Automakers: Page 419

Auto Talk: GM Rings in Era of e-Commerce

Harold Kutner was hearing bells recently, and it was music to his ears.The General Motors Corp. group vice president is the purchasing chief for the world's largest automaker, but in January he was playing salesman and enjoying it. GM was selling several stamping presses, and it turned to Commerce One, its partner in the newly launched GM TradeXchange, for help.Commerce One, with a Canadian auction

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

Common Ground

The Chinese invented paper, gunpowder, the compass.But these days, if you want to be innovative, you've got to have state-of-the-art technology. And that's where modern-day China lags far behind, says Tai Chan, president of the Detroit Chinese Engineers Assn. (DCEA).Mr. Chan, an environmental engineer who works at General Motors Corp. as Executive Secretary of the GM-China Advisory Board, says when

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 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

Injection Molding for Low-Cost High Mileage

For years, the argument's been "steel versus aluminum" for taking body and chassis construction into a new era. But Daimler-Chrysler AG's recent unveiling of its latest Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) prototype may change that discussion to "steel and aluminum versus plastic."Quietly but resolutely, DC is pushing the envelope in plastic-body engineering. It's latest ESX3 - a prototype

By Bill Visnic • March 1, 2000

Daewoo: Let the Bidding Begin

The world's automotive powerhouses, in an effort to grow mightier, have dedicated teams of experts and major resources to answer one important question: What is the deal with Korea?General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are leading the charge into the largest country in Asia as-yet untouched by the West, with their interest in the purchase of the insolvent Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd.South Korea's No.2

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 1, 2000

2000 Geneva Auto Show

The story at this year's Geneva auto show might just be what isn't going to be there.Virtually every auto journalist expects to see the all-new C-Class on the Mercedes-Benz stand. But Stuttgart's big-selling mid-size sedan won't be showing at Geneva's Palexpo.Instead, DaimlerChrysler AG is holding the C-Class for a show closer to its May launch, hoping to sell out the hefty remaining inventories of

By Andrea Wielgat, William Diem, Giancarlo Perini, Peter Robinson • March 1, 2000

A DEALERSHIP THAT’S TOO TALL?

Few dealerships violate local zoning codes because their buildings are too high.After all, dealership facilities are far from skyscrapers.But Bill Cook of Bill Cook Buick took some flak from the city of Farmington Hills, MI, when he planned to turn his dealership into Buick's sixth "flagship" store.Part of the flagship look is a 42-foot-high clock tower, which at ground level contains a 24-hour information

By Steve Finlay • Feb. 1, 2000

“MR. CHEAP” BUILDS UPSCALE FACILITY

FINDLAY, OH - The home of the "dirt-cheap deal" is moving to new quarters which are far from cheap.Based in a town of only 40,000 and a county of nearly twice that many, Findlay Ford-Lincoln Mercury has achieved such success that its impending new home is a $7 million complex being built right off busy I-75.Owner Stan Kujawa sees the new site as a sign of the growth Findlay Ford-LM has experienced

By Maynard M. Gordon • Feb. 1, 2000

A KINDER, GENTLER TIME FOR DEALERS

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH COINED THE TERM A "kinder and gentler nation." He envisioned the American Dream as too aggressive and unforgiving in its daily pursuits.Mutual distrust has been one of the most glaring dynamics of the relationship between new-car dealers and their manufacturers.Time was when unethical dealers played havoc with warranty reimbursements as factory audit teams descended on the general

By Nat Shulman • Feb. 1, 2000

Auto Talk: OK, Regis, Ask Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn

Regis Philbin stares intently at contestants who have just answered a question on the outrageously popular Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and asks: "Confident?"Carlos Ghosn, who wants to stop billions in red ink flowing from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., needs no prompting: He's confident, so much so that he and his Nissan "revival" team have staked their jobs on a turnaround at Japan's No.2 automaker.A

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Feb. 1, 2000

From dirty warehouse stunning dealership stunning to leadership

Dealer Mike McGrath knew that he faced a formidable challenge: turning a 95,000-sq.-ft. former frozen seafood processing building in downtown Chicago into a dealership worthy of Lexus's affluent heritage.Equally daunting was the task of convincing corporate Lexus that the urban site was worth the major investment."They were a little skeptical about how this big old dirty warehouse could be made into

By Laurel Wright • Feb. 1, 2000

GM and its dealers “kiss and make up”

In 1998, General Motors Corp. had such bad relations with the United Auto Workers, a bunch of strikes broke out. GM spent much of 1999 making peace with the union.Last year, GM relations with its dealers went bad, turning ugly when the automaker announced a plan to buy nearly 800 dealerships.GM dealers went ballistic. They were furious - and said so, publicly. They saw the automaker's move as a turf

By Steve Finlay • Feb. 1, 2000

Truck Models Growing Like Sneakers

It wasn't long ago that a single pair of sneakers was all that you needed to run, walk or jog. Today shoemakers have footgear for every imaginable activity and have most of us convinced that three pair are better than one.Automakers may never be able to aspire to such a vision with vehicles, but the new wave of sport/utility vehicles (SUVs) now coming to market point out that the segment, like footwear,

By SAID DEEP • Feb. 1, 2000

BODY SHOP TRAINING BRINGS HIGH CSI

More than 3,400 tech-nicians have gone through Toyota's body and paint training since it began eight years ago, and it seems to be paying off."We've seen dramatic improvement in consumer satisfaction index and financial performance," says John Saia, technical & body training development manager at the Toyota Training Center in Torrance, CA. "This training is an element of that. It doesn't stand alone."It

