Automakers: Page

A firm believer in teamwork

Maureen Kempston Darkes' first car was a Chevrolet Camaro. Now, the 47-year-old lawyer is responsible for the plant that churns them out in Ste. Therese, Quebec, as well as General Motors of Canada Ltd.'s other operations.Her appointment in 1994 to president of GM of Canada and GM vice president was a milestone on several counts. She holds the highest operating post ever achieved by a woman at GM.

By Gazdik, Tanya • April 1, 1996

From Kroger to kaizen

Japanese U.S. transplant automakers make strong cases for their progress in becoming American companies. While levels of local content and enormous operational investments are beginning to support that case, American workers are the building blocks.Some Japanese automakers are passing the gavel to their American counterparts, empowering them to govern the bulk of the business including vehicle design,

By Knapp, Gwendolyn S. • April 1, 1996

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

Ssay it with SSUVs: Korea’s SSangyong goes where the buyers are

Whoever coined the phrase "Go for the jugular" must have known a thing or two about South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co. Ltd.Unlike Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. and Kia Motors Corp., who led their charge into North America with inexpensive, small cars spun off cheap, low-tech platforms, Ssangyong plans to take a radically different path. And this one will be right into the Big Three's stronghold: the sport/utility

By Knapp, Gwendolyn S. • April 1, 1996

Opel Sintra offers something others don’t

The transatlantic cooperation be tween General Motors Corp's North American engineers and the design team at Opel will give the '97 European Sintra significant advantages over other European minivans.Already the van market is bursting at the seams, stuffed with new model introductions over the past two years, including the Ford Galaxy/Volkswagen Sharan, Mercedes-Benz Viano and the Citroen Evasion

By ROB CLEVELAND • April 1, 1996

More at stake in GM’s Dayton strike.

This time, Dayton. Next time, Janesville, WI, or Lordstown, OH, Tor Oklahoma City.If General Motors Corp. is truly committed to overhauling its parts-sourcing strategy, it may have to dig deeper into its $12 billion cash reserves to fight more battles like last month's 18-day stand-off at two Delphi Chassis brake plants in Dayton.These are brutally competitive times. If Robert Bosch Corp. comes along

April 1, 1996

So long Kirk, hello Steve; Chrysler’s Bob Eaton now faces the UAW’s Yokich

"Where we can, we would like to export from the United States because the United States is the lowest cost place to produce cars in the world "Chrysler ChairmanRobert J. EatonNow that he has dodged the bullets fired by billionaire shareholder Kirk Kerkorian, Chrysler Corp. Chairman Robert J. Eaton turns his attention to upcoming negotiations with the United Auto Workers union led by Stephen Yokich

By Gardner, Greg • April 1, 1996

Taking a ‘deep dive’ with Ford; No. 1 automaker lifts veil on ‘total cost strategy.’

If it all works, Ford Motor Co. will become the world's lowest-cost automaker with the fastest new-product turnaround, affordable prices, high quality and after-tax profits averaging 5% return on sales (ROS) by the turn of the century.Ford's ROS was 1.9% last year. it's all part of a grand "total cost strategy" Ford is implementing under its Ford 2000 globalization scheme, which began 15 months ago

By David C. Smith • April 1, 1996

Geneva: chic and sleek; Jaguar’s new E-type is a show stopper

But Jaguar takes a decidedly unhistoric tack with its powertrain -- a Ford-designed 4L V-8 with variable-valve timing and a ZF AG 5-speed automatic replace the inline 6-cyl. found in the old E-type. An XISM ragtop derivative will debut at the New York Auto Show this month.Lotus Cars plc manages to highlight its new V-8 Esprit amid a swirl of rumors about a Korean buyout. The high-performance carmaker

April 1, 1996

Women bring an added perspective to the auto industry

They're running plants, designing cars and, well doing their thing. It started in the 1960s when corporations throughout America, including the U.S. Big Three, buckled to growing pressures and began electing women and minorities to their boards of directors. Today that's commonplace: GM has two women directors, Ford, two, and Chrysler, one.Although a small number of women began making inroads at the

April 1, 1996

Borg-Warner grabs Chrysler contract

Borg-Warner Automotive Inc. has been awarded a contract to design and produce a complete engine-timing chain system for Chrysler Corp. The system will be featured on the automaker's new double overhead cam 2.7L engine for the 1998 model year. The contract's value, believed to cover some 300,000 engines annually, is not disclosed.

April 1, 1996

Isuzu joining small SUV fray

Who says tariffs don't bring jobs to the U.S.? Another Asian automaker is ready to build a small sport/utility vehicle for the 1998 model year at its Subaru-Isuzu Automotive plant in Lafayette, IN. The new SUV will be smaller than the Amigo, which Isuzu stopped importing from Japan two years ago because of the 25% import duty that made it cost as much as a Chevrolet Blazer. It will enable Isuzu to

April 1, 1996

Lack of fourth door plagues Ford

Ford Motor Co. is taking plenty of heat these days for failing to offer a fourth, rear passenger sliding door on its Windstar minivan, which debuted in 1994. Meantime, General Motors Corp. engineered a fourth door on its all-new '97 U-van see cover story, p.26), and Chrysler Corp. offers it as a $500 option on its new-for-'96 minivans. As a stopgap before the next Windstar comes along -- likely 1999

April 1, 1996

Ford big SMC user

Ford Motor Co. is expected to nearly double the number of sheet molding composite (SMC) parts it uses on cars and trucks since 1993, says the SMC Automotive Alliance (SMCAA). "The number of SMC components on Ford passenger cars grew from 22 to 43 during the past three years," says Eldon (Al) Trueman, SMCAA chairman and vice president of worldwide commercial development at Budd Plastics Div. "If car

April 1, 1996

At what price ppm?

