Automakers: Page

COMMUNICATION BreakdownSME awards & 1.7 million in university grants

Big industry, including automotive, is complaining loudly about the job that universities are doing in preparing future engineers. They claim a canyon-sized deficiency exists they call the "competency gap."Graduates may be future Ketterings or Fords when it comes to the guts or the production of an automobile, but they have a serious problem. They don't know how to talk about it, write about it, or

By AL ROTHENBERG and TOM MURPHY • March 1, 1999

Talking the TalkYou’re global. Now how the heck do you communicate?

Everyone speaks the international language of love. Alas, the same cannot be said of engineering. One engineer's fascia, wing and sump are another's dashboard, fender and oil pan. And if you don't know what a scuttle (cowl) is ... well, what's the matter, don't you speak English, mate?Like it or not, the auto industry is globalizing at a furious pace. Automakers and suppliers are gobbling up one another

By Drew Winter • March 1, 1999

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

China FirstIt’s a sure-fire formula for despair

First it was Jack Smith of General Motors declaring that he wanted 10% of the Asian market. Ford wasn't going to be left behind or take a whit less than GM and said it wanted 10% of the Asian market.Now somebody else - it could be DaimlerChrysler or Renault, it doesn't really matter - wants up to 25% of the Asian market. I suppose before long Volkswagen and Fiat and Peugeot (or maybe not Peugeot,

By Jerry Flint • March 1, 1999

GM Truck Frames: Taking ‘Flexibility’ Too Far?

It came out in an offhand remark during a Detroit automotive television talk show. A journalist let fly that he'd heard a rumor General Motors Corp.'s new pickups were experiencing bent frames in non-demanding circumstances.The story goes like this: GM's all-new GMT800 pickup frames were being bent on vehicle transporters. The rumor took on steam when the tale expanded to say the doors of pickups

By Brian Corbett • March 1, 1999

1999 Porsche Carrera 4

I endured no small degree of snickering from my peers after last year's review of the all-new Porsche AG 911 - a depraved litany of biased sycophancy, scatologically tempered by allusions to the religious salvation obtainable from the 911's brilliant chassis. I'm told I should be glad the local Bishop didn't get wind of that 911 critique, or I'd have joined Madonna and Sinead O'Connor on the Vatican's

By Bill Visnic • March 1, 1999

Alfa Romeo Solves ‘Tiptronic’ FoibleEngaging the ‘logic’ gear to improvemanual automatic transmissions

Fiat SpA's Alfa Romeo acts on an astute insight into one ergonomic problem that, to now, has vexed the new breed of sequential-shift automatic transmissions: the gear lever offers the driver no perception of which gear is being used.Many drivers of automatic-transmission vehicles equipped with a "manual" sequential-shift function - often called "Tiptronic" after the system name coined by early adopter

By Bill Visnic • March 1, 1999

Competitors Covet Flexibility of GMT800

Drive General Motors Corp.'s all-new Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra full-size pickups and one immediately perceives a marked improvement in structural "feel." It's largely due to the automaker's newly developed design - and production process - for the GMT800's ladder frame.Customers and the jaded press have offered mostly raves about the new structure - with some notable exceptions (see sidebar,

By Brian Corbett • March 1, 1999

Chicago Auto Show Nibbles at the Edges With a few exceptions

Following the unveiling of the Toyota Motor Corp. XYR concept coupe in Detroit - an early look at the next-generation Toyota Celica coming out this fall - the Japanese automaker chose the 1999 Chicago Auto Show to introduce the Toyota MR Spyder, a tease of what to expect if and when Toyota brings back the MR2 sport coupe sold between 1985-1995.The Spyder is among a handful of introductions of coming-soon

By Jim Mateja • Feb. 1, 1999

Is This GM’s Silver Bullet? UAW remains guarded about Yellowstone’sprospects

Building profitable small cars is a challenge for everyone, but it is a task of heroic proportions for General Motors Corp., the least efficient mass-producer in the world.For decades it has struggled to implement elaborate - and expensive - manufacturing strategies to dramatically reduce labor and production costs. In the 1980s it spent billions on brand-new highly automated plants with the hope

