Video e-mails enliven dealers’ messages to customers

Two Texas Chevrolet dealer-ships are among the first businesses on the web to utilize video e-mail technology, according to Peter Martin Jr., founder and president of ExpandMail.com.Friendly Chevrolet, in Dallas, and Graff Chevrolet, in Grand Prairie, are using it to distribute customized vehicle information and personal messages to online car shoppers.When consumers contact Graff Chevrolet's web

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

BMW allows customers to “build” and finance their vehicles on-line

While most automobile owners fondly recall the exhilaration of driving their new car for the first time, few relish the memory of spending hours filling out financing paperwork at the dealership.Now, on-line tools from BMW Financial Services are simplifying the buying process by allowing customers to complete paperwork from their home, office or hotel room.Prospective BMW buyers in all 50 states now

Oct. 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

Former all-American uses football lessons to run dealership

HINGHAM, MA - Scott Shulman is not the typical dealer's son who took over his father's business. Nor is he a typical former athlete who runs a dealership.A typical boss's son might consider maintaining the status quo when he takes the reigns of the dealership. A former football player might try to trade using his name. Neither applies for the son of legendary Boston Chevrolet dealer, NADA director

Oct. 1, 2000

New Goodies Abound on ‘01 Models

From soft tops to cool bottoms, supplier contributions to '01 models are plentifulEver driven a Jeep Wrangler? Did the experience leave you with ringing ears or loose fillings? OK, that's harsh, but you have to admit the Wrangler requires a hearty disposition. Experience in a saddle doesn't hurt.The 2001 Wrangler sets out to silence some of that criticism. It arrives with a new soft top that reduces

By Tom Murphy • Oct. 1, 2000

Is the new Mercedes C-Class a woman’s car? No, but . . .

Is the C-Class Mercedes-Benz a woman's car?Well, not entirely. But half the C-Class buyers are affluent women. So, Mercedes-Benz USA plans to target women in its marketing of the redone 2001 model."It's not about `pink' marketing; I don't want to feminize the vehicle," says Karen Makris, C-Class product manager. "But we'll be stressing things that women are interested in such as safety, security and

By Steve Finlay • Oct. 1, 2000

Metroautomall.com connects but refuses to compete with local dealerships

What is believed to be the first online shopping service directly linked to dealer web sites has opened for nationwide business with a substantial investment from longtime Chevrolet dealer Stanley Graff, of Grand Prairie, TX.On the Internet as metroautomall.com, the Dallas-based web site has compiled a data base of about 29,000 franchised and independent dealers since completing a year-long local

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000

Saab not A-1 yet but its future is looking better than before

The future is uncertain for Saab Automobile AB. The upcoming year will bring not only several new niche models but also a change in the ownership structure of the company.General Motors Corp. and Investor AB now share 50/50 ownership of the company. But GM soon must decide if it will buy all or a portion of Investor's shares. If GM decides it does not want the company, Investor has the option to force

By Andrea Wielgat • Oct. 1, 2000

Ernie Boch commands vast empire south of Boston

NORWOOD, MA - Driving down the heavily dealered Route 1 in Norwood, MA, south of Boston, one might think that every automotive retail outlet was owned by one Ernest J. Boch. They aren't, of course, but most are.He has a Toyota dealership on that strip, an Oldsmobile store, a Kia franchise, a Mitsubishi store, a used-car operation and a state-of-the-art Honda store under construction. His Subaru distributorship

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 2000

Atlanta’s Wade Automotive opens third dealership

Wade Automotive dealership count now stands at three, with the opening of Wade Lincoln Mercury in metro Atlanta's Alpharetta.Alan Arnold and Keith O'Daniel own the dealership. It's on a 10-acre campus occupied by three buildings, covering 75,000 sq.-ft.Wade has been in business in Atlanta since 1933. Alan Arnold's father, A.C. Arnold, began working for Wade as a parts clerk at its first dealership

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

Nissan shows vital life signs

We won't have to wait much longer to see if the Nissan Revival Plan has any chance of reviving the automaker's moribund car lines.Not launched yet, but just around the corner in calendar '01 are an all-new Altima that Nissan insiders swear will wear genuine sport-sedan credentials, and the promise of several hot entries for both Nissan and the upmarket Infiniti division.But staying with the '01 theme,

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2000

Another Southern California Cadillac dealer miffed at GM

RE your August, 2000 edition's story headlined, "Cadillac dealer says two's a crowd in San Bernardino County, CA."My family has owned Cadillac dealerships in Southern California for over 62 years, and I am the third-generation dealer. We operate two exclusives: Crestview Cadillac in West Covina and Bewley Allen Cadillac in Alhambra.Surviving as a Cadillac exclusive is very difficult indeed. The closed

By Scott H. Allen • Oct. 1, 2000

JACKSON LEAVES MERCEDES FOR AUTONATION

When AutoNation Inc. founder W. Wayne Huizenga announced this summer that he was looking for a new CEO, he said he wanted someone with a strong automotive background.He got what he wanted. Michael Jackson, president of Mercedes-Benz USA Inc. and a former top Mercedes dealer, this month takes the helm at AutoNation, the nation's biggest dealership group.Mr. Jackson succeeds Mr. Huizenga and Steven

