Toyota Moves at WARP Speed

Remember when the fax machine was a techno-marvel, a strange new box that let you send a photocopy of your waving hand to a friend half-way around the world? Today, office administrators can't imagine life without one.But in the manufacturing world, the fax machine just doesn't cut it when compared to the instantaneous nature of communicating on the Internet.A fax machine is good at quickly moving

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2000

Rising to the Top

Harold Kutner has Rick Wagoner's old office in Warren, MI, the one he occupied as president of North American Operations before his ascension to chief executive of General Motors Corp.Thomas Sidlik used to have an office in the Chrysler Technology Center in Auburn Hills, MI, and now has an office with a view of the Chrysler pentastar on the prestigious 15th floor of the headquarters building.Co-Chairman

By Tom Murphy • July 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

Extreme teamwork

SALINE, MI - When Debbie Crispin winds down from a hard day as general manager of Bill Crispin Chevrolet, it's not on a barstool with a brewski.Instead, she straps a 25-pound pack on her back and launches into an intense 50-minute endurance-training workout that would make most of her male counterparts scream "Mama!""It gives me an attitude adjustment. Euphoria. I always feel better when I exercise,"

By Patty LaNoue Stearns and Maureen McDonald • July 1, 2000

Florida dealer hosts college auto show

Autocity Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Homestead, FL, was host dealer at a Miami-Dade Community College auto show, a joint effort to market GM vehicles to students at the school's Kendall campus.A business marketing class created an ad campaign that targeted fellow students. The program aims to give students real-life experience and advertising skills.The dealership provided 14 new vehicles displayed on the

July 1, 2000

Ford taps new Volvo chief

Hans-Olov Olsson, a 34-year veteran with Swedish carmaker Volvo Car and recently president of its North American operations, is appointed president of the wholly owned Ford Motor Co. subsidiary, effective July 1. He succeeds Tuve Johannesson, named president in 1995, who now becomes vice chairman. The shuffle was engineered by Wolfgang Reitzle, head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG), who reportedly

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

DEALER SELLS 4 STORES BUT KEEPS 8

Veteran Cleveland dealer Lee Seidman and Cleveland native Roger S. Penske, both alumni of Shaker Heights High School, agreed on a deal bringing the Penske-led UnitedAuto Group into the northern Ohio metropolis for the first time.UAG purchased Mr. Seid-man's two Mercedes-Benz and two Infiniti stores in the Cleveland suburbs of Bedford and North Olmsted, OH, and appointed James Pilla as president of

July 1, 2000

The Sounds and Silence

It's really getting down to the detail work when the guys over in Engine Development get the call saying, "We've discovered that the Lincoln LS intender wants a throatier exhaust tone. Make it happen."An oversimplification, maybe, but that's pretty much what's going on at Ford Motor Co. (and doubtless in other automakers' labs as well). Ford's even got a catchy buzzword for the work: "psychoacoustics,"

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2000

Renault-Nissan drive ahead in Brazil

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. will invest $300 million in South America over the next five years in an effort to build sales in the region to 150,000 units by 2010. The automaker will use majority-owner Renault SA's factories and dealers, plus the two automakers will unite back-office functions. Nissan first plans to produce the Frontier pickup at the new Renault factory located on the outskirts of Curitiba,

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

SATURN GETS 14 HENDRICK STORES AND $1.5 BILLION ‘INFUSION’ FROM GM

Saturn Corp. has received three "infusions" in an attempt to overcome a somewhat disappointing 2000 model year and regain momentum for 2001.The infusions are headed by a $1.5 billion cash investment from parent General Motors Corp., but also delve into the dealer area.Fourteen Saturn dealerships owned by the Hendrick Automotive Group in four states have been sold to the automaker-owned Saturn Retail

By Maynard M. Gordon • July 1, 2000

A Better Idea for Ford

This month I've decided to push up those poor auto stocks. The carmakers can break sales records every month and profit records every quarter. They buy back stock, and still their stock prices suck.Yes, that is the correct word for heart-breaking P/E ratios of 9 or 10 or 11. The poor partsmakers are worse, and if General Motors Corp.'s stock is the best of the bunch, it's only because GM owns Hughes

By Jerry Flint • July 1, 2000

Kia rolls dice on new U.S. product assault

LAS VEGAS - To put in the local parlance of this gambling mecca, Kia Motors America Inc. appears to be a sure thing.The Korean importer, already on a roll with sales up 17% in the first quarter (including a 30% rise in retail sales) and the second best-selling small sport/utility vehicle (SUV) in America, is planning a string of new models over the next 18 months that will more than double the breadth

By Dave Zoia • July 1, 2000

Blue Oval too Blue Collar?

