Automakers: Page

AUTOBYTEL, GM DEALERS TEST LOCATE-TO-ORDER IN D.C.

Autobytel and General Motors Corp. have selected the Washington, D.C. area and the Chevrolet brand to conduct a 90-day test of the two companies' new locate-to-order business model. The test program will combine the independent all-makes, all-models capability of Autobytel with a new GM locate-to-order vehicle inventory model. The test is designed to help GM and its dealers learn how to create an

April 1, 2001

We’ll Be Rich as Rockefeller

This near-luxury market is strong, no doubt about that. But it's already growing crowded: the Lincoln LS, the Chrysler300M, the Passat V-6 4motion, the Audis, the Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3-series, the Lexus ES300. Bless the world's automakers. They expect that we are all going to be rich. Let's hope it's true. If it isn't, there's a lot of money being wasted on near-luxury models. Have you thought

By Jerry Flint • April 1, 2001

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from WardsAuto

Automakers are evaluating their long-term strategies, revisiting their product mix, and approach to both retail and manufacturing approach along the way.

By WardsAuto staff

Brembo busting out with ceramic brakes

Ceramic composite brake rotors are standard on Formula One racers, and a new era of road-car use is beginning with their optional and super high-cost fitment on bad-boy models like the Porsche 911 Turbo and Mercedes-Benz CLK 55 F1. In addition to outrageous stopping power, the carbon ceramic brakes are claimed to reduce weight by almost 13 lbs. (5.8 kg) per rotor, and they're nearly impervious to

By Bill Visnic • April 1, 2001

CHRYSLER GROUP DEALERS FUME OVER SUBSIDY CUTS

Chrysler Group dealers are fuming about six cuts to their subsidies that Daimler-Chrysler AG will implement as it attempts to stem the flow of red ink. The automaker, on the other hand, is asking its retailers to remember what manufacturer has been dealer friendly during the industry's recent boom. Dealers are upset about the elimination of approximately $125 per-vehicle marketing fees, floor plan

By Tim Keenan • April 1, 2001

Special dealerships are part of Ford’s luxury strategy

They aren’t saying so directly, but Ford Motor Co. evidently has its eye on becoming the leader in the luxury car segment. The leadership is in place, the brands have been acquired and the strategy is taking shape. That includes building dealerships selling all five makes in the Premier Auto Group. It's enough to make other players in the luxury segment sit up and take notice. The first step in Ford’s

By Cliff Banks • March 19, 2001

GM Chairman to Meet with South Korean President

SEOUL --General Motors Corp. officials are declining to comment on whether GM Chairman John F. Smith will meet privately this week with South Korea President Kim Dae-Jung to discuss GM's possible acquisition of Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. GM has been in serious discussions on a possible take-over of the bankrupt automaker since last September. Daewoo reportedly owes creditors $16 billion. Smith is scheduled

By Vince Courtenay • March 8, 2001

SAE 2001: Light-Weight Wheels Get Dressed Up

To satisfy the never-ending quest by automakers to shed needless weight, the Epilogics Group developed its lightweight Kuhl wheel. Now it's adding some upscale styling. Through licensee Hayes Lemmerz International, Epilogics is taking its new chrome clad wheel to market to compete with other upscale wheel trim offerings. The chrome 5-spoke "cover" was developed in cooperation with Lacks Wheel Trim

By Mike Arnholt • March 6, 2001

SAE 2001: Gentex Auto High-Beam System to Bow in ’04 Lincolns

DETROIT – Gentex Corp. says its new SmartBeam intelligent high-beam headlamp control system will make its debut on an ’04 model Lincoln. The Zeeland, MI-based supplier of electrochromic mirrors won’t specify the model, but the new device is likely to bow first on the Town Car, followed by the LS. The system uses a forward-facing CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor developed

By David E. Zoia • March 5, 2001

Automotive Injection Molder Touts E-commerce Capabilities

Covisint, the giant e-commerce portal being developed by GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and several other big automakers and suppliers has gotten the lion's share of attention when it comes to e-commerce in the auto industry, but in fact a lot is happening on the lower tiers as well. A case in point is Nypro Automotive, a Clinton, MA-based molder of precision plastic parts which announced a new "Extranet"

By Drew Winter • March 5, 2001

Unions Follow Separate Game Plans in Wake of DCC Job Cuts

They face a common threat: layoffs, reduced hours and other cost-cutting measures over which they have little control. But in the wake of restructuring plans at DaimlerChrysler Corp. that will cut the workforce by 20% over three years, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) unions are launching decidedly different fights. And, not unlike Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire,

By Eric Mayne, Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2001

Innovation is the Key

Incoming Society of Automotive Engineers President Neil A. Schilke envisions the world's premier engineering organization as becoming a funnel for new technology. Mr. Schilke, General Motors Corp.'s general director of engineering-Corporate Staffs, says he'll focus on SAE's ability to serve as an instrument through which information on the latest industry developments such as 42-volt vehicle architecture

By Laurel Wright • March 1, 2001

In High Demand

Since 1994, Phares Noel had been sauntering onto the campus of Howard University and cherry-picking the best of the historically black college's engineering graduates for the Chrysler Group. But last spring there was but one student waiting to be interviewed when the veteran engineer arrived. Miffed, Mr. Noel complained to the dean, who informed him that of late Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.

