Automakers: Page 415

Park Cities VW plans new store

Park Cities Volkswagen in Dallas, the largest VW store in Texas, broke ground at the former site of Friendly Chevrolet.Currently sharing facilities with Park Cities Chrysler-Jeep, the new building will be a 40,678-sq.-ft. dealership on 3,891 acres of land. It is expected to be the largest VW flagship store in the nation.Bob Beck and Leo Griggs are partners in the Beck Automotive Group, of which Park

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

Chevrolet cuts into Ford’s market-share lead, looks for future gains

Chevrolet and Ford have been fighting for the top domestic brand title for years. In recent history, Ford has been the king, but Chevrolet is back in the battle and gaining ground.General Motors' bow tie division will sell 2.7 million cars and trucks in 2000, up from 2.61 million in 1999.The division also narrowed the gap with arch-rival Ford from 5% to 4%, says Kurt Ritter, Chevrolet's marketing

By Tim Keenan • 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

Dodge keeps on trucking

"We'd like to sell more conventional cars but..."Even without a Dodge edition of the torrid Chrysler PT Cruiser... Despite the U.S. Chrysler Group's financial problems this year...In the teeth of rough competition in the truck/van/SUV arena...The venerable old Dodge brand has held fast to its third-place ranking in new-car and truck sales and for 2000 should equal or surpass its previous all-time

By Maynard M. Gordon • Dec. 1, 2000

LINCOLN MERC AN EMBATTLED SPECIES?

Well, it's doing terrific in this Texas town SAN ANTONIO, TX- LincolnMercury an embattled species?Not in this home of the legendary Alamo, where North Park LincolnMercury has led the L M list on the Ward's Dealer 500 for the second year in a row, and the only consonants in "Alamo" are "L" and "M.""Lincoln Navigator and Mercury Mountaineer have been real attractions for the core LincolnMercury market

By Maynard M. Gordon • Dec. 1, 2000

THE EYES OF THE FORDS ARE UPON YOU

Henry Ford II once said he could do things other CEOs couldn't do because "my name is on the building."A visitor to Ford world headquarters in Dearborn, MI seldom forgets that this publicly owned company is in other ways still a family business.A statue of Henry Ford II greets visitors in the lobby. That's a start of the Ford family presence in art form.In the lobby of the executive suites is a statue

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

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

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

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

`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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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