Automakers: Page 436

General Motors LS1 HOV V-8

The winning formula for General Motors Corp.'s entirely new LS1 OHV V-8: It's the most horsepower that can be had for less than $40,000. By a long stretch.The GM V-8 price-to-horsepower ratio is legendary, though. What makes the LS1 different is that although it's tied genetically to Ed Cole's original 1955 small-block V-8 - the bore centers are the same hallmark 4.4 ins. (11 cm) apart and its valvetrain

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Mazda 2.3L Miller-cycle DOHC V-6

A few years ago, there was a lot of talk from interior stylists and designers about a "surprise and delight" strategy - offering the customer features that are thoughtful and more than is expected.Mazda Motor Corp. ought to make the pitch for the Miller-cycle V-6 as the largest single lump of surprise and delight in the business. Besides the hugely overlooked Miller, only two other engines have been

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

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

Volkswagen 1.8L DOHC turbocharged I-4

Start out in the morning with Volkswagen's turbocharged, 5-valve 1.8L 4-cyl. engine and you feel like you've just signed up for a day of training with an Olympic decathlete: you're a collaborator in an exercise of speed, power, agility and flexibility - all in a neat, compact package that's efficient and effective.The VW 1.8L is tiny compared to contemporary base 4-cyl. engines. The Passat's import

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Wired for Weight Loss Multiplex wiring makes its way into small-car market

It seems every great innovation in automobiles celebrates its coming-out on fancy luxury cars. You name the feature - from power steering and automatic transmissions to power windows and tilt steering wheels - and a Cadillac, Lexus or Mercedes-Benz was probably the first to serve it up for consumer consumption.But some creature comforts are just too appealing or too practical to be hogged by the rich.

By Tom Murphy • Jan. 1, 1998

Taking It to the Streets ITTA’s chief leads campaign to boost ABS market

A year ago, as winter was bearing down hard on Michigan, Frank Macher probably envisioned a summer filled with leisurely boat rides with his wife and an occasional sampling from his fine wine collection.The Ford Motor Co. executive had retired at the end of 1996 as vice president and general manager of Ford's Automotive Components Div., which evolved recently into Visteon, the $16 billion parts operation

By TOM MURPHY & David C. Smith • Jan. 1, 1998

Toyota/Lexus 4L DOHC V-8

Look out. Toyota Motor Corp.'s upscale Lexus Div.'s got it in their collective heads that performance sells. You know what happens when Lexus sets its sights on uncharted territory.The performance aspect of Lexus' cars has generally been okay, it's just that at Lexus, performance hasn't ever been the real focus.Now Audi, BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes will have to pay attention to their respective and

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Nice Guys Don’t Finish Last Chrysler’s Tom Stallkamp is living proof

James (Jim) Clinton Jones was not only among the best reporters and writers ever to cover the auto industry, he also was among the most cynical. But that also made him a digger par excellence, resulting in some spectacular scoops.Newsweek's Detroit bureau chief from 1955 until he retired in the late 1980s, Jim always had the same response when I'd mention that some Big Three executive who'd gotten

By David C. Smith • Jan. 1, 1998

Mercedes-Benz 3.2L SOHC V-6

When a company with the engineering reputation of Mercedes-Benz embarks on a totally new engine program, everyone takes notice.First, the Germans stunned the business when it was learned the new engine program, a modular range consisting of a variety of 6-cyl. and 8-cyl. powerplants, would do away with the longstanding inline 6-cyl. engines - a design for which Mercedes had become nearly as famous

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

General Motors LS1 5.7L OHV V-8

The winning formula for General Motors Corp.'s entirely new LS1 OHV V-8: It's the most horse-power that can be had for less than $40,000. By a long stretch.The GM V-8 price-to-horsepower ratio is legendary, though. What makes the LS1 different is that although it's tied genetically to Ed Cole's original 1955 small-block V-8 - the bore centers are the same hallmark 4.4 ins. (11 cm) apart and its valvetrain

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

BMW 2.5L DOHC I-6

BMW inline sixes have always been something special - and nobody knows that more than BMW. The company has offered decent 4-cyl. engines for those who craved a BMW and had to do it on a budget. But BMW made customers lay out more serious cash for the privilege of possessing one of its exhilarating 6-cyl. engines.That brings us to this year's new 2.5L DOHC I-6. Proving that even BMW acknowledges how

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Ford SVT 2.5L High Output DOHC V-6

Check out the Ford SVT 2.5L High Output V-6 specs and you might dismiss it as hardly worth the effort. Twenty-five more horses and a torque rating identical to the bog-standard 2.5L Duratec V-6 might not appear to be the formula for a "cooking" version of a volume-production engine.But the Special Vehicle Team's reworking of the 2.5L Duratec - itself a winning engine in our inaugural Best Engines

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Ford 5.4L SOHC Triton V-8

Somewhere in a Ford Motor Co. meeting room, probably about seven years ago, some genuinely prophetic minds got together.The truck folks were firming up the replacement for the 17-year-old F-150. The engine crowd had mapped out an all-encompassing new modular V-8 engine program. Those engines all would have overhead camshafts.The truck folks talked to the engine crowd and it was agreed these modular

By Bill Visnic • Jan. 1, 1998

Ford 1997 will be a hard act to follow

A year of record profits at Ford Motor Co., a war chest of $19.3 billion in cash to protect against a recession and the hottest offerings in the jumbo sport/utility segment would provide reason for most CEOs to celebrate, but the mood emanating from Dearborn is downright grim."We are very hard on ourselves," says Chairman and CEO Alex Trotman. "Anyone who thinks you can sit on today's performance

