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Words to Close By

Closing a car sale is exciting. But some people panic and drop the ball at the last second. They also leave a lot of money on the table. This is due in part to not finalizing the sale with effective and practiced closing lines. Last month, I offered you some closing lines to work with. Those centered on closing the sale so you can start negotiating. This month, let's go over some closes that you can

By Darin George • Jan. 1, 2003

Luxury Brands to Drive Sales Growth

Auto analysts see prestige brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Jaguar and Cadillac as the engine that will power automotive sales growth in the years ahead. But there's a danger that the proliferation of luxury models will rub some of the luster off prestige brand badging, one industry observer notes. Ward's data show there will be 108 luxury vehicles on the U.S. market in the '08 model year, up

By David E. Zoia • Jan. 1, 2003

The Big Chill

Auto makers are spending some cold days at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month trying to heat up a cooling U.S. new car and truck market. No fewer than 13 production vehicles and a like number of concepts are making world debuts in Detroit this year, as industry players launch the fight for market share in what is expected to be a tough 2003. Giant General Motors Corp.

By David E. Zoia and the Ward's Staff • Jan. 1, 2003

Shogun

HIROSHIMA, Japan In the martial arts world, there is a unique discipline known as Goju-Ryu. Roughly translated: the school of hard and soft. Originating south of here on the island of Okinawa, it blends the two modes of combat attack and defend using combinations of powerful strikes and fluid, but effective blocks. Goju-Ryu teaches strength, but not for the sake of mere might. It flows, in harmony

By Eric Mayne • Dec. 1, 2002

When Car Sales Soften

My December, 2001 column addressed Life After 0% Financing. Oh well, so much for my prediction that such incentives would likely be ending sooner than later. July and August 2002 saw an industry sales rate of approximately 18.7 million and then came October's rate of less than 16 million. Straight 2001-to-2002 comparisons are invalid due to the introduction of 0% in September of 2001. So, what is

By Tony Noland • Dec. 1, 2002

100 Years - And Counting

It was on Nov. 7, 1902, that a young German inventor named Otto Schulze walked out of the German Imperial Patent Office in Berlin and forever changed the course of automotive history. Schulze was granted a patent for the first speedometer. The ingenious eddy current device used a flexible shaft and magnets to convey the rotational speed of the wheel or the transmission through a needle-type gauge.

Dec. 1, 2002

Aston Martin DB7 Debuts

Aston Martin delighted U.K. car enthusiasts at the recent British Motor Show in Birmingham by launching its latest DB7 model, and the luxury auto maker had news of another new car for the U.S. market. Aston Martin's CEO Ulrich Bez says the DB7 range is the backbone of the company, adding it has effectively kept Aston Martin alive. Bez says the GT will be priced at $162,000. Bez also confirmed the

By Jonathan Thomson • Nov. 1, 2002

STEP in right direction

Consider the irony: college graduates struggle to find jobs in a tight employment market, while the automotive industry struggles to meet the demand for skilled labor. Auto dealers are competing with other high tech industries for proficient employees, specifically automotive service technicians trained to repair today's sophisticated vehicles. Well-trained service technicians are a hot commodity

Nov. 1, 2002

Annual Model Change?

Remember the annual model change? Detroit is being swamped by new stuff from the foreigners. Maybe it's time to bring it back. You may think I'm nuts, but hear me out. This is an old complaint, but our press test day drove it home. The car makers put their new car models on a race track in Pennsylvania for journalists to drive. The foreign makes had lots of new stuff: the new Accords, the G35s, the

By Jerry Flint • Nov. 1, 2002

Non-Union Production Climbs

Arguably the heart-and-soul of the labor movement in the 20th century, the automotive industry in the U.S. and Canada, has been losing membership for years as overseas-based manufacturers increase their presence in the North American market, mostly without using organized workforces. Another result of the lack of success the United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers unions have had in organizing

By Haig Stoddard • Oct. 1, 2002

Longer, Lower, Wider

My rearview mirror is crowded with 11 all-new Saab 9-3s. The procession buzzes along a country road north of Stockholm and over a lazy hilltop, where a Swedish farmer is perched, watching us roar through his rural world. Lucky for us, he fails in his attempt to write down our license plate numbers and report us to the local authorities, agitated from several days of test-driving near his house. While

By Brian Corbett • Sept. 1, 2002

Sparring Over Steel

The automotive Management Briefing Seminars held each August in the northern Michigan resort town of Traverse City generally are sedate affairs. Hosted by the University of Michigan and the Center for Automotive Research, the speeches are thought-provoking but academic, and the applause usually is little more than polite. This year, there were fireworks an emotional confrontation at the podium that

