Automakers: Page 445
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Courtesy of WardsAuto
Volvo seeks partner to build vehicle in N. America
AB Volvo is studying a plan to set up production in North America for a new SUV, Volvo Cars of North America Inc. executives tell Ward's. The Sweden-based automaker is discussing a joint-venture for the project with Mitsubishi Motors Corp., as well as several other companies, the VCNA executives say.
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford adjusts schedule despite May sales increase
Ford Motor Co. sees a 2.5% boost in May sales -- mostly in the hot sport/utility vehicle (SUV), pickup and minivan segment -- but announces plans to cut back production of passenger cars by 16.5% in the third quarter due to less-than-enthusiastic spring sales. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. sales drop 5.7% and 3%, respectively. Overall U.S. vehicle sales are down 1.3%, the fifth straight
July 1, 1995 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Courtesy of Kia Corporation
TrendlineArtificial 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 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
VW’s Lopez finally gets a plant to call his own
Volkswagen AG's controversial chief of purchasing and production, J. Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, finally gets to put his stamp on an all-new assembly plant. VW Brazil will build a revolutionary new plant to build buses and trucks in Brazil. The facility will have a central corridor with eight lateral sheds, four to a side. Each of the sheds will essentially belong to a Tier 1 supplier. The plant will
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Exide completes European acquisition strategy
Battery and accessory manufacturer Exide Corp. says with the purchase of Compagnie Euopenne d'Accumulateurs SA (CEAc) from Fiat SpA its European acquisition strategy is now complete.Exide officials say it now has 40% of the European battery market and a comparable share in North America. In addition to CEAc, Exide recently has picked up battery makers in Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany.
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
New Taurus/Sable hurts Ford’s productivity
ATLANTA -- Ford Motor Co.'s plant here often is ranked as one of the most efficient in the U.S. But despite spending $250 million for tooling and employee training, its productivity is dropping because of the complexity of the new 1996 Taurus/Sable models being produced here. The old vehicles required about 16 man hours per car to build, while the new ones will require about 17 man hours. That translates
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler hits stride in St. Louis ramp up
Chrysler Corp. isn't letting the Kerkorian distraction upset its normal operations. Last month it hit full production at its St. Louis South Assembly Plant, one of three plants that will produce its new generation of minivans. The plant is now turning out 1,150, long-wheelbase Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans per day. This month St. Louis will begin producing short-wheelbase versions
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM’s land yachts gone? Not quite
Whoa! Wrapup reported in last month's issue that General Motors Corp. intended to halt production this summer of its boulevard boats -- the Buick Roadmaster, Cadillac Fleetwood and Chevrolet's Caprice and Impala SS. We were wrong. GM says production of its land yachts will be halted not this summer, but the summer of 1996. So for all those folks who like the feel of the ocean while driving down the
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Alcoa Fujikura acquires Electro-Wire Products
Alcoa Fujikura Ltd., a partnership between Pittsburgh's Aluminum Co. of America and Tokyo's Fujikura, will purchase Electro-Wire Products of Dearborn, MI. Combining the two electrical distribution systems manufacturers creates what officials call "a worldwide enterprise with annual revenues of about $1.35 billion." Electro-Wire is headed by Oscar B. (Bud) Marx III, former Ford Motor Co. vice president-automotive
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Kerkorian offers $50 for 14 million Chrysler shares
In an apparent bid to better position himself for another Chrysler Corp. takeover attempt, Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda Corp. announce plans to offer $50 cash per share for up to 14 million shares of the corporation's common stock, "to anyone that wants to sell their stock," says a Tracinda spokesman. At press time the stock is valued at $47.63. Chrysler spokesperson Rita McKay says the company
July 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM begins ambassador program
General Motors Corp. officials deny that their new ambassador program is aimed at repairing Gm's reputation as the domestic automaker with the worst supplier-OEM relations. The No. 1 automaker concedes, however, that the initiative, announced in Toronto in April, will improve communication between GM and its vendors. "I'm not sure we'll ever be the best-liked customer in the world," says Harold Kutner,
June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ford limits cost of new car development
Ford locks product development spending for the rest of the decade. "This is really a stretch target," says car development chief Jacques Nasser. "We owe it to our marketplace. We owe it to our customers." Ford also owes it to itself. The company obviously never wants to undergo the industry ridicule and shellacking by the automotive press it took after spending an estimated six years and $6 billion
June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Toyota gets tougher on costs; look out - the leanest is about to get leaner
Just when they thought they were catching up with Toyota Motor Corp.'s pacesetting lean production methods, the world's other automakers face a new threat: Toyota is set to become still leaner.Already the envy of everyone else as the lowest-cost producer of high quality vehicles, Toyota is waging yet another war on waste.Spurred on by the persistently strong yen, which has forced price increases repeatedly
By David C. Smith • June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
New E-Class built with cost in mind
STUTTGART -- Search beyond the distinctive four-headlamp front end and you'll discover that Mercedes-Benz AG's new E-Class -- scheduled for launch this month -- heralds a second, even more significant revolution from the world's oldest carmaker.This E-Class is the first model Mercedes has ever built to a clearly defined cost target. Previously, engineering-dominated Mercedes simply didn't rank development
June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Aeroquip gets its biggest contract ever
Ford Motor Co. and Aeroquip Corp. sign a contract for the supplier to deliver $40 million to $50 million in power steering hose/tube systems annually for the next seven years. The hoses are for late 90s vehicles. Aeroquip says it's the largest single contract in company history.
