Automakers: Page 444

Participating in PNGV.

The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) is widely known as an historic, joint research project between the U.S federal government and USCAR, the consortium of the Big Three U.S. automakers. Not as well known is the fact that this historic undertaking also encourages and welcomes the participation of suppliers, universities, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs.PNGV wants to

By Good, Mary L. • March 1, 1995

GM launches new spark plug

PHOENIX, AZ - General Motors Corp. will soon launch a new aftermarket spark plug it claims dramatically outperforms high-profile competitors, including the Bosch platinum tip and Splitfire.The plug, the AC Rapidfire, pays for itself in lower fuel consumption, GM says. The plan is to have plugs available for 90% of the cars sold in the U.S. by the end of the year. It's also charted for OE applications.The

By Phelan, Mark • March 1, 1995

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

Doing the global rock; that shakin’ you’re feelin’ is just the beginning

Don't get too comfortable. The shifting of the world's supplier community is just beginning. Once the globalization of the American and European auto industry shakes out, there will be only one supply base serving automakers in both those regions.Between now and 1997 the number of Tier I suppliers in North America and Europe will collectively be cut by nearly 50%, and those remaining will have to

By Parolini, Donna • March 1, 1995

Chrysler’s minivan metamorphosis

Nov. 2, 1983, was not just another autumn day at Chrysler Corp. Across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario, a boxy-shaped new vehicle rolled down the assembly line for the first time.Under development since 1977 and given the green light in 1980, it symbolized Chrysler's $700-million commitment to create a totally new segment: Small, passenger-friendly, utilitarian "minivans" with decent fuel economy

By Bill Visnic, David Smith • March 1, 1995

Silence is golden

Listen up. I SAID LISTEN UP!The auto industry thought the increasingly fickle U.S. car and truck buyer wanted quiet. Conventional wisdom luxury nameplates such as Lexus and Infiniti proved no noise was good noise.Wrong, Wrong, WRONG.For openers, the pursuit of classic NVH (noise/harshness/vibration) attributes can create major league problems. Consumer Reports magazine says a BMW 325i failed a normally

By Lowell, Jon • March 1, 1995

GM/UAW: the battle goes on

The battle simmered throughout 1936 and hit a crescendo during the Christmas holidays. The United Auto Workers union tried desperately to organize workers at General Motors Corp. GM wanted no part of the union, and created its own spy ring to infiltrate UAW meetings and keep tabs on union strategy.The UAW routinely found the spies and kicked them out, often too late. Between Jan. 1, 1934, and July

By Sorge, Marjorie, Washington, Frank • March 1, 1995

Japanese earthquake takes toll on automakers

The massive mid-January earthquake that hit the important port city of Kobe in western Japan damaged at least two automotive assembly plants and disrupted deliveries from key suppliers to assembly plants across the island nation. Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. stopped production at two quake-damaged assembly plants, Toyota Motor Corp. lost 20,000 units when it shut down all of its assembly facilities for

Feb. 1, 1995

Lear gets behind outsourced seating plan

North American and European automakers will outsource about three-fourths of their seats by 1998, and Lear Seating Inc. (LSI) is taking steps to make certain more backsides on both sides of the Atlantic are cushioned by its seats.Already the No. 1 seat maker in North America with 34% of the $3.9 billion outsourced market -- Johnson Controls Inc. is hot on its heels with a 32% share -- Lear plans to

By Sorge, Marjorie • Feb. 1, 1995

Ford opens salaried benefits ‘cafeteria.’

Welcome to the Ford Motor Co. benefits "cafeteria." Beginning June 1, its 45,000 salaried employees will be eligible for a flexible benefits program.Each employee will put together his or her own benefits package from a broad selection. To pay for the program, Ford credits each person with a specific amount of money, consisting of fixed amounts and additional credits, called "Bonus Flexdollars," which

Feb. 1, 1995

Tenneco sells brake unit; Cooper buys Abex

Tenneco Automotive sells its Lincolnshire, IL-based brake division to James E. Bennett Jr. of Charleston, SC, for undisclosed terms. Under Bennett the company, which had $63 million in 1994 sales, will be called Brake Pro Inc. and will continue to manufacture and sell asbestos-free brake pad and brake shoe friction materials. Meanwhile, Cooper industries of Houston, TX, completes the purchase of Abex

Feb. 1, 1995

Dealer caution tied to interest rates may be the culprit

Ford sources say consumer buying remains strong and that the growing small-car stockpile is traceable chiefly to a drop in dealer orders, reflecting the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes. Because they must finance their inventories, dealers get hit immediately when rates rise and thus tend to cut back purchases from automakers when money gets more costly. But other experts suspect that buyers

Feb. 1, 1995

Show stoppers

The 1995 version of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) a.k.a. the Detroit Auto Show is -- in a word -- explosive. With Ford Motor Co's 1996 Taurus/Sable bowing amid billowing smoke, fire and earthquake effects, Chrysler's '96 minivan leapfrogging over Chairman Bob Eaton and President Bob Lutz, and Pontiac's Grand Prix 300GPX showcar punching through a curtain of flame, it's clear the

By Tim Keenan • Feb. 1, 1995

GM-UAW settle, but more walkouts may be coming

GM buckles under to the United Auto Workers union once again, and settles a three-day strike at its strategic AC Delco/Delco Elelctronics Flint (MI) East components complex by agreeing to add 663 workers over 18 months to reduce overtime and outsourcing. It's the sixth UAW walkout at GM in the past year -- and may not be the last. Negotiations over staffing and other issues also are simmering at the

Feb. 1, 1995

Tenneco moving toward noise-cancellation system

By 1998 Tenneco Automotive's noise-cancellation exhaust system could be added to the list of successful products -- like Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Post-It Notes -- that were the result of R&D mistakes or surprise benefits of other products.Originally designed to merely make cars more quiet, the Tenneco system allows automakers to take out a significant amount of back pressure, boosting engine fuel

By Sorge, Marjorie • Feb. 1, 1995

Industry upbeat over Republican win; GOP control of Congress could begood news for automakers.

