Automakers: Page 421

Playing the Population Odds

13 billion people. That's billion with a "B."1.3 billion people who - for the most part - have not discovered the wonders of the personal automobile.Not yet, at any rate. That single fact, China's mind-boggling population, has caused automakers to go headlong into world's most foreign (to the West, anyway) foreign country.Never mind the country's lack of infrastructure. Never mind the communist/socialist

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Dec. 1, 1999

Ford is getting closer to buyers but tells dealers not to worry

Ford Motor Co. had a year to remember in 1999. Like most of the world's vehicle manu-facturers, it sold more cars and trucks than ever before.Add to that the following highlights:Its giant corporate display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which upstaged GM.The trials and tribulations of the Ford Collections, Ford's foray into automotive retailing.Its Internet joint venture

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 1999

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

‘New Domestics’ Pegged for Growth

Another record year is in store for North America's so-called transplant automakers as their 18 plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico roll toward a 3.5 million-plus unit year. That's more than 13 times bigger than the numbers posted in 1979 when the first Volkswagen Rabbits rolled off the line at Westmoreland, PA.Car and light-truck production by the non-U.S.-based automakers will make up a little

By Michael Arnholt • Dec. 1, 1999

Latin America: Slow but Steady

For automakers in Latin America, the next five years may feel like 20.The region that initially held so much promise has seen a year of plummeting sales and production. But experts agree that South America has not lost its potential. Twenty years down the road the region could be awash in boom times again.Meanwhile, there's reason for worry in the short term. Latin America's vehicle sales in 1999

By Andrea Wielgat • Dec. 1, 1999

DC’s Bob Eaton Fighting for Respect on Wall Street

If you don't look at the stock price, DaimlerChrysler AG Co-chairmen Robert J. Eaton and Juergen E. Schrempp still look like two pretty smart guys. By most other measures, the $36 billion merger of the former Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. is doing well. Mercedes-Benz's worldwide car sales are up 12% through the first nine months of this year, and Chrysler's car and truck sales are 6% ahead of last

By Drew Winter • Dec. 1, 1999

Shanghai Makes Room for a Minivan

SHANGHAI - Shanghai General Motors Co. Ltd. (SGM) in September took a great leap past what it considers a major milestone: the 10,000-unit mark.By now, some 12,000 Shanghai Buick sedans have rolled off the line at the General Motors Corp./Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. joint venture, to fill the 18,000 sales orders received since production began in April.The plant will build some 20,000 vehicles

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • Dec. 1, 1999

Auto Talk: Ford Launches ‘Mass Customization’

Coming to a Ford showroom near you - the model of your choice, with performance tires, powerful sound systems, bodyside cladding and other goodies generally reserved for the aftermarket.Ford Motor Co. has figured out that if young car buffs are eager to spend most of their paycheck to make their cars unique, why not ship the car from the factory already zooted up?With an eye on the lucrative aftermarket,

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Dec. 1, 1999

GENERAL MOTORS GOES TO (MO)TOWN WITH EXTRAVAGANT NEW AUTO SHOW EXHIBIT

General Motors Corp. is constructing the largest auto show exhibit ever built in North America.The colossal 164,456-sq.-ft., two-level showcase is under construction for the North American International Auto Show, a January event spon-sored by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association.The exhibit will be called "The GM Experience." It will house all the automaker's brands, including Saab and Saturn, plus

By Steve Finlay • Dec. 1, 1999

Auto Talk: BMW Worries That Cars Aren’t ‘Involving’

TURIN - BMW AG executives and engineers are worried that their cars - renowned worldwide for their impeccable driving characteristics - are becoming too good. Or too refined. Or too expensive.Or all three of the above.What has BMW thinking this way? It's owners are growing older. A decade ago, the average age of BMW buyers was almost 10 years younger than Mercedes-Benz drivers. Today, the difference

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Dec. 1, 1999

LANDERS LOOKS TO LAND IN TOP SPOT

The 25th anniversary supp-lement of the Arkansas Times headlined its single dealer success story in a one-word headline, "LANDERS."The story focused on the three-dealership chain operated by Steve Landers and owned by United Auto Group since 1995. The stores are in Benton and North Little Rock, AR.The Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-Jeep, Ford and Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealerships are top sellers in President

By Maynard M. Gordon • Dec. 1, 1999

Auto Talk: ‘Th!nk’ Ford First in Norway

Ford Motor Co., which kicks off production of its Think electric car in Norway, plans to unveil a sweeping North American program for the Think brand at the Detroit auto show in January."This small car represents the beginning of something much bigger at Ford," Ford of Europe Chairman Nick Scheele said earlier this year.Capacity at the factory in Aurskog-Holand, Norway, is 5,000 a year, and the goal

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Dec. 1, 1999

Automaking in 2025 Japan

TOKYO - It's back to the future for the Japanese auto industry.Seventy-five years ago, in 1925, Ford Motor Co. arrived with a relief shipment of 1,000 Model-Ts, all knock-down and needing assembly, to help rebuild Tokyo's public transportation system which a year before had been severely damaged by a killer earthquake. General Motors Corp. landed the following year, and combined the two companies

By Roger Schreffler • Dec. 1, 1999

Contract Talks 1999Deals define auto industry’s future

Quick and peaceful. That pretty much sums up this year's contract talks between the United Auto Workers union and the U.S. Big Three. They're words not normally associated with negotiations, but then again the industry has never seen a sales pace like this year's.Although things got surprisingly tense at Ford Motor Co. over the company's desire to spin off Visteon Automotive Systems, its parts unit,

