Dealers: Page 139

F&I On-Line

If dealers think the Internet is a threat to their new- and used-car business, think about freely accessible on-line auto financing.Just about every on-line referral service is partnering with a bank.Autobytel, CarSmart and AutoConnect are aligned with the CarFinance.com division of Nation's Bank. Cars.com makes Creditland financing available to its viewers. Even AutoNation has a web site called Giggo.com

By Tim Keenan • Aug. 1, 1999

Internet car loan processing poised to zap the fax

The wait for a car loan decision will be shortened dramatically when the Internet replaces the fax machine as the main mode of communication between dealerships and lending institutions.Next to the customer's dithering over which car to buy, the second most time-consuming phase of the transaction for customers and dealership staff alike is getting the loan approved at terms acceptable to the customer.But

By Fred Bonnie • Aug. 1, 1999

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

SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR ALL FRANCHISES

It's hard to believe but half of 1999 is history and all signs point to a new record for dealers and manufacturers alike.I have just acquired the year-to-date NCM Client Franchise Benchmarks and without exception, all franchises are having a good year and some are having a phenomenal year.The Benchmark information published here is based on the performance average of the top 50% of our clients in

By Tony Noland • Aug. 1, 1999

Truck owners love aftermarket stuff

When it comes to after-market products, put your money on truck owners.They outspent car owners by an average of $128 per vehicle, says James A. Lang, president of Lang Marketing Resources Inc of Wyckoff, NJ."Cars averaged $331 in aftermarket products during 1998 compared to $459 for the typical light truck," he says.The research and consulting firm's analysis does not include automotive crash parts,

Aug. 1, 1999

AutoNation Inc. on-line looks to license other dealers

AutoNation Inc. is launching a new national Internet sales site that will be licensed to dealers not owned by the megadealer in markets outside its 28-market network.AutoNation, which expects its Internet sales to be in the billions of dollars, is test-marketing the online initiative in Tampa, FL, prior to a national rollout later this year.It features AutoNation's exclusive Internet financing provider,

Aug. 1, 1999

Go for the Halos

A "halo car" is something special, a "Gee whiz, did you see that go by? What was it?" kind of car.Actually, it should be more than an attention getter. My friend, Fred Mackerodt (whom I think is one of the best car marketing guys around) says: "You can drop your drawers in the middle of 42nd Street and attract attention. The halo car should set or reinforce the image you are building. It should define

By Jerry Flint • June 1, 1999

CAMI gets a new lease on life

The CAMI Automotive Inc. assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., was riding high in 1995, when after six years in business the plant reached its peak production of 183,000 units, most of them Geo Metro subcompacts and Tracker small sport/utility vehicles.But as vehicle buyers decided that bigger is better, sales plummeted for Metro, Tracker and their Suzuki counterparts: Swift and Sidekick. The plant is

Dec. 1, 1998

Siemens plans major restructuring

Promising a new corporate culture and a "rigorous pruning" of underperforming businesses, Siemens AG Chief Executive Heinrich von Pierer said the company will fall short of its DM3 billion ($1.68 billion) earnings target for the year ending Sept. 30. Siemens already announced plans to sell its power cable operations to Pirelli SpA for DM500 million ($279 million). Mr. von Pierer tells analysts the

Aug. 1, 1998

Gloomy Near-term Outlook for Steel Asia crisis, other woes hurt production,pricing

By most accounts the completion of Ispat International NV's purchase of Inland Steel Co. to become the world's seventh largest steelmaker in mid-July was a happy affair.After all, for a relatively modest $1.4 billion, Ispat gets the sixth largest U.S. steel producer, and a respected, relatively efficient one to boot. Ispat also gets I/N Tek, the 60% Inland-owned joint venture with Nippon Steel Corp.,

By Drew Winter • Aug. 1, 1998

The Great Warranty Debate

It makes perfect sense, and it should be simple enough: If a supplier's part breaks down on a vehicle, the supplier shares in the cost and the headaches of making things right.Not so fast, bub.Just how do we know it's the supplier's fault? Couldn't a defective part upstream be causing the problems with the component? And who designed the part, the supplier or the customer?These are the questions WAW

July 1, 1998

How to Cut Selling Costs--A leasing plan that smooths production blips

There have been plenty of changes in the way cars are sold, but when it comes to reducing the cost of selling, nothing has changed that much.Sure, there are some different sales techniques such as Saturn's and AutoNation's one-price policy. Then there's the growing trend toward more leasing. But for the most part, car companies still do the same old things: when sales are down they offer rebates,

By STEPHAN SHARF • July 1, 1998

Ford Shuffles Marketing Execs

James O'Connor won't be moving to California after all. The silver-haired Ford Motor Co. marketing executive who has headed Lincoln Mercury Div. for the last two years is moving over to become vice president and general manager of Ford Div.Ross Roberts leaves the Ford Div. post to become president of Ford Investment Enterprise Corp., a new entity formed a year ago to position the company more effectively

June 1, 1998

Just for Good Measure . . .Brown & Sharpe unites global operations

It's never easy when someone buys your company. Employees fear loss of identity and control to the new parent company.Executives understood that at Brown & Sharpe, the Rhode Island company that began making and repairing timepieces in 1833. Today it's a leader in dimensional metrology equipment used for quality assurance in several industries, including automotive, aerospace and electronics.So when

By Tom Murphy • May 1, 1998

The Quality Gap - QS-9000: Good on paper, but does it guarantee quality?

