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The Detroit of Europe - Sort of

Belgium fights for recognition and investment ANTWERP, Belgium - What country has the highest per-capita car production in the world? Japan? Germany? The U.S.? Well, as anyone in the automotive industry here in Belgium will tell you, it's none of the above. Hardly anyone on the U.S.-side of the pond knows it, but with only 10 million inhabitants and four big auto plants churning out more than a million

By Drew Winter • Nov. 1, 2000

WARD’S Wrapup

FCI Flexes Connector Muscle The auto industry long has wanted to use flexible wiring onboard cars and trucks, but finding connectors robust enough to work inside the harsh automotive environment has proved problematic. France-based