By Tom Murphy and Brian Corbett with Drew Winter • Sept. 1, 2002

Purchasing disconnect a problem

The message from Detroit's top-ranking purchasing executives is clear: Quality is paramount. However, some speakers at the Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars identified a growing disconnect between the honchos and the purchasing agents who work for them. Richard Allen, CEO of the Sealing Products Div. of Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, says lower-level purchasing agents are evaluated

Sept. 1, 2002

What’s the Worst Case? Look for Good-Size Drop

The U.S. automotive market is considered mature, but that doesn't mean it can't grow by another million units or so. Based on a trend analysis by Ward's beginning with 1960, annual U.S. sales should surpass the 18 million mark some time in the latter half of the decade. But the data also indicate a good-size drop possibly to around 15 million units is likely, as well. The first two years (2000-2001)

By Haig Stoddard • Sept. 1, 2002

Web Words

You see the familiar prefix in print and broadcast ads. You jot Web addresses in your day planner and on napkins. And, of course, you use the ever-expanding potpourri of Web resources for business and pleasure. But just how familiar are you with the Web vocabulary of the early 21st century? To find out, complete this 50-question quiz. Match each of the Web terms below with the brief definitions that

By Richard Ensman • Aug. 1, 2002

Phones provide more info than you might think

When talking about information technology, the telephone gets downright dissed. Maybe it's because of its age we've been using it to communicate information since 1876. We just take it for granted. We talk about how to answer the phone properly, and how to handle those phone ups but discussion concerning IT issues usually ignores the phone. Instead, we like to talk about the latest computer technology,

By Cliff Banks • Aug. 1, 2002

New CEO: No More Cash for Covisint

Covisint LLC's new chairman and CEO vows the auto industry's online exchange will get no more cash from its parents, should not eliminate any more jobs and will work harder to win the trust of parts producers. Harold Kutner came out of retirement June 28 to lead Covisint following the resignation of Kevin English after 14 months on the job. Kutner takes up English's promise to make Covisint profitable

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 2002

INTERNET MATTERS

Suddenly there is no virtual marketplace and no credible effort to build one any time soon. Yet beginning at our desktop there's an information highway complete with expressways and rural back roads linking communities of interest to oceans of information. What has become of all the possibilities for a new frontier that was destined to forever change the way cars were bought and sold in America? First

By WITH PETER BRANDOW • Aug. 1, 2002

The New-Definition CUV

Envision a long grade so steep and threatening, even a mountain goat could get a case of vertigo. And the dirt more like crumbs of loose, dry clay is wheel-hub deep. Now ponder a trip down this arid crater in a 5,379-lb (2,440-kg) SUV. Logic dictates gravity will assert itself, followed by slippage, uncontrolled acceleration, profanity, teeth-clenching and a loud, sudden denouement. However, the all-new

By Eric Mayne • July 1, 2002

Reversal of Misfortune

Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. Former Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly Desperate words from a fiercely competitive man, they would seem to have resonance for Nick Scheele. A keen soccer fan and zealous supporter of the English Premier League's Arsenal Football Club,

By Eric Mayne • July 1, 2002

Test of time: How well do you manage your day?

Wise sages and time management experts have reminded us for years that we can never really time. We can only spend it. How effectively do you spend time? Do you plan your time carefully, treating your minutes and hours as the truly precious resources they are? And even more important, do you spend your hours achieving the personal and professional goals important to you? How well do you really manage

By Richard Ensman • July 1, 2002

HOW TO CONTROL FLOOR-PLAN COSTS

I watch the monthly performance of our client dealers, looking for trends in floor-plan costs. Some dealers can consistently manage their inventory with respect to floor plan expenses. Yet other dealers with the same franchise, consistent volume and many times in the same market don't? When like conditions exist, why does one dealer have a net credit balance and another an expense? The only answer

By Tony Noland • July 1, 2002

Unlocking the future

Two images. Two totally different impressions. The first is one of ultimate security, straight out of a Tom Clancy novel: You develop an intimate relationship with your vehicle by touching your finger to a transparent square roughly the size of a postage stamp on the instrument panel. It scans your fingerprint, and with that touch, your car recognizes you as an authorized driver, knows your favorite

By Drew Winter and Tom Murphy • July 1, 2002

On the Rise

Considering the industry's current cost-consciousness, there might be some difficulty believing that auto makers are willing to replace an inexpensive component with another part that costs three times as much. But that's exactly what auto makers are proposing to the aluminum industry, says Richard L. Klimisch Aluminum Assn. Inc. vice president. If we can get aluminum down to three times the price

By Brian Corbett • June 1, 2002

Choking on Congestion

Anyone who flies into Detroit, gets off the plane and drives away from the airport quickly comes to the same conclusion. Southeast Michigan has the worst roads in the nation. Not just bad roads, mind you, the worst. It's astounding how many cracks, potholes, bumps, rusty bridges, and trash-strewn vistas they can pack into every mile. I've seen better roads in poor, backward, third-world countries.

By John McElroy • June 1, 2002