Operations: Page 236

Snug As a Hug

Pretensioners secure occupants, arrive in big numbers in '01 As the 2001 models arrive in showrooms, buyer expectations are high. It's not enough to recycle last year's product or dabble with cosmetic tweaks.If a value-minded buyer can't find something that performs better, feels more substantial, gets better mileage and - perhaps most importantly - is safer than the car he's driving, then he'll shop

By Tom Murphy • Oct. 1, 2000

DC Financial Services gets new president; plans groundbreaking for new headquarters

On the eve of breaking ground for a new headquarters, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services changed its president and CEO.It's a move accompanying a top-level realignment in financial services, service and parts operations and corporate finance and controlling.Reassigned to a new post as senior vice president of service and parts is 34-year Chrysler veteran Darrell L. Davis, who in 1996 was named president

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Oct. 1, 2000

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

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

By WardsAuto staff

Tuttle-Click names Internet director

Tuttle-Click Automotive Group promoted Paul Nogaki as the multi-franchise organization's corporate Internet director.His new job includes overseeing all Internet sales activities for the Tuttle-Click's California dealerships, negotiating contracts with Internet lead providers and implementing training programs for Internet sales people.An 11-year veteran of the organization, he was a financial manager.

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Oct. 1, 2000

COLORADO STORE REACHES NEW PEAKS

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - As a U.S. Naval aviator who survived three World War II crashes, a young Phil Long brought the lessons of his lucky-to-be-alive experience to the auto sales business in Colorado Springs, CO.In 1945, Colorado Springs was a small resort and military town at the foot of Pike's Peak, a town poised for growth that would accompany establishment nearby of the Air Force Academy.Mr.

By Maynard M. Gordon • Oct. 1, 2000

Joe Day in the Spotlight

It took 12 years of dogged pursuit of lean manufacturing methods, but all the hard work has paid off for Joseph Day, chairman and chief executive officer of Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership.Mr. Day humbly accepts the prestigious Manufacturing Leadership Award from the Shien-Ming Wu Foundation on behalf of his employees worldwide who have carried out a remarkable 15,000 kaizens for continuous improvement

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • Sept. 1, 2000

“TURN TO EARN” PROFITS ON USED CARS

"Turn to earn" is more crucial to the dealer's bottom line than ever as sales of pre-owned cars and trucks keep rising while the market levels off for new vehicles.That was the message emphasized and re-emphasized by one speaker after another at the first "Pre-owned Management Conference" in Chicago - and the caliber of the dealer groups represented affirm the key role attached to inventory management."It

By Maynard M. Gordon • Sept. 1, 2000

F&I training expands to include Internet sales

Suddenly F&I training is finding itself more challenged than ever.That's because, finance & insurance itself is undergoing a severe challenge, due to the Internet's influence on the vehicle sales process."Weaving the profitable F&I operation into Internet selling is top priority for the entire industry," declares Universal Underwriters eastern regional chief Michael Tuno.He adds, "The Internet by

By Maynard M. Gordon • Sept. 1, 2000

Dave Cole’s Retiring, But He’s Not Goin’ Fishin’

Now that Dave Cole has made his retirement from the University of Michigan official, what's next for OSAT - the U-M Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation, sponsor of the Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars?Mr. Cole has been OSAT's longtime director and founded the Traverse City seminars in 1972, presiding over each session since then.Mr. Cole will join ERIM, the Environmental Research

By David C. Smith • Sept. 1, 2000

Be careful - It’s starting to happen again!

Be careful! It's starting to happen all over again. The market is great - you're selling cars, having fun and making money.Why be careful? Because I'm starting to see all that same complacency that I saw years ago when I first started training. It's slowly creeping back into too many dealerships, large and small.Complacency is always a problem in any business, but when times are good, it not only

By Joe Verde • Sept. 1, 2000

Ouch! Residual losses are the worst in seven years

Overinflated residual forecast rates on leased vehicles hit a seven-year peak, and providers are moving to reduce their risk and resultant losses on off-lease units.Bank One has become the latest provider to back off two-year leases, for example.The 24-month leases or variations thereof, such as 18 or 27 months, were popular the mid-1990s, but too many lessors found that quicker turnbacks of units

By WARD'S DEALER BUSINESS STAFF • Sept. 1, 2000

Stop Whining About Gas Prices

Jake Levy's Detroit-area gas stations weren't much to look at: Orange signs with black letters looking like they may have been painted by, say, a fourth-grader. They simply said "OAK," named for his company, the Oakland County Gas & Oil Co. The stations themselves also were nondescript. Some were tiny islands, others were located in old store fronts. And business usually was brisk.Self-serve didn't

By David C. Smith • Aug. 1, 2000

Why Ralph Reins is ‘Unretired’

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Ralph Reins is back in action.Not that his career as an automotive nomad ended on the slag heap. When he retired at age 57 in January 1998 as president and chief executive officer of AP Parts International he was, by his own account, a very wealthy man. He settled in the Phoenix area, ensconced in his sprawling 8,500-sq.-ft. (790-sq.-m) home on the 15th hole of

By David C. Smith • Aug. 1, 2000

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE IN THE NEWS?