What is the true measure of quality? In baseball it's batting and earned-run averages. In football it's yardage gained and allowed. In automotive parts supply it's defective parts per million units (ppm). Or is it?Automakers hand out quality awards to their suppliers based on a number of criteria, not the least of which is ppm. Supplier quality programs are geared to make ppms as low as possible.

By Tim Keenan • April 1, 1996

Why is Charlie Baker special?

You've heard of global sourcing of components, and the concept of global manufacturing is old hat. But As the relatively weak dollar and trade pressures lure German and Japanese automakers to boost their investments in the U.S., and American automakers increasingly expand overseas in search of new markets and better economies of scale, these megatrends are changing the lives of not just the workers

By Drew Winter, GREG GARDNER, Visnic, Bill • March 1, 1996

Hey buddy, can you spare a gear? Expect more - and less - from transmissions

Mike Kluger manager-automatic transmission technology section at Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), has authored or co-authored numerous SAE papers relating to transmission technology and SWRI tests. He also evaluates transmissions for many of the world's major automakers. Mr. Kluger recently shared his thoughts on near-term automatic-transmission development with WAW.The industry has experienced

By Kluger, Mike • March 1, 1996

Japan: one size doesn’t fit all; matching models to markets is key global strategy.

TOKYO - Global engineering has been a natural fit for Japanese automotive designers and engineers. After all, they are firm believers in matching models to markets. Because tastes, policies and regulationsvary, they feel one-size-fits-all "world cars" are limited in appeal and saleability. Consequently, all major Japanese automakers have established research and development centers in the U.S. and

By Mack Chrysler • March 1, 1996

JCI, Chivas Products get GM business for 2000

General Motors Corp., Johnson Controls Inc. and Chivas Products Ltd. are combining for a large boost to Detroit's new federal Empowerment Zone. GM announces it will award JCI and Chivas a six-year contract worth an estimated $900 million to produce interior components and systems for model-year 2000 vehicles and beyond.Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and Harold Kutner, GM's purchasing vice president,

March 1, 1996

Snake’s alive!

Skies were overcast and conditions rainy at Daytona International Speedway early in February for the Rolex 24-hour endurance race, but the outlook for the Dodge Viper GTS-R -- Chrysler Corp.'s race-only version of the '96 Viper GTS Coupe -- is bright indeed.Canaska/Southwind, the automaker's North American development team, put a new Viper GTS-R in the eighth position (out of 76) on the starting grid,

By Tim Keenan • March 1, 1996

007’s BMW Z3: U.S.-built roadster expands German automaker’s world-car tradition

With all the fanfare surrounding the introduction of Ford Motor Co.'s Mondeo in Europe and the Contour/Mystique stateside, one might think that they were the first-ever world cars.BMW AG likes to note that it has been building and selling cars around the globe for many years, although not with the kind of volume and differentiation of the Ford effort.BMW's latest is the Z3 roadster, which will be

By Tim Keenan • March 1, 1996

Escort: Ford’s 15 years on a learning curve.

VPCs, VLEs, brand managers. Nineties-speak for today's efforts at organizing the oft-blurry idea of world-car management and engineering structure.In 1980, it was "project centers" that Ford Motor Co. concocted for its first fullbore crack at developing a vehicle for global markets -- the 1981 Escort.Louis R. Ross, at the time Ford's executive vice president-car product development, explained that

By Bill Visnic • March 1, 1996

A different kind of car guy: Verbal becomes first African American tohead SAE

The new president of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is a different kind of car guy.Claude Verbal, 53, is a licensed hypno-therapist who meditates every day and wears double-breasted suits. During his 32-year career at General Motors Corp., he has worked as a design engineer, an operations and manufacturing engineer and he's now the plant manager of Gm's Service Parts Operation in Lansing,

By Frank Washington • March 1, 1996

Ford Credit rolls the dice

With consumer debt at or near record levels and incomes growing hardly at all, Ford Motor Credit Co. is forming a new subsidiary whose strategy is to find customers who haven't qualified through conventional lending channels and take a chance on them. It's called "sub-prime" financing because the borrowers' credit records indicate they may not be able to repay. The incentive for Ford Credit: charging

March 1, 1996

Catera tests GM’s global strategy

While Acura is launching its first American-engineered model, Cadillac is leveraging General Motors Corp.'s European resources, gussying up the Opel Omega platform into the long-awaited Catera.This project, which has been in the works for more than three years, is not driven by currency forces. To build on its rather sparse cadre of under-50 buyers, Cadillac clearly needs to offer an entry-level rear-drive

By Gardner, Greg • March 1, 1996

GM VLEs learn to lean to the left

When it comes to reinventing itself, General Motors Corp. is quite familiar with consultants. Kinsey & Co., A.T. Kearney Inc., you name it, any major consulting firm worth its fees, has taken a whack at the organizational thicket enshrouding the world's largest automaker.But for guiding the training of GM's 13 vehicle line executives, GM has linked up with Alfredo (Fred) M. Kofman, an Argentine-born,

March 1, 1996