Andy Herman knows too well what happens when a company makes a half-hearted attempt to meet QS-9000, the Big Three's quality require zment.Without total commitment from the CEO on down to the newest employee on the shop floor, QS-9000 will not make a noticeable difference in a facility's overall operations, its productivity or the quality of its output.Mr. Herman spent 30 years tracking supplier quality

By Tom Murphy • Feb. 1, 1998

Guardian to build trim plant in Kentucky

Guardian Automotive announces that it will build a $44 million trim manufacturing operation in Morehead, KY. The new facility is expected to be running text fall and will bring 400 jobs to the area. This expansion of Guardian's trim group follows the company's earlier acquisition of Automotive Moulding Co.

Nov. 1, 1996

The difference between cars and bran flakes

I always thought brand marketing was invented for relatively cheapto-make products that were basically all alike, which sold for big prices -- soap, breakfast cereal, toothpaste, cigarettes, things like that.The stuff would cost 20 cents to make -- packaging included -- and sell for $2.70, so the manufacturers spent $2 on advertising/marketing and split 50 cents profit with the retailer.Because the

By Flint, Jerry • Oct. 1, 1996

The name game: it takes more than a marque to mark a brand

Those new brand bosses of the Big Three are starting from scratch with a bevy of names making their debut in 1997, and more are coming right behind.The name game has gone big time ever since the early '60s when corporate marketing wizards determined that customers demanded variety and that eight choices were better than one or two.Just for 1997, model year, the branders have these names striving to

By Rothenberg, Al • Oct. 1, 1996

Brand management: define your identity, then stick to it

What do Coca Cola, Disney, Nike and Ralph Lauren all have in common?They all benefit from strong brand management.Ralph Lauren has never strayed from offering classic contemporary fashion despite dramatic fluctuations in that industry. Disney has defined family entertainment by creating and marketing a stable of characters and films that it can make recognizable worldwide within weeks.Automakers'

By Cedergren, Christopher W. • Aug. 1, 1996

Risky business: China market beckons, but it’s a high-stakes investment.

The giant has awakened and the tremor of its rise is moving the world.Star-struck investors from the West are funneling billions into Chinese business and operations to capture a foothold in the world's biggest untapped market. But political volatility, military maneuvering and cold spells with superpowers such as the U.S. are cause for some healthy wariness by trade watchers in the west. Investment

By Knapp, Gwendolyn S. • April 1, 1996

Hunt takes helm at Arvin Industries

V. William Hunt, president of Arvin Industries Inc.'s North American Automotive division, is named president and chief operating officer of the company. Mr. Hunt joined Arvin as counsel in 1976 and progressed through various management positions before being appointed president of the automotive business in 1993.

April 1, 1996

Analyst driven: Wall Street is the tail wagging the dog

If you study successful companies from other industrial nations, you'll find that they generally have been in business a long time. Their performance, when measured over a period of time, can be characterized as steady, gradual growth. Any updating of their mode of operation -- should it be necessary -- is carefully planned to create the least amount of upheaval.Steady, gradual change, the least amount

By Sharf, Stephan • April 1, 1996

Maybe pricing is the lost chord; despite attacking costs, automakers still haven’t orchestrated sticker music

You can write some beautiful music, but if you don't orchestrate it correctly, it's just notes on paper. , The same thing holds true with many of today's automakers: they continuously write what seems to be beautiful music with notes like teamwork, supplier involvement, outsourcing and global participation.Although all the notes seem to be there, if you look at escalating new-car prices you have to

By Sharf, Stephan • March 1, 1996

Reins takes reins at AP Parts Int’l Inc.

At 55, Ralph Reins' resume reads like a roster at an automotive suppliers' conference. WAW learns his latest posting is president and CEO of AP Parts International Inc., maker of exhaust systems and other components for OEMs and the aftermarket in Maumee, OH. An engineer, the ebullient Mr. Reins launched his career at General Motors Corp. After a stint at Rockwell International Corp. he moved on to

Jan. 1, 1996

You heard it here first; SPE serves up a banquet of innovative plastic parts

`Many experts believe it's the most significant piece of plastic or composite material on the '96 models," I wrote back in September (see WAW). Well, now it's official: The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Div. gave the radiator support on Ford Motor Co.'s new Taurus/sable the top prize at its 25th annual Automotive Awards Banquet in November.The SPE Automotive Div. Awards is the largest

By Drew Winter • Dec. 1, 1995

Hudler takes over Saturn

Donald W. Hudler's elevation to the presidency of Saturn Corp. is more reward than promotion. After all, it was Mr. Hudler who sculpted the wildly successful marketing campaign that convinced consumers that Saturn is a different kind of car company, and more important, instilled the notion that the folks in Spring Hill, TN, Saturn's manufacturing home, have little to do with parent General Motors

Sept. 1, 1995