HOW LONG WILL THE CURRENT ECONOMIC BOOM last? Can the industry continue to improve upon record-setting sales year after year?These are the questions the media continuously are asking industry analysts and auto companies' economists.Their answers usually go something like this: "We expect the current trend (increased sales) to continue, unless something happens to change the momentum."The follow-up

By Tim Keenan • July 1, 2000

EARNHARDT DODGE THINKS BIG, BIGGER

GILBERT, AZ -Seven years running, the No. 1 Dodge dealer in new-car sales has done so by also leading the pack in repair orders and employees.It is Earnhardt's Gilbert Dodge in this southeast suburb of Phoenix, which prides itself on employee loyalty and customer satisfaction in the fast-growing Valley of the Sun.Earnhardt Dodge sold 6,698 new Dodge cars and trucks last year to maintain its lead position,

By Maynard M. Gordon • July 1, 2000

Open the Pod Door, HAL

There's something unnerving about talking cars. When a machine tells you something you haven't figured out on your own, another nail gets driven into the coffin of human fallibility.Does your car really need to flaunt its intellect by declaring that "your door is ajar," or will a simple light on the dashboard suffice? It's not too farfetched to imagine a frustrated driver of the future (a la 2001:

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2000

Car Buyers, Take Your Mark

BEIJING - With concept vehicles, trinket give-aways and cars, cars, cars, Auto China 2000 seems well-equipped to lead the Chinese people into the automotive age. Known locally as the Beijing Auto Show, last month's event expected 460,000 visitors to swarm the China International Exhibition Center north of the city for an international car show now second in Asia only to Tokyo's famed motor show.Despite

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • July 1, 2000

Pitch the plastic during sales presentation

Since the Corvette debuted with its fiberglass body panels, the use of automotive composites has grown. People with a stake in plastics say the material can give a dealership's sales force a competitive advantage.The Troy, MI-based Automotive Composites Alliance (ACA) projects that the use of reinforced thermoset composites is expected to increase 47% in the next five years."Consumer demand for more-customized,

By Tim Keenan • July 1, 2000

Loyalty Lost

At a meeting I attended recently a CEO of a large corporation made a comment that I thought was rather interesting. He was amazed that today's college graduates changed their professional careers, on the average, at least three times and switched companies six times. He said in his own case he has worked for one company all his professional career, working up the ladder in all facets of the corporation,

By STEPHAN SHARF • July 1, 2000

37-year sales veteran recalls success

Giles Bowles became a car salesman at a time when John and Jackie ruled Camelot and four Brits named The Beatles were about to take America by storm.He just retired from Duncan Ford Mercury Chrysler Plymouth Dodge and Jeep in Rocky Mount, VA, after 37 years. Though that's a long time to some people, the 74-year-old Mr. Bowles still vividly recalls the first car he ever sold: a 1961 Ford Starliner.Life

By Laurel Wright • July 1, 2000

TRACKING SALES PROCESS IN REAL TIME

A new tool that works with a dealership's information management system will allow managers to keep track of a customer's progress through the sales process.Manhattan Projects LLC this fall will introduce a product called SalesMan CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Its designers say it offers a "never-before-seen level of showroom control and customer tracking for dealerships."It's one of three

By Tim Keenan • July 1, 2000

Dot-coms vs. Detroit

Imagine a rainbow-colored rope stretching 2,500 miles between Detroit and San Francisco with a pot of gold dangling on each end.On the California side there's the potential for more gold than the dusty '49ers who invaded the Golden Bear State 150 years ago could possibly imagine - the chance to strike it rich without ever swinging a pick ax or panning a stream.On the Michigan side there's security,

By David C. Smith and Frank S. Washington • July 1, 2000

Old Dog Teaches Industry New Tricks

KOSAI, Japan - Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd.'s Kosai assembly plant, one of the world's most efficient despite its 30-year-old structure, plans to become even more efficient this year.Plant Manager Shunichi Wakuda predicts that productivity (i.e., annual output per employee) will grow to 135-140 vehicles this year, up more than 5% from last year's record 129 units. Such an increase, extrapolating from a 1999

By Roger Schreffler • June 1, 2000

Powder Play

The head of powder metal parts manufacturer GKN Sinter Metals says the buying binge by parent GKN plc will continue. In the last three years, GKN has acquired 20 companies, including a controversial purchase of the largest U.S. powder metal material producer, Hoeganaes Corp."Our objective is to create a global company," says Seifi Ghasemi, president and chief executive officer of GKN Sinter Metals,

By Brian Corbett Tom Murphy • June 1, 2000

3 things ring cha-ching for vehicle sales leaders

Sport/utility vehicles, the Internet and community image. In big business dealerships these three things ring a big cha-ching at the cash register.Sales and revenues continued to rise for Ward's Dealer Business 500 dealers, thanks to a soaring economy and strong sales of light trucks - especially SUVs."For a lot of dealers - and car companies - the truck market is critical to profitability, particularly

By Brian Reuwee • June 1, 2000

TRUCKS, SUVS, AND CROSSOVERS DOMINATE THE NEW YORK CITY AUTO SHOW

The big news at the Big Apple? New SUVs, trucks and crossover vehicles. Lots of them. And some from manufacturers getting into that stuff for the first time.Oh, there were some car introductions at the New York International Auto Show. But truck-based vehicles - by their sheer numbers, let alone size-led the revue of debuts.Here are show highlights:GM: Ron Zarrella, General Motors Corp.'s president

By Steve Finlay • June 1, 2000