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

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

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

FORD DEALERS DIG IN DURING THE FIRESTONE SUV TIRE RECALL FIASCO

Jolted by customer and factory squabbling in one of the most publicized recall crises of modern times, Ford dealers are taking remedial action to protect their reputations and that of the products they sell, particularly the segment-leading Explorer SUVs.Ford's decision to allow Explorer owners to choose their replacement tire brands - an industry first - was welcomed by dealer leaders, like Jerry

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000

Tech & Trends

Plant Magic: Honda's At It Again Another manufacturing revolution from the masters of the quick changeoverEAST LIBERTY, OH - By now, it's generally accepted that Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s got a pretty good handle on the manufacturing thing.We began to acquire a close-up understanding when formerly faraway Honda started assembling vehicles in the U.S. 18 years ago. Since then, the industry (and the media)

By Bill Visnic • Oct. 1, 2000

Arrow Chevrolet’s web site appears right on target

Phil Fagen, Arrow Chevrolet's general manager, does not envision purchasing vehicles online as a standard practice in the future. Instead, he expects the future of vehicle shopping will be much the same as it is today - prospective buyers using the Internet to search for information about the vehicle they wish to purchase, then heading for the dealership to do business.Mr. Fagan believes that advertising

By Cliff Banks • Oct. 1, 2000

Good Lord! They called these the good old days?

Forty years ago, a General Motors executive summed up the retail automobile market with the phrase, "There are two types of automobile dealers, Chevrolet dealers, and those who would like to be Chevrolet dealers."Big Three dealers were as prolific then as corner drug stores. In the Greater Boston area, there were 34 Chevrolet dealers. Now there are a dozen.Selling agreements among all manufacturers

By Nat Shulman • Oct. 1, 2000

Which way is GM going as it reinvents itself?

General Motors Corp.'s reinvention is under way. But does anyone have the answer to this inquiry: Which way is it going?It's hard to tell, even for some of the company's closest observers.GM rolls into 2001 with several key new products - including the quirky Pontiac Aztek - that finally address the shortcomings of some divisions. But market share continues to decline, "brand management" increasingly

By Brian Corbett • Oct. 1, 2000

Toyota Will Use Technology To Improve

Toyota Motor Corp. is accustomed to being everyone's target, whether it be for quality, customer satisfaction, manufacturing efficiency or market acumen. But Toshiaki (Tag) Taguchi, president, Toyota Motor North America Inc., says even Toyota needs to improve.And quickly.In his Wednesday presentation here, Mr. Taguchi says one of Toyota's overriding priorities is to capitalize on fast-moving new technical

By Bill Visnic • Sept. 1, 2000

Can Chevy Recapture Its Glory Days?

Maybe, but getting back to 3 million sales is an uphill climb It was a snowy, blustery December morning in 1972. Reporters had been summoned to the General Motors Corp. Building in midtown Detroit for a continental breakfast to celebrate a remarkable occasion. Chevrolet was closing in on a phenomenal feat: 3 million sales and an awesome 25.5% of U.S. total car and truck deliveries that year.The final

By David C. Smith • Sept. 1, 2000

Brazilian Revolution

GM's Blue Macaw finally takes flight GRAVATAI, Brazil - No one would blame Mark T. Hogan if he had no intention of attending the July 20 inaugural festivities for General Motors Corp.'s $554 million "Blue Macaw" small-car project, located here in Brazil's southern-most state of Rio Grande do Sul.Surprising, perhaps, given that Mr. Hogan spearheaded the top-secret project back in 1997, when he was

By BARBARA McCLELLAN with Sol Biderman • Sept. 1, 2000

PORSCHE SELLS EMOTION, YOU CAN TOO

IT'S A COMPETITIVE WORLD OUT THERE AND mainstream, high-volume manufacturers like Ford and General Motors make no secret that they're embarking on grass-roots marketing campaigns for their models.Ford launched its new Focus by taking the vehicle to college campuses and other places where its target audience "hang out." It's now a hot seller. Other manufacturers talk of tapping into the loyalty and

By Tim Keenan • Sept. 1, 2000

Honda moving cautiously in e-commerce

Although talk swirls constantly about the magic bullet of OE-supplier e-commerce and its potential for saving automakers vast sums, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. isn't buying it.Larry Jutte, vice president and general manager - Motorcycle and Powertrain, Parts and Procurement, Honda of America Manufacturing Inc., says Honda simply doesn't do business with suppliers in the fashion implied by suggested models