By Mike Jackson • Oct. 1, 2000

AUTOTOWN CONVERTS FROM LEADS TO MANAGEMENT

Jerry Daniels spent 15 years operating a Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealership in Menlo Park, CA, before selling his store and founding AutoTown.com as yet another of the Internet referral companies that leapt into business during the last couple of years.While he was providing leads to his dealer clients, he researched and discovered that fewer than half of the leads he was providing were getting phone calls

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 2000

IN QUEST OF THE IDEALLY NAMED DEALERSHIP

A debate in the dealer world is which draws better: naming the business after the owner or going with a "corporate" or geographical label.Proponents of the personal approach believe a namesake identification with the dealer maintains a warmer image.But with the emphasis on branding, there has been a swing away from the owner's name on the building.New franchises like Lexus and Saturn went with non-personalized

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000

Connecticut dealership gets new owners, new name

Subaru of Branford (CT) has a new name - Premier SUBARU - and new owners, Robert Alvin and his son Robert J. Alvine, who's now the store's general manager.They've doubled the dealership's new- and used-vehicle inventory, hired automotive sales veteran Brian Dubosar as general sales manager and upgraded the store's web site. More hiring as well as property renovations are in the works.The father is

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

HOW TO SELL WELL IN a TOUGH MARKET

Chevy store thrives in AutoNation's homelandPOMPANO BEACH, FL - Growth is a given at Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet, despite problems of doing business seven days a week in a market that's heavy with big-name retail competitors."Southeastern Florida is one of the toughest markets in the U.S.," says owner Louis C. Bachrodt III at his remodeled dealership, which finished 152nd on the Ward's Dealer Business

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000

Here Come the KOREANS . . . Again

Hyundai leads the comeback It was a scene right out of the TV show M superscript *A superscript *S superscript *H. Whirring helicopters swarming in formation over the hardscrabble mountains of South Korea. Up and over one last rise and the landscape suddenly plunges away in a dizzying rush to the sea. Below lay an enormous harbor filled with gleaming cargo ships of every description earmarked for

By Barbara McClellan • Oct. 1, 2000

PeopleFirst.com buys big stake in Giggo.com

DaimlerChrysler's "maverick" online direct lender, Giggo.com, has become a subsidiary of PeopleFirst.com in a transaction providing for a $20 million loan from DC and transfer of 77% of DC holdings in the Dallas-based company.Giggo, which facilitates direct loans to purchasers of all brands of vehicles, and recently rankled some dealers in a pungent series of full-page magazine ads aimed directly

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

Cost control + service/ training = success at Jack Madden Ford

NORWOOD, MA - John P. Madden Jr. admits freely to being a party animal in his younger years, but since the mid-1970s, his focus on Jack Madden Ford on the Auto Mile in this town south of Boston has been intense."In May of 1974, the Middle East shut off the oil and we were really up against it," Mr. Madden recalls. "My father called me in and said, `If you can keep this together, you can have it.'

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 2000

Together Again in the Headlines

Ford, Firestone faced much worse in '78 The 1978 editorial cartoon still is remembered by a few veteran automotive journalists: Two cops stand next to a burned-out Ford Pinto with four flat tires. "The guy was driving a Pinto with Firestone 500 tires," one cop says to the other. "We ruled it a suicide."It was a very bad year for Ford Motor Co. and Firestone Corp.Early in 1978 a jury made a $128 million

By Drew Winter • Oct. 1, 2000

DC: New products suddenly critical to Chrysler bottom Line

The minivan is credited with saving the former Chrysler Corp. in 1983 and it has been a cash cow ever since.To hear some tell it, the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler AG is in need of a white knight again, just as the fourth-generation minivan gallops into showrooms.At press time, forecasts of dire third-quarter results for the Chrysler division are attributed to plant downtime for model changeover,

By Alisa Priddle • Oct. 1, 2000

Subaru has one word: V-6 (is that a word?)

Okay, the buff magazines (and presumably the public) have carped long enough: Subaru has seen the light and will for the first time offer a 6-cyl. engine for its segment-defining Legacy Outback line.Despite gradually pulling up the horses in its 2.2L and later 2.5L I-4s from an original 135 hp to 165 hp, it just wasn't enough for the throbbing U.S. market. So Subaru relents and fits the Outback H6-3.0

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2000

The Stork is bringing a baby Jaguar

After several years of talking about it, 2001 finally brings the long-discussed "baby Jag" to the British automaker's range of vehicles. Due to be launched at the Geneva auto show in the spring, the vehicle will be added to the ranks later that year.Built at the rehabilitated Ford Motor Co. Halewood, U.K., plant, the vehicle is codenamed X400, but rumors say it will bear the T-Type name. Experts say

By Andrea Wielgat • Oct. 1, 2000

European Importers

Consistently beating sales records month after month, Volkswagen AG is riding a virtual sales tidal wave into the new millennium.Thanks to new products and improved quality, VW is enjoying stellar U.S. results. During the first eight months of the year, the automaker's sales jumped 38.5% to 211,629 units.Even VW seems surprised by its U.S. performance. When the company launched the New Beetle in January

By Andrea Wielgat • Oct. 1, 2000

CHRYSLER TOPS IN SERVICE CONTRACTS

Sell 'em a DaimlerChrysler service contract or "convenience package" and the boost in customer loyalty translates into 12% more sales of Chrysler-branded vehicles.That's what R.L. Polk Co. determined in sustaining the automaker's Service Contracts division's nine-year record as the industry's leader in sales of home-brand agreements on Chrysler vehicles."We're forecasting another 1.1 million Chrysler-vehicle-brand

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000