Now that they con trol Congress, analysts expect the Republicans to move quickly on tax-cut and credit measures that could put more money in consumers' pockets, helping to stretch out an auto sales boom that some economists fear could start to waver in 1996.Republicans have pledged to:* Cut the capital gains tax from 28% to 14%. Consumers pay this when they sell stocks and bonds at a profit.* Seek

Jan. 1, 1995

Ford, VW differ on strategy; disband Autolatina.

Meanwhile Ford and Volkswagen AG formally agreed to dissolve their eight-year-old Autolatina SA joint venture in Brazil and Argentina. The split should be completed within a year, Ford says. Autolatina -- Brazil's largest non-state-owned company and Argentina's second-largest automaker -- is 51% owned by VW and 49% owned by Ford. The company has 47% of the Brazilian market and a 30% share in Argentina.

Jan. 1, 1995

It’s a banner year; Johnson Controls closes 1994 with a bang.

Johnson Controls Inc.'s Automotive Systems Group closes out 1994 with a bang--actually more like a crash. Capping a year in which JCI produces its millionth seat for Chrysler Corp., picks up a complete seat-system contract from Rover and increases its sales from $2.55 billion in 1993 to $2.87 billion, the company installs a $2.8-million vehicle crash simulator.Intending to speed product testing and

By Tim Keenan • Jan. 1, 1995

Ford resumes car-making in South Africa.

Ford is joining scores of other companies returning to South Africa now that apartheid has been vanquished. Ford agrees to acquire 45% equity in South African Motor Corp. Ltd. (Samcor) for an estimated $45 million. Ford owned 42% of Samcor through 1988, before it divested all of its South African holdings. The company currently assembles Ford, Mazda and Mitsubishi vehicles. Ford Motor Credit Co. also

Jan. 1, 1995

Ford shakes up its supplier base

James Bond is a man of international sophistication who always orders his martinis shaken, not stirred, no matter what continent he's visiting. That's exactly how Carlos E. Mazzorin is approaching his plan to reinvent Ford Motor Co.'s worldwide supplier relationships. The new global purchasing chief is shaking up the way the automaker does business with the supplier community so thoroughly that nothing

By Sorge, Marjorie • Jan. 1, 1995

Chevy: sailing along quite nicely, thank you

Chevrolet Motor Div. plans to sail into a new niche while marketing its '95 vehicles by sponsoring the America team -- the female-crewed contender in the America's Cup race.Chevy is the America team's team vehicle, and the division has provided the 26-member team and its staff with 20 vehicles."Obviously sailing is an upscale sport, the market we're going after," says Steve McAvoy, who is manager

Jan. 1, 1995

Pena throws in towel on GM truck recall

The U.S. Department of Transportation dropped its investigation of 1973-'87-model General Motors Corp. full-size pickup trucks because it could not win the court battle the automaker intended to wage, say GM and Washington insiders.DOT Secretary Federico Pena, who had said the trucks presented an "unreasonable risk" of fire in side collisions, decided to drop the push for a recall when the Justice

Jan. 1, 1995

No breather on news front in 1994; auto industry moves from ICU into recovery room

Like the automotive industry's swiftly rebounding sales, there was scarcely a breather on the news front in 1994.Each of the U.S. Big Three automakers reorganized in varying degrees; each entered critically important new vehicles on the market; and it was a turbulent year for the Japanese-based automakers, who were hit by the double whammy of market softness at home and rising U.S. prices triggered

By David C. Smith • Jan. 1, 1995

No sleeping giant; ACG Worldwide sets sights on Asia Pacific

HONGKONG -- The only way General Motors Corp.'s Automotive Components Group-Worldwide can increase non-Gm, non-North American sales to 50% of its business is to succeed in Asia/Pacific."The Asia/Pacific automobile industry is growing at a far higher rate than any other region and is predicted to increase 47% in the next 10 years to 22 million units per annum by the year 2004," says William Ebbert,

By David E. Zoia • Jan. 1, 1995

SMC ... from design diversity to disassembly

Tough, rigid and surprisingly flexible and adaptable, SMC is becoming the material of choice for many new applications on higher volume vehicles.Take the exotic hood of the new Ford Mustang with its raised center section that tapers back to a scoop on each side. The cost of tooling for steel parts for this curvaceous piece would have been prohibitive."SMC allowed us to execute exceptional styling

Jan. 1, 1995

Ford-Mazda ready to ink European partnership deal

Since 1989, Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. have been discussing the idea of Ford of Europe building a vehicle for Mazda to rebadge and sell in Europe. it now appears the deal is imminent. The choice has reportedly been narrowed to a Mazda-badged vehicle based on the Ford Fiesta. Ford probably will build it in Cologne, Germany, rather than at Fiesta plants in the U.K. or Spain. Production could

Jan. 1, 1995