Operations: Page 231

Mexico Goes on Siesta

The good news for Mexico is that the news is not that bad. Forecasts call for vehicle sales in the country to total 830,000 to 850,000 units in 2002, down from some 900,000 deliveries in 2001. But that's not a sharp decrease considering Mexico's history, when a downturn in the heavily relied-upon U.S. market coupled with a recent presidential election likely would have caused an economic collapse.

By Brian Corbett • Dec. 1, 2001

FORECASTING IS MORE ESSENTIAL NOW

Helping good dealers become better has been NCM Associates' mission for more than 54 years. We want to assist you in planning and operating your business in a most proficient manner. With the following information, you should have a point of reference in constructing your 2002 plan. When a tragedy such as the Sept. 11 terrorists' attacks occurs, it creates certain reluctance on the part of the consumer

By Tony Noland • Nov. 1, 2001

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

Production strategies are changing rapidly as tariffs and shifts in consumer buying patterns affect the industry.

By WardsAuto staff

Ten myths about multicultural new-car buyers

More than one million people from overseas come to the U.S. every year, and many of them want to show friends and family they are successful by buying a new car. In addition, there are nearly 80 million multicultural Americans already here. This is a huge market for new car salespeople all across the country if you know how to meet the unique needs of people from other cultures. Understanding the

By Michael D. Lee • Nov. 1, 2001

Put It In Perspective

George B. Selden is a pivotal figure in the early history of the automobile, but don't look to see if there are any buildings or freeways in Detroit named after him. There aren't. Nor should there be: Mr. Selden probably did more to stall the progress of the U.S. auto industry than any other man in history. This now obscure figure was an inventor and lawyer who filed the first patent for a road locomotive

By Drew Winter • Nov. 1, 2001

YOUR CHANCE TO SOUND OFF EVERY MONTH

We're starting a new feature, Sound Off. It invites readers to express themselves on a topical question of the month. Feel free to answer the question as well as share your thoughts on the issue. The Question of the Month is: Should the National Automobile Dealers Association have rescheduled its 2002 convention in New Orleans from Feb. 2-5 to Jan. 26-29 to accommodate the Super Bowl? Yes No Undecided

Nov. 1, 2001

Jervis C. Webb: Conveyor King

Jervis Campbell Webb, chairman emeritus of the company founded by his parents, Jervis B. Webb Co. of Farmington Hills, MI, died Oct. 7 in Mt. Vernon, NY. He was 86. Mr. Webb began working at the company, the world's leading designer, manufacturer and installer of conveyor systems, in 1937, eventually rising to president in 1970 and taking over as chairman six years later. An inventor who held several

Nov. 1, 2001

CarsDirect and AAA join forces

Four of the leading AAA (American Automobile Association) clubs in the United States recently selected CarsDirect.com as their online car buying service. Included in the selection are Automobile Club of New York, serving the metropolitan New York area; the California State Automobile Association (CSAA), serving Northern California, Nevada and Utah; AAA Michigan; and AAA Washington, serving central

By Wire Reports • Oct. 19, 2001

Why the NADA bowed to the NFL

Your convention date is set for the first week in February. You’ve booked 17,000 hotel rooms for the annual event. You’ve leased 300,000 square feet of convention center space. You’ve signed 650 contracts for the big event in New Orleans. And then someone asks you to change the dates to make way for their event. OK, that someone is not just anyone. It’s the National Football League. And their event

By Steve Finlay • Oct. 9, 2001

ASBURY AUTOGROUP PRESIDENT AND CEO BRIAN E. KENDRICK DIES

Asbury Autogroup Friday that Brian E. Kendrick, President and Chief Executive Officer, died Thursday evening of a sudden heart attack. Mr. Kendrick was 48. “All of us are deeply saddened by the unexpected and untimely loss of our friend and Chief Executive. Brian was a visionary and his tremendous energy and enthusiasm will be missed. Our thoughts and sympathy are with Brian’s family,” said Timothy

Oct. 8, 2001

Asbury Autogroup President and CEO Brian Kendrick Dies

Brian E. Kendrick, President and Chief Executive Officer of Asbury Autogroup, died Thursday evening of a sudden heart attack. Mr. Kendrick was 48. “All of us are deeply saddened by the unexpected and untimely loss of our friend and Chief Executive. Brian was a visionary and his tremendous energy and enthusiasm will be missed. Our thoughts and sympathy are with Brian’s family,” said Timothy Collins,

By Wire Reports • Oct. 8, 2001

Goodyear, Siemens develop tire warning

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and Siemens VDO Automotive plan to jointly develop a next-generation tire pressure monitoring system, the companies announce at a security analyst presentation at the Frankfurt International Motor Show. Both Goodyear and Siemens VDO already have developed tire pressure monitoring devices. The current Siemens VDO system directly measures air pressure in a tire with a micro-mechanical

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Oct. 1, 2001

WHAT A FOLLOW-UP PHONE CALL CAN DO

AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS AND THEIR dealers spend millions of dollars promoting their products in the marketplace, yet the final result is often placed in the hands of poorly trained salespersons. A mind set among many auto salespeople is that immediacy is the principal requirement for selling cars. The persistent philosophy for automobile selling during the past half century has been sell the prospects

By Nat Shulman • Oct. 1, 2001

BorgWarner to make dual-clutch auto-manuals

BorgWarner Inc. announces that it has a customer and will begin production in 2003 of its DualTronic automated manual transmission. The DualTronic dual-clutch automated manual improves upon the automatic-shifting manual transmissions currently fitted in several European vehicles by employing two separate gearset shafts, each with its own corresponding wet clutch, to engage and disengage the gears.