By Drew Winter, GREG GARDNER • Dec. 1, 1997

A Global Look Big Three tread varied global paths

The U.S. Big Three are headed down different paths, keeping an eye to a common goal: making money overseas.Chrysler Corp. is doing it with exports, while Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. are putting up new plants and consolidating their global engineering resources for cost-effective assaults on emerging markets.But the road is bumpy, and automakers will have to steer around several obstacles

By David E. Zoia • Dec. 1, 1997

Hot Products Drive Transplants But the boom isn’t shared by everyone

Thanks to hot products and the booming U.S. economy, major foreign-owned automakers are gearing up for another wave of expansion in the U.S. and Canada. From the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord to the Mercedes-Benz M-class and BMW Z3, just about everything the major Japanese and German transplants are building in the U.S. seems to be turning to gold.The Toyota Camry, built in Georgetown, KY, and Honda's

By DREW WINTER and MIKE ARNHOLT • Dec. 1, 1997

Upping the EV Ante Nissan hopes to charge up image of electric vehicles

TOKYO - The Japanese government's push for more environmentally friendly cars hasn't been lost on Japan's No. 2 automaker, which is hoping to charge past the competiton with the first production version lithium-ion powered electric vehicle (EV).Dubbed the R'nessa in Japan, where it also will be sold with a gasoline engine, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s stylish 4-passenger wagon/minivan will make its way

By SAID DEEP • Dec. 1, 1997

Ford’s ‘Deep Dive’ Proves Prophetic Asian economic crisis wasn’t on the program

BANGKOK - Ford Motor Co. invites automotive writers and analysts here for a "deep dive" detailing its plans to capture a 10% share of the emerging Asian automotive markets by 2005.But what Ford didn't count on was the economic deep dive that would take place concurrently in Thailand and ripple throughout the region, extending to Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan and eventually South America.Ford's

By David C. Smith • Dec. 1, 1997

Sorting Out the Kia Puzzle Korean government takes control, shops for a buyer

SEOUL - A few more knots are likely to tighten before those now pulling the strings can untangle the mess at Kia Motors Corp.The recent resignation by Chairman Kim Sun-Hong eliminated one hurdle in the South Korea government's effort to reform the company, but several obstacles remain, including what could become a nasty battle with Kia's unions over the automaker's future.Mr. Kim's resignation is

By Reported for WAW by Vince Courtenay in Seoul • Dec. 1, 1997

Cadillac Says ‘Me Too’ to Luxury SUV Fever

Never let brand management get in the way of making more than $10,000 per vehicle.Cadillac will introduce a full-size sport/utility vehicle for the 1999 model year next fall. It will be based on the existing C/K full-size truck platform - not the new GMT800 foundation beneath the new full-size pickup trucks - and will be very comparable to the GMC Denali, which is scheduled to reach showrooms in February.The

Dec. 1, 1997

Ford’s New Design Chief J.C. Mays takes over as Jack Telnack retires

J.C. Mays, the 43-year-old Oklahoma-bred, European-trained outsider Ford Motor Co. tapped to replace Jack Telnack as vice president of design is quite blunt about his new job."I have been brought in to make some changes and I fully intend to do that," he tells Ward's Auto World in a joint interview with Mr. Telnack. "There's an incredible amount of talented people in this organization. Jack (Telnack)

By GREG GARDNER • Nov. 1, 1997

Hot Talk on Global Warming Will cooler heads prevail at the Kyoto summit?

Who will buy this stuff?"President Bill Clinton's quip at a recent White House Conference on Global Warming referring to ultra fuel-efficient cars under development by the Partnership for New Generation Vehicles (PNGV) sums up one of the basic fears automakers have about global warming talks.The PNGV project is an industry-government partnership fueled not by consumer demand, but government environmental

By Jeff Green • Nov. 1, 1997

Power Trip Tokyo show focuses on innovation under hood

The driving force behind this year's Tokyo Motor Show: powertrains. Japanese automakers unveiled a host of new direct-injection engines, some with advanced variable valve-timing systems, at the biennial exhibition that opened in late October. And many of the concept cars had a drivetrain focus, with several gasoline/electric hybrids and fuel cell-powered models showcased for the first time.Toyota

By DAVID ZOIA and SAID DEEP • Nov. 1, 1997

‘Entry-Level’ CLK is Still a Mercedes

SANTA MONICA, CA - This is the town where they hand out the Oscars. Where spotting a Mercedes-Benz is no novelty. Where Pacific Coast Highway runs north a few miles to fabled Malibu, home of the stars. In short, a perfect spot to introduce Mercedes' newest star, the CLK coupe. WAW already has published details of the new coupe (see WAW - June '97, p.50). Executive Editor Drew Winter won the loathsome

By David C. Smith • Nov. 1, 1997

Gravy Train Jumps Track Carron & Co. regroups after boom year with Ford

The gravy train was rolling right along for Carron & Co. in 1994. The Inkster, MI, prototyping companyhad plenty of business with its primary customer, Ford Motor Co., including converting the F-150 chassis into the Expedition.Carron also was developing a chassis system for the Econoline Super Duty van, helping fit a V-8 in the Explorer and working on the Ecostar and EV, as well as the Ranger Splash

By Tom Murphy • Nov. 1, 1997

Have We Hit Baht-tom Yet ? Currency crises raise caution flag on Asia’sshort-term growth

Japan's auto market is in a slump. Korea's overcapacity crisis has debt-ridden Kia Motors in dire straits. Currencies in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are plummeting. In China, huge auto inventories pile up, with only a slight recovery in sales.Is the Asia/Pacific automotive market turning into an illusion? In a quintessentially Asian view, the answer is "yes" and "no.""Asia still

By GREG GARDNER and BARBARA McCLELLAN • Nov. 1, 1997