June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Bird catches fire; Sunfire, Cavalier leave past models in dust
It has a racey new look, a catchy new name and a bold new attitude. "It" is Pontiac Motor Div.'s version of the General Motors Corp.'s revamped J platform -- Sunfire.The new Pontiac J model, called Sunbird in previous interations, takes more than the flame reference from its Firebird big brother in GM's "excitement" stable. Aerodynamic front-end styling gives Sunfire its family resemblance and the
By Tim Keenan • June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Air bags brace for impact; producers develop greener alternatives to sodium azide
If you think the only impact air bag producers care about is in a crash, think again. Concerns over the environmental impact of junked air bags is forcing them to redesign their products and search for more ecofriendly pyrotechnic materials to inflate the bags.This is no public relations exercise, either. Automakers are demanding more environmentally friendly air bags, and the installation rate of
By Drew Winter • June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Team Taurus - revisited for ‘96; an early look at the workings of Ford 2000
Consider Ford Motor Co.'s perilous situation: its all-new Taurus and Sable midsizers, the company's perennial best-selling passenger cars, are ready for introduction into a weakening market -- a market suddenly flash-point sensitive to "affordability."Yet in the first major redesign since their initial launch a decade ago, the 1996 Taurus and Sable -- codenamed DN 101 are more complex, take longer
By Bill Visnic • June 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
The story behind GM’s costly J-car launch
LORDSTOWN, OH -- it looked great on paper: An ingenious plan to convert General Motors Corp.'s huge assembly and stamping complex near this small northeastern Ohio town into a super-efficient manufacturer of high-quality, low-cost small cars -- the new-generation 1995 J-body Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire.The original blueprint called for Lordstown to be the cornerstone of a $1 billion investment
By Tim Keenan, David Smith, Lowell, Jon • April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Osram Sylvania responds to changing lighting market
Luminari sounds like a description of the Academy Awards' audience, but it's also the name of Osram Sylvania Inc.'s new family of lighting systems designed to meet the changing needs of automakers.The product lineup increases design flexibility as well as performance and safety, says the company, as the systems make their debut at the SAE Exposition in Detroit. The lineup includes Luminarc, a high-intensity
By Gazdik, Tanya • April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Chrysler: our minivans are safe
Chrysler Corp. has no plans to alter its safety-laced marketing strategy for the '96 minivans even though there are claims the vehicles had problems with federally mandated crash tests. "The Chrysler minivan is among the safest vehicles on the road today," says Ted Cunningham, general manager-minivan operations and executive vice president-sales and marketing. He says Chrysler plans to tout safety
April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM’s Saginaw Steering expands in Far East
China, Japan and Vietnam grab increasing attention from General Motors Corp.'s Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems.Donald L. Runkle, GM vice president and Saginaw general manager, reveals details of new joint ventures recently signed in China and Japan, and tells WAW partsmaking "discussions" are under way in Vietnam as it prepares to join the ASEAN trading block where 2 million vehicles currently are
April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Hyundai a bear on ‘95 sales
Only 14.9 million light vehicles will be sold in the U.S. during 1995, predicts N. Douglas Mazza, executive vice president of Hyundai Motor America. He says the rising prices of cars and light trucks is pushing more buyers into used vehicles, and younger buyers are foregoing a new car, opting instead to spend their dollars upgrading their computer systems or on other big-ticket items.
April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
NVG celebrates 5 years; heads new composite venture
New Venture Gear Inc., the historic joint venture between the manual transmission businesses of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp., celebrates its fifth year with a black-ink bottom line and a government grant to explore composite materials for driveline products.NVG turns its first profit in fiscal 1993 and improves its bottom line in 1994 on the heels of $1 billion in sales. "I think we achieved
By Tim Keenan • April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
No sob story from Saab
Saab Automobile AB may build a new car that would fall under the 900 by the end of the decade, says Keith O. Butler-Wheelhouse, president and CEO. "I think it would likely be smaller than larger," he says. "But that is going to depend a lot on what happens in the market. It depends on how the new smaller luxury cars from Mercedes and BMW and Audi do. They may play well in Europe and not play well
April 1, 1995 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
GM: NAO can survive downtown
General Motors Corp.'s North American Operations could break even on a cash-flow basis in 1995, even if a mild downturn -- a 7% to 10% dip -- occurs in the U.S. new vehicle market, top executives tell financial analysts in a meeting in Rye, NY.Analysts say GM brass also told them the company is taking a more critical approach to reviewing management performance and is tying executive bonuses closer
April 1, 1995
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