The unmistakable blue oval that graces millions of Ford Motor Co. products worldwide no longer sits atop the automaker's world headquarters in Dearborn, MI. In a heavily debated move, the more than 50-ft. long Ford oval, which has adorned the "Glass House" since the late 1960s, was quietly stripped from the 12-story building in late May, slated to be replaced by the Ford Motor Co. script "trust mark."Ford

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Lord Vader, Your Z06 has Arrived

AKRON, OH - Not that there was anything wrong with the current-generation (C5) Corvette.Yet for 2001, here we go again, because the engineers, Chevrolet and GM, true to the Corvette's legacy, are pushing the envelope with even more performance and technology. There's even a strong whiff of nostalgia thrown in.Hold your breath, 'cause the '01 Corvette line now includes the modern-day reincarnation

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2000

WTO deals deathblow to AutoPact

The Canadian government's loss in a discrimination case brought on by non-AutoPact manufacturers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. means the likely death of the U.S./Canada AutoPact. Canada will be forced to impose a 6.1% tariff on all overseas auto imports to comply with a ruling by the World Trade Organization. The 1965 AutoPact agreement requires carmakers to build as many vehicles in

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Just a Lot of e-Hype

Auto executives let a few e-confessions slip at a recent manufacturing conference in Alabama.They stayed true to the "e is good" theme in their presentations, but there were a few admissions."At the moment, everything with 'e' as a first letter is hype," says Guenter Klamer, vice president of logistics and information technology and quality management for BMW Mfg. Corp. That said, BMW is working on

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Zafira Brings Thai Plant to Life

RAYONG province, Thailand - The domestic market here is almost incidental to the new $640 million plant General Motors Corp. officially opened May 8. The name of the GM game in Thailand is, in a word, "exports."During ramp up this year, 85% of the 8,000-plus 1.8L Zafira multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) rolling out of final assembly will be shipped overseas, mostly to Europe, where the popular model was

By Mack Chrysler • July 1, 2000

The Ultimate Mustang - Built by You

Apparently, father Ford knows best when it comes to Mustang performance, because the best efforts of any aftermarket tuner would not equal the FR500. The "homegrown" Ford Racing Performance FR500 is what the mass-produced Mustang was meant to be - if it didn't have to fit tamer buyers, too.Ford Racing Technology engineers set out to build FR500 as a parts showcase for Mustang Cobra owners who want

By Brian Reuwee • July 1, 2000

2000 Harbour Report

The home team won a big one last month, and local newspapers gave it a lot of play. For the first time, an auto plant run by a Detroit automaker was ranked as the most efficient in the U.S. and Canada by the annual Harbour Report on auto plant labor productivity.But while Ford Motor Co.'s Atlanta Assembly plant grabbed the headlines by winning a high-profile battle with Japanese automakers, the Harbour

By Drew Winter • July 1, 2000

Pains, Gains and Automobiles

It doesn't seem that long ago that Americans in the auto industry were decidedly territorial, swinging sledge hammers at Japanese imports at union rallies and eager to castigate foreign automakers for intruding on U.S. soil.These sentiments are rarely heard today. Besides creating thousands of jobs for Americans, foreign automakers and suppliers have made U.S. automakers more competitive merely by

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2000

Rearview

39 Years Ago In an age of new-model closed introductions, Ford Motor Co. in July 1961 publicly unveils details of its upcoming '62 Mercury lineup. The reason, according to auto industry insiders, is to help quash persistent rumors that the Mercury brand is going to follow the recently de-ceased Edsel into oblivion.In the same month, Chrysler Corp. President and Chairman, Lester Lum (Tex) Colbert asks

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Ford Wins Bid for Daewoo

SEOUL--Ford Motor Co. today sped past international competitors to be named the sole bidder for the insolvent Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. Sources here say Ford bid $6.9 billion, besting archrival General Motors Corp.'s initial offer of $6 billion last May. GM's bid this time is said to have been between $4.2 billion and $5 billion. A spokesman for the committee representing Daewoo Motor's creditors said

By Vince Courtenay • June 29, 2000

Is Ford/Daewoo a Better Fit?

SEOUL-- Partial employee-ownership of Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. by Daewoo employees is one of the possibilities Ford Motor Co. is studying in its current bid for the flagging No.2 Korean automaker Ford Vice Chairman Wayne Booker tells Ward's Automotive International. Daewoo is due to be auctioned off to one of a select group of foreign bidders later this year or early next, with most observers convinced

By Vince Courtenay • June 16, 2000

Ford at $150 a Share?

Don't hold your breath, but if all the "ifs" fall into place, Ford Motor Co. shares on the New York Stock Exchange "easily" could skyrocket to $150 a share within a few years.By contrast, Ford's share price peaked in May 1999 at $64 plus change, and its low over the last year was $40.69 in March. In mid-May it was trading in the $53 range.The $150 scenario is painted by John Casesa, the Merrill Lynch

By David C. Smith • June 1, 2000

BMW rolls out new wagon, convertible

SAN DIEGO - Just in time for a summer of top-down cruising and long-haul family vacations, BMW AG introduces two new vehicles targeting completely different buyers but derived from the same vehicle - the venerable trendsetter, the 3-series.Facing intense competition in a market it pioneered, the German automaker rolls out the 323Ci convertible and 323i sport wagon. Get used to the idea of model variants

By Tom Murphy • June 1, 2000

Holden, Gale skip festivities for Mitsubishi deal

Were former Chrysler Corp. executives conspicuously absent at press events to announce the alliance with DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corp? Nope, says DCC President Jim Holden. The North American arm of DaimlerChrysler AG was integral in negotiations to form an alliance, he says. "The whole board was involved. Tom Gale (executive vice president, product development and design) was in it

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • June 1, 2000