By SAID DEEP • Nov. 1, 1999

2000 Taurus: Sometimes ‘Understated’ is a Good Thing

The 2000-model Taurus likely won't turn heads, but then neither does the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. It's a fact that hasn't been lost on Ford Motor Co. since the previous, more elliptically styled version of the car broke cover in 1996 to mixed reviews.The message to Ford was unmistakable: Midsize car buyers prefer bland to bold in their styling recipes.With its newly homogenized styling, enhanced

By SAID DEEP • Nov. 1, 1999

Spaced Out

What will cars and trucks look like 20 years from now? What kind of architecture will they have? What design themes will there be after "cab forward" and "new edge" have run their course?Not surprisingly, automakers don't want to say. It would mean giving a highly proprietary peek into the most advanced of advanced planning. Plus, who can be sure where they'll be headed that far in the future?Instead,

By Drew Winter • Nov. 1, 1999

After creating a market niche Subaru peaks out

You've got to hand it to Subaru for not simply dominating a corner of a market, but actually creating the niche. Subaru single-handedly transformed the station wagon from nerdy, wood-paneled, family-toting suburban cruiser to an active, all-wheel-drive (AWD), bicycle-toting mountain scaler.New for 2000, Subaru rolls out updated versions of the simply dominant Outback and Legacy. Both vehicles come

Nov. 1, 1999

Five Ford “Collections” is Enough - for Now

Ford's once-ambitious plan to establish as many as 30 city "Collections" of factory-owned dealerships has stopped at five for now.A combination of adverse factors caused Ford to halt further growth of the Collection effort. But the ones in place in five cities are carrying on."We now need to make sure we prove our business model," says Robert S. Rewey, Ford's group vice president of sales, service

By Maynard M. Gordon • Nov. 1, 1999

SEEYLE SEES PROFITS FROM SATELLITES

Seven used-car satellites have paid off hand-somely for Don Seelye Ford-Kia, Kalamazoo, MI, and its sister dealership 37 miles to the west in South Haven, MI.Cowner Michael N. Seelye says, "With pre-owned units so desirable, it has rewarded us to blanket our market areas with sales locations that are supplied with trade-ins and vehicles bought from Midwest auctions."Our new and used units are supported

By Maynard M. Gordon • Nov. 1, 1999

FORD AND GM BOTH SPINNING WEBS

General Motors Corp. says its ambitious new "e-GM" effort will steer more customers to dealerships. Ford Motor Co. says its joint Internet venture with Microsoft's Car-Point.com will enhance consumer-dealer relationships.Both automakers expect the novel programs, when fully operational, will increase customer satisfaction and reduce dealer inventory costs.And both concur that what they are respectively

By Tim Keenan • Nov. 1, 1999

Cadillac dealers look straight on after so much zigging and zagging

Owner Tim Cashman of Cashman Cadillac in Las Vegas sits in his showroom, next to oil portraits of his father and grandfather, the dealership's founder when the city was a desert dot on the map, and talks hopefully about Cadillac's future.Mr. Cashman sees a return to Cadillac's glory days if General Motors Corp. can carry out its "arts and science" vision for the famous brand.He says, "If GM executes

By Maynard M. Gordon and Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 1999

Extending the Enterprise--Stallkamp to leave, but his philosophy lives on

The timing, by all accounts, was purely coincidental. Still, it made for heightened awareness in the supplier community.DaimlerChrysler AG management met with supplier executives in Frankfurt, Germany, to discuss their evolving relationship on Sept. 24, the same day that the auto industry learned that board member Thomas Stallkamp would retire Dec. 31 as president of DaimlerChrysler Corp. in North

By Tom Murphy • Nov. 1, 1999

‘Factory of the Future’ is History

I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that 14 years ago I boldly predicted the death of the automotive assembly line. It's not the dumbest thing I ever wrote, but it's up there.Mind you, a number of automakers - including Volvo - did indeed try to eliminate the assembly line with alternative vehicle-build strategies, but they never worked.Peek into just about any assembly plant nowadays and "the

By Drew Winter • Nov. 1, 1999

Young Internet executive wants to buy dealerships

A 22-year-old founder and president of an on-line referral service wants to buy dealerships. Brian Stafford of carOrder.com, based in Austin, TX, plans to bankroll those planned initial dealership purchases with $100 million from parent software firm Trilogy Inc.Trilogy plans an initial public stock offering by early 2000 to fund a second-round of dealership purchases, says Mr. Stafford, a Los Angeles

Nov. 1, 1999

Cheerio, Old Chap--Focus on Bentley as RR&B awaits Rolls hand-off

CREWE, U.K. - It's the auto industry's version of the Hong Kong hand-over.In mid-1997 the British government ceded control of Hong Kong to Mainland China, overnight transforming the island from a British colony to a part of the largest communist nation in the world.It's a similar situation at U.K.-based Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars. Because of a complicated series of deals cut between the British

By David E. Zoia • Nov. 1, 1999

Jaguar XKR Adds Oomph to the Lineup

DEL MAR, CA - After a decade under Ford control, Jaguar adds another refinement to its stable with the introduction of the XKR, a coupe and convertible, off the sleek XK platform with a supercharged 4L 370-hp DOHC V-8 sitting under the hood.That brings Jaguar's model lineup to three - XJ, XK and S-Type - with a fourth, the X400 "baby Jag" on the way. And the venerable British luxury carmaker has its

By Mike Arnholt • Nov. 1, 1999