By Drew Winter, Dave Zoia, Brian Corbett • Feb. 1, 1999

GM Finishes ‘98 on the Rebound; Ford Sets Profit-Sharing Record

What looked like a mess of a year for General Motors Corp. ended on an upbeat note as the world's largest auto-maker reports record fourth-quarter '98 earnings of $1.8 billion, a 12% increase over like-'97.Although year-end earnings of $3 billion ($4.26 per share) lagged well behind '97's healthy $6.3 billion ($8.45 per share), GM demonstrated its resolve to quickly restart production following the

Feb. 1, 1999

Swede Success Ford uses ready cash to buy up Volvo Cars

Ford Motor Co.'s $6.45 billion purchase of AB Volvo's car division isn't on the scale of Daimler-Chrysler AG, but it is another step in the consolidation of the global auto industry.For Ford, it means access to more luxury buyers and a more expansive dealer network worldwide. For Volvo Cars, the deal means a more secure future through increased financial resources,greater economies of scale and the

By ANDREA WIELGAT and SAID DEEP • Feb. 1, 1999

Europe’s comeback kid

Alfa come back.It was a simple request made at last year's Concours Italiano by hundreds of American fans who fondly remember the famous marque's Italian styling and sporty handling.Although Alfa Romeo SpA became the '98 comeback kid in Europe, don't expect to see the company's new flagship 166 on U.S. streets, even if it was tested here.A little more than a year ago, questions about the future of

By Andrea Wielgat • Feb. 1, 1999

DuPont’s Manifold Hits the Rub

Peer closely enough at almost any vehicle on the road and you'll most likely discover DuPont Automotive fingerprints somewhere. And in the case of Ford Motor Co.'s 5.4L SOHC Triton V-8 engine, they left a particularly significant one.The 5.4L dons the first North American application of a multi-piece, vibration-welded nylon 6,6 lower intake manifold, developed by DuPont and tooling partner Montaplast

By NATALIE NEFF • Feb. 1, 1999

Mustang Cobra Gets Audited for 1999 And IRS comes a-knockin’

PASADENA, CA - It's difficult to think of Ford Motor Co.'s 1999 Mustang Cobra as a mere refresh, even if its all-new skin does sit atop a 21-year-old chassis. After all, when's the last time a mere engineering tweak has shifted the performance direction of an entire segment?With the twist of eight simple bolts, Ford does just that, sending the ponycar screaming down a wholly different road than it

By NATALIE NEFF • Feb. 1, 1999

All-Wheel Drive Revolution? New Venture Gear leads a shift in AWD technology

Down underneath, where the greasy driveline bits strain in doing their part to convert reciprocal motion into rotary motion, there's a quiet revolution under way: The mechanics of driving all four wheels are advancing.New Venture Gear, the 1990 joint-venture of General Motors Corp. and former Chrysler Corp. transmission/driveline expertise, has made quite a name for itself and its myriad 4-wheel drive

By Bill Visnic • Feb. 1, 1999

Temporary Setback?--Magnesium meltdown doesn’t discourage Ford

Despite recent developments that could be viewed as setbacks to the magnesium market, an executive at Ford Motor Co. is predicting automotive use of the light metal will increase tenfold by 2020.Ford is by far the world's top automotive magnesium consumer, claims a report by Hydro Magnesium Marketing SA. Says Gerald S. Cole, a senior staff technical specialist in Ford's Manufacturing Systems Dept.,

By Brian Corbett • Jan. 1, 1999

January Means . . . NORTH AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW

Last year it was the Volkswagen AG New Beetle that captured the hearts of show-goers at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This year Ford Motor Co. has the chance to do the same when its Thunderbird concept breaks cover.It's been more than 44 years since the first T-Bird rolled out of Ford's Dearborn Assembly plant on Sept. 9, 1954, and on to the road to becoming an American icon.Ford

By SAID DEEP and BRIAN CORBETT • Jan. 1, 1999

The short, troubled life of Samsung Motors?