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Oct. 1, 2001

CASH MANAGEMENT IS A TEAM EFFORT

Jeff Sacks, with whom I conduct our general managers' Boot Camp training, tells of a 20 Group session he spoke at. When he entered the meeting for his presentation, he noted an anchor sitting in front of one participant and an ice chest in front of another. He asked the chairperson why. The answer: Oh, the one with the ice chest is the member with the most frozen capital, and the anchor in front of

By Tony Noland • Oct. 1, 2001

2002 NADA Schedule

Scheduling Your Time What's Happening When?

By NADA • Sept. 25, 2001

Auto summit planned today in Detroit

An auto summit is planned in Detroit today to address an anticipated plunge in vehicle sales in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. New car sales could fall 500,000 to 700,000 units short of earlier forecasts, warns J. Ferron of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Other analysts are downgrading their own earlier forecasts—which had run as high as 16.5 million for this year. Automakers are slowly bringing

By The Car Connection • Sept. 19, 2001

National City launches on-line automotive shopping site

Now banks are getting into the third-party lead generation business. Consumer Finance, National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) announced last week the launch of NCAutoChannel.com, the nation's first bank-sponsored online automotive shopping site. NCAutoChannel.com brings together the auto manufacturer, car dealer and lending organization to make auto shopping more convenient, cost-effective and reliable

By Wire Reports • Sept. 10, 2001

National City launches on-line automotive site

Now banks are getting into the third-party lead generation business. Consumer Finance, National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) announced last week the launch of NCAutoChannel.com, the nation's first bank-sponsored online automotive shopping site. NCAutoChannel.com brings together the auto manufacturer, car dealer and lending organization to make auto shopping more convenient, cost-effective and reliable

By Wire Reports • Sept. 9, 2001

Automotive industry starts to focus on Hispanic on-line market

It has taken a while, but the automotive industry is starting to target the Hispanic on-line buying market. Hispanics comprise 12.5% of the U.S. population making it the second-largest minority group in the country. A study conducted by the Roslow Research Group for Autobytel, Inc., shows 37% of the Hispanic population have used the Internet when shopping for a vehicle. That number, however, will

By Wire Reports • Sept. 5, 2001

Collins & Aikman Lands Textron Trim

Yet another conglomerate appears to be leaving automotive as Textron Inc. sells its automotive trim division (TAC-Trim) to Collins & Aikman Corp. for $1.3 billion. The deal expands C&A's market share in automotive fabric, molded floors and convertible tops and adds several new products, including instrument panels and door trim. Driving the deal was Heartland Industrial Partners LP, which acquired

Sept. 1, 2001

Thailand, Malaysia dispute trade pact

Thailand and Malaysia remain at odds over the execution of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), with the automotive sector lying at the heart of the dispute. Thailand gave Malaysia a deadline of Aug. 10 to create a list of trade concessions to compensate for Malaysia's decision to continue to place tariffs on automobiles. Under AFTA, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE INTERNATIONAL • Sept. 1, 2001

JM&A courses emphasize tact and profits

DEERFIELD BEACH, FL - In the motion picture City Slickers, Jack Palance's surly Curly tells Billy Crystal's Mets-cap-wearing Mitch that there's only one thing that's important in life. Michael Yoder says the same thing about the F&I training course he instructs here at the JM&A Performance Development Center (PDC). Curly's one thing was about friendship. Mr. Yoder's one thing is how to handle customer

By Tim Keenan • Sept. 1, 2001

Aluminum Shoots for the Moon

Imagine if the U.S. failed to meet the challenge put forth by President Kennedy in 1961 of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade and returning him safely. That's something akin to what the auto industry is dealing with after a recently released federal review of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) concluded the program would not reach its goal of an 80 mpg car

By Brian Corbett • Sept. 1, 2001

Visteon: Hard to find the value

Louis Whitlock has a cruel exercise to demonstrate for his employees at Visteon Corp. the inherent waste in manufacturing. It's called value stream mapping, and Mr. Whitlock used it to tally exactly how much value seven Visteon plants create in producing instrument panels and associated components. Mr. Whitlock, Visteon manufacturing director, shared the bare-knuckled results at last month's Traverse

By Compiled by Senior Editor Tom Murphy [email protected] • Sept. 1, 2001

NUMMI gets new labor deal

United Auto Workers union Local 2244 workers agree to a new 4-year labor deal at New United Motor Mfg. Inc. calling for a $1,450 lump sum payment and a 3% annual wage increase. Contributions to worker 401(k) savings plans will be boosted, and retirees get $550 lump sum bonuses each year of the deal. Cost of living will increase a penny for every 0.25 change in the Consumer Price Index. Election Day

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • Sept. 1, 2001