By Tim Keenan • Feb. 1, 2000

New Wheels: Focus, Exterra Nail NACOTY, NATOTY Awards

DETROIT - Mass-market customers are well-served by this year's winners of the North American Car and Truck of the Year 2000 awards. Ford Motor Co. beats out Audi AG - and its own Lincoln Div. - with the Focus subcompact besting the other NACOTY finalists, the Audi TT and Lincoln LS.Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. enjoys confirmation of its resurging market acumen, as the popular-with-the-young-buyer Xterra

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Feb. 1, 2000

New Wheels: How High the Moon

LAGUNA BEACH, CA - It doesn't attract gawkers in this hilly southern California beach city as we tool down the main drag, Highway 1, some 45 miles (72 km) from Los Angeles.That's because outwardly it doesn't look much different than a standard 2000 Buick Regal. And you wouldn't mistake it for a typical convertible with the top down, even though it is indeed a "convertible." From the side it looks

By David C. Smith • Feb. 1, 2000

2 new Internet ties: GM-AOL, Ford-Yahoo!

GM and Ford forged agreements with two of the biggest sales and marketing players on the Internet, America Online Inc. (AOL) and Yahoo! Inc., respectively.Adding substantial clout to other Web site arrangements and their own cyber services, GM said that by midyear it would tap into AOL's 20 million subscribers, while Ford looked forward to reaching the 105 million users of Yahoo's programs."We already

Feb. 1, 2000

The Contrarian: Heaven Can’t Wait

Cole: Ed Cole reporting as ordered, sir.Gabriel: We're sending you back, Cole.Cole: I thought we never went back, sir.Gabriel: That's usually true, but there are exceptions, and we've got a job for you. The Big Guy always liked General Motors. You knew that. Now he's worried. He heard they are going to buy engines from Honda, and getting all-wheel-drive knowhow from Subaru. Did you hear that?Cole:

By Jerry Flint • Feb. 1, 2000

BY DESIGN

Ford design chief J. Mays calls it the 10-year-old-boy test: "When a kid sees a car on the street he has to instantly be able to say 'Oh, that's that fill-in-the-blank Ford.' They've got to identify it instantly and they've got to like it."And if not?Then you're toast in 2007.Automotive designers always have wanted to create cars and trucks that make kids stop and stare, but now it has turned into

By Drew Winter, Peter Robinson, Roger Schreffler, KATHERINE ZACHARY • Feb. 1, 2000

The 6s: Audi AG

2.7L Twin-turbo DOHC V-6 Audi AG engineers say they've had it with hearing the press - and more than a few customers, no doubt - whine about Audi's ostensible disdain for competitive engine performance. After all, Audis are supposed to bring technology to the fore - and in the automotive milieu, performance and technology always have been inextricably linked.We've sung past praises for Audi's 5-valve-per-cylinder

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Jan. 1, 2000

BMW

3.2L DOHC I-6 What's to say about BMW AG's "Motorsports" or M-edition, 3.2L DOHC I-6 that hasn't been said? Best Engines watchers will note that in winning a 10 Best Engines 2000 award, the BMW 3.2L I-6 is one of only two engines to win the award in each of the six years since the competition's inception.There just isn't any beating a creamy inline 6-cyl. that also happens to have power in abundance,

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Jan. 1, 2000

Nissan

3L DOHC V-6 It's becoming a habit, this business of telling readers that Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s "VQ" 3L DOHC V-6 has won yet another 10 Best Engines Award. Securing a place on this year's list ties Nissan with BMW as the only manufacturer to place the same engine for six consecutive years.How else to describe the VQ but pre-eminent? The inherent excellence of this design absolutely stunned us - and

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Jan. 1, 2000

The 8s: Ford Motor Co.

5.4L Triton SOHC V-8 5.4L Supercharged V-8 There is a bushelful of great V-8s around these days. Unfortunately, a lot of them happen to come in vehicles that cost more than the $50,000 cap that governs the 10 Best Engines competition. So one place we didn't expect to find an excellent, affordable V-8 with honest-to-gosh refinement was in a pickup truck.Ford took a gamble with the 5.4L SOHC Triton

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Jan. 1, 2000

Pipeline: Fears For Tiers

After more than a decade, it appears the neat little boxes used to categorize automotive suppliers are crumbling all around us.With good reason, the industry has classified suppliers based on their position in the chain that feeds parts to the automaker's assembly plant. "Tier 4" might constitute a producer of raw materials used in components packaged neatly into a module by the "Tier 1" systems integrator.But

By Tom Murphy • Jan. 1, 2000

Automotive Insight: Jac Be Nimble, Jac Be Quick

Ever since Jac Nasser barn-stormed into the driver's seat at Ford Motor Co., he's been all action. He tore into the organization, cutting headcount, tossing out deadwood and yanking layers of bureaucracy. He re-jiggered the Ford 2000 organization, promoted non-Americans to positions of prominence, and brought in new faces from outside the industry. He also proved he knows what he's doing, providing

By John McElroy • Jan. 1, 2000

Auto Talk: Hughes Working On Daewoo Deal

Once one of General Motors Corp.'s golden boys, not much has been heard from or about Louis R. Hughes since he was sidelined during GM's reorganization a year ago. Mr. Hughes had headed International Operations (IO), which was abolished when it was combined with its North American Operations (NAO) to form a single global structure. NAO President G. Richard Wagoner moved up to corporate president in

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Jan. 1, 2000