Epitaphs were being prepared in December for South Korean upstart Samsung Motors Inc., which officially entered the auto industry last May with the launch of its Nissan Maxima-based SM5 car and already may be on its way to becoming a footnote in the annals of automotive history. Under government pressure designed to shore up struggling conglomerates, Daewoo agrees to swap its electronics unit for

Jan. 1, 1999

A Formula for Success?--GM, Montell jointly announce new composite

Formulating a genuinely new and better type of plastic isn't easy, and - some would argue - doing it in concert with General Motors Corp., makes it doubly hard.Not only is GM tough on price, but it also is notoriously reluctant to give suppliers credit for their innovations. It is perhaps the last vestige of the infamous "not invented here" syndrome that nearly sank the U.S. auto industry in the 1970s.

By Drew Winter • Jan. 1, 1999

More Than Skin Deep-New IP covers represent big technological strides

Just what makes an attractive, high-quality instrument panel? Ask designers and you'll get one set of answers, ask engineers and you'll get another. Consumers will give you still different opinions.What's more, a recent study by the ITB Group Ltd., an international consulting company, shows that automakers in Europe, Japan and the U.S. don't even agree on the importance of basic instrument panel styling

By Drew Winter • Jan. 1, 1999

AutoAlliance on the Comeback Trail

What an impact a year and two new products can make to a plant.In 1997, workers at AutoAlliance International in Flat Rock, MI, built 100,394 vehicles, less than half of the plant's 240,000-unit capacity. Of those units, about 90,000 were Mazda 626 units; the rest were Ford Probes and Mazda MX-6s, both killed in the summer of 1997.Fast forward to 1998 and the story at AAI is one of occasional overtime,

By SAID DEEP • Dec. 1, 1998

Meet Jurgen HubbertHow Daimler’s savvy car chief views the Chrysler fit

STUTTGART - So much for the myth that German engineers are hide-bound, by-the-book technical zealots who think they're above, and oblivious to, their peers elsewhere.Dispelling that notion is personable, slim, sandy-haired Jurgen Hubbert, 59, who in the merged DaimlerChrysler AG remains as head of the pivotal Mercedes-Benz Car Div. He's ultimately responsible for the design, engineering and manufacturing

By David C. Smith • Dec. 1, 1998

Q&A with Jac Nasser

Q - Your new chairman, Bill Ford Jr., has a high priority on environmental matters. Will that message remain consistent as new regulations come out?A - It's a mindset, an attitude. I don't view an environmental strategy or leadership as discrete from the rest of the business. It's part of the business. It's the same as quality leadership, efficiency leadership, brand leadership. That's No.1. No.2,

Dec. 1, 1998

Nissan’s Bright SpotNMMC wins praise as parent struggles

Nestled in the rolling hills of middle Tennessee, Nissan Motor Mfg. Corp. is one of the few bright spots Tokyo-based Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has left to brag about. Hammered by Asia's ongoing recession, deep in debt and short of attractive products, Japan's second-largest automaker is struggling to survive.But in Tennessee NMMC excels, winning accolades for productivity and quality. If Nissan were the

By Drew Winter • Dec. 1, 1998

Taking Mercedes’ S-Class on the RoadIn Switzerland, it almost makes youwant to yodel

VITZNAU, Switzerland - Okay, so we made a few mistakes. But Ward's Auto Dealer Editor Steve Finlay and I finally found this gorgeous spot on Lake Lucerne nestled among craggy Alpine peaks, some still topped with snow from last winter.Our "mistakes" were small ones. It was primarily a matter of getting used to the COMAND (which stands for COckpit MANagement and Data system) function on the new model-year

By David C. Smith • Dec. 1, 1998