success veteran of automotive retailing.The elder Mancuso trained his son well as a next-generation dealer. Young Mancuso's ads back

By Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2000

Japan Bloodied But Up Off the Mat

Japan finally is joining other nations in rebounding from the crippling 1997 Asian financial crisis. But it's not an easy process - particularly in the automotive sector.With the gradual return of consumer confidence, the country's automakers had hopes of regaining lost ground during 2000.But in a year characterized by equity tie-ups galore, currency problems, several scandals and the recall-du-jour

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Nov. 1, 2000

Nissan settles repossession suit

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco has approved a $68 million settlement of a class-action suit against Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., in which owners of repossessed vehicles said they were asked for payments unlawfully.Plaintiff Yvonne Moultrie claimed the Nissan Motor Co. subsidiary said she still owed payments after her car was repossessed in 1998. The suit was filed on behalf of about 16,000

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Nov. 1, 2000

`Tower of Babel’ Hit by Wrecking Ball

Software to boost quality, close communications gap The "secret" to Japanese quality manufacturing, as exemplified by Toyota Motor Corp. - the acknowledged leader - is no secret to Dale B. Mahrle, president of Quality Measurement Control Inc. based in Auburn Hills, MI."Why are the Japanese so good? Because they use the same designers, engineers, suppliers, diemakers and machinery builders from one

By DREW WINTER and DAVID C. SMITH • Nov. 1, 2000

Small-town dealership maintains a big time web site

Dan Lynch started Lynch Ford's web site two years ago to satisfy what he calls "a demand in the marketplace." Internet shoppers represent an increasing market segment, and having a web presence is important for his Iowa dealership, Mr. Lynch believes.The store's web site is designed to reflect the dealership's commitment to customer service. Lisa Jess, Lynch Ford's Internet service manager, says "The

By Cliff Banks • Nov. 1, 2000

Exports Rule in Thailand Revival

In early 1997, Thailand's auto industry was poised to take its rightful place as the automotive capital of Southeast Asia. Strong sales caused the world's automakers to start setting up shop in Thailand's Eastern Seaboard Industrial State - proudly marketed as the "Detroit of the East."But not everything goes as planned. General Motors Corp., for example, broke ground on its plant just weeks before

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Nov. 1, 2000