By Bill Visnic • Sept. 1, 2000

Ford’s Rushwin: Cultural Differences Go Beyond the Obvious

The Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute SUV was the first new vehicle platform from Ford that truly was developed by two separate brands with two separate international cultural traditions says Shamel Rushwin, Ford's vice president of manufacturing. Marrying the two very different design and engineering traditions involved dealing with many issues besides the obvious, he adds.For instance, Ford program teams

By Drew Winter • Sept. 1, 2000

STORE GOES FROM “PITS” TO PINNACLE

500's lone VW dealer a San Jose `brand' In the first full year of the new Beetle, a 30-year Volkswagen dealer who started out with the "old" Beetle has scored a Ward's Dealer Business 500 first.As the only VW dealer on the Top 500 for 1999, Bob Lewis Volkswagen amassed $86.1 million in gross sales, surpassing all other VW dealers and finishing in 340th place.That record performance, achieved in the

By Maynard M. Gordon • Sept. 1, 2000

Dodge and Ford COMBATT for Contract

U-M conference participants had a chance to take a ride on what DaimlerChrysler Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are doing battle over: the Army's new Light Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (LTWV).Both COMBATT (Commercially Based Tactical Truck) vehicles roll off the same line as their civilian brothers, the Ford F-350 and Dodge Ram 2500, but each get military treatment upon enlistment, donning flat olive drab paint

By Brian Reuwee • Sept. 1, 2000

Ford Customers Job 1

Ford has spent a lot of time and money during the last two years cobbling together a cohesive message, which spans everything the company does, that the customer is Job 1.Louise Goeser, Ford's quality vice president, continues hammering the message at the U-M conference Aug. 10 when she talks about the company's Consumer Driven Six Sigma effort.Obviously, customer satisfaction is a key to Ford's transformation,

By Frank S. Washington • Sept. 1, 2000

Szygenda: GM Transforming into an E-Company

Trying to counter the notion that General Motors Corp. is a stodgy "old economy" company caught flat-footed by the Internet revolution, Chief Information Officer Ralph Szygenda argues that GM began a company-wide integrated e-business program beginning in 1996 and now is well along in the process of adapting to the new e-economy.Among the first changes GM began to make four years ago was to spin off

By Drew Winter • Sept. 1, 2000

Ford Gets Lucky; Customers are Still Job 1

You can say, Ford Motor Co. got "lucky"Aug. 9.The Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. voluntary recall of 6.5 million tires, which are the target of a regulatory investigation, allows Ford to continue to market its goal of becoming the world's leading consumer company for automotive products and services.Many of the tires in question are standard equipment on the Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer. It would

By Frank S. Washington • Sept. 1, 2000

Not `Core’ Anymore?

Investment, speed-to-market pressures may take powertrains off automakers `must-do' listThe heart of the automobile or just another expensive component better farmed-out to independent suppliers?That's the question the auto industry is wrestling with as it weighs the importance of maintaining an infrastructure for developing and building home-grown engines and transmissions against Wall Street pressures

By DAVID E. ZOIA and BILL VISNIC • Sept. 1, 2000

SUBPRIME MOVES FROM SIDELINE TO F&I

As new-vehicle sales level off and dealer profits face even tighter limits on showroom volume, the importance of subprime financing is becoming increasingly essential for dealers of all sizes and brands.Special financing is no longer an F&I sideline. It's key for dealers seeking to maintain overall profits.Says finance and sales manager Bruce Werner of Ernie Haire Ford, Tampa, FL, "Dealers without

By Maynard M. Gordon • Sept. 1, 2000

DaimlerChrysler launches Five-Star Market Center

DaimlerChrysler Corp. has launched a nationwide Internet-based marketplace, called Five Star Market Center, that gives its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers the opportunity to purchase products and commodities at volume discount prices."The Five Star Market Center is focused on improving our core business by adding value through a combination of two of our greatest strengths - the best dealer relations

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

New Manufacturing System Gives Honda Flexibility

Flexible manufacturing processes and close cooperation between its production and R&D operations have enabled Honda Motor Co. Ltd. to become the first automaker in North America to build minivans and sport/utility vehicles (SUVs) together on the same line, says Frank Paluch, chief engineer, Honda R&D Americas Inc.The Acura MDX, Honda's first foray into the full-size luxury SUV market, will be produced

By Laurel Wright • Sept. 1, 2000

NO GM BOMBS MEANS NO DEALER WARFARE

GENERAL MOTORS IS GETTING ALONG BETTER WITH its dealers these days after the big battle of 1999.So says John Middlebrook, GM's vice president of vehicle brand marketing.Last year, GM dropped a bomb when it announced plans to buy nearly 800 of dealerships. GM dealers threw a fit. It turned into a mess for GM. But then its top executives - from the chairman on down - went to the NADA convention in Orlando

By Steve Finlay • Sept. 1, 2000