By Frank S. Washington • March 1, 2001

HYUNDAI CEO SAYS DEALERS ARE GOOD DEAL

Putting in a good word (actually several good words) for dealers is Finbarr O'Neill, CEO of Hyundai Motor America. He says in a Detroit speech, Not too long ago, people were talking about dealers as dinosaurs in our high-speed, Internet-connected world. Dealers had to change or die. Well, the retail highway is littered with the carcasses of wholesale guys who thought they knew retail. Dealers are

March 1, 2001

Crowning Achievements

It's all downhill now for Ford Motor Co.'s Roger Kim. The 28-year-old designer had been with the automaker for about 12 months when a company executive spotted his roof rack sketch. The first thing he said was, We've got to patent this thing right now, Mr. Kim recalls. The drawing featured an integrated ramp that could be extended beyond a vehicle's roof, and then folded over the rear hatch to create

By Eric Mayne • March 1, 2001

Mercedes Adds Coupe/Wagon to C-Class Family

NICE, France DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz C-Class grows with the addition of a coupe and station wagon and the news that another member might be on the way. And it has all happened in a much more timely fashion than we've been accustomed to seeing Merc add variants to its stalwart sedans in generations past. The coupe the smallest of the C-Class range hits dealerships in Europe in March and

By Andrea Wielgat • March 1, 2001

Supplier WrapUp

Kutner: Suppliers need more minority partners Harold Kutner, group vice president of Worldwide Purchasing at General Motors Corp., encourages Tier 1 automotive suppliers to expand their business with minority-owned suppliers. GM has made a huge commitment to the minority supplier community, but the entire automotive supply chain needs to review their business plans and make the same commitment, Mr.

By Senior Editor Tom Murphy • March 1, 2001

TOYOTA DEALERS TO USE NEW SYSTEM

Toyota Motor Sales is assembling what it expects to be the largest virtual network in the automotive industry Dealer Daily. Once this new system is installed and operating in most Toyota and Lexus dealerships, the manufacturer expects to use it for the bulk of its dealer communications, which will eliminate reams of paper and, as the system develops, save time and money. Dealer Daily will replace

By Tim Keenan • March 1, 2001

FAMILY WAY KEEPS FORD STORE FLYING

It's all in the family at Tom Holzer Ford, a repeat Ward's Dealer Business Top 500 dealer in one of the most top-heavy Ford-dealered markets metro Detroit. One would expect to find mom, pop and the kids dealerships in far smaller regions than the Motor City and its environs. Holzer Ford, northwest of Detroit, serves the cities of Farmington Hills, Farmington and Novi in one of the state's fastest-growing

By Maynard M. Gordon • March 1, 2001

Corolla is a Rightful Car of the Century Nominee

TOYOTA CITY When the Car of the Century winners were announced last year, a conspicuous loser was the Toyota Corolla, the Japanese auto industry's all-time top seller, and specifically the 1993 version, judged by some the best compact ever built. The project manager, Akihiko Saito, still beams when he reminisces about the car. Now 60 and head of product planning, Mr. Saito, son of former Toyota chairman

By Roger Schreffler • March 1, 2001

U.S. Fans Rally Around Impreza WRX Turbo

SAVANNAH, GA Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru automotive unit has been tempting U.S. sports-sedan fanatics for years with the possibility of bringing the Impreza WRX Turbo to this side of the ocean. It has generated such a faithful fan base largely because of the vehicle's performance on the World Rally Circuit. Rally racing joining soccer as a sport Europeans revere and Americans ignore involves

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 1, 2001

New NADA chief offers advice to Big 3

New NADA Chairman Robert J. Maguire urges GM to stop blaming dealers for corporate miscues, prods DaimlerChrysler to meet more often with NADA leaders and scolds Ford for its controversial Blue Oval program. He says in his inaugural speech that factory/dealer relations are a major concern, which has seen significant improvement in the past year. The NADA leadership meets 3-4 times a year with top

March 1, 2001

DaimlerChrysler Restructuring Plan Highlights:

Suppliers to cut costs 15% over two years. Workforce cut 20%, or 26,000 jobs, over three years. Included are 6,800 salaried jobs, of which 1,800 are on contract; manufacturing will lose 19,000 workers in a 15% reduction in capacity. Plants to close include Mound Road, Detroit, engine plant (1,000 workers) in December 2002, its work shifted to the two Mack Engine plants in Detroit; Mexico's Toluca

By Compiled by Alisa Priddle • March 1, 2001

Global Automakers Aggressively Consolidating Platforms

The concept of sharing platforms among different automakers isn't new, but the flurry of automotive mergers, acquisitions and alliances over the past several years now is starting to produce definite plans. Just last month Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. announced they have started co-development of the C-platform, part of the companies' planned platform-sharing project. Renault and Nissan, which

By KATHERINE ZACHARY and ANDREA WIELGAT • March 1, 2001

Kentucky dealer’s Goodwrench Service Center goes after service customers who left the flock

Dealer Tom Gill believes in tracking data. In doing so, he learned one part of his store's operation was way off track. If you track it, you can manage it; otherwise you're dealing with perceptions, not facts, and then it's just a guess, really, says the owner of Tom Gill Chevrolet in Florence, KY. Data told him his dealership failed to keep many service department customers long term. Because I track

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2001

Campaign Marks Ford Racing Centennial

All eyes will be on the Antiques Roadshow in coming months. That's because Ford Motor Co. is on the lookout for a lost heirloom that signifies its storied racing heritage. In 1901, desperate to advance his fortunes as a car builder, 38-year-old Henry Ford challenged the day's pre-eminent racer. In the first and only race of his life, Mr. Ford drove his two-cyl., 26-hp car christened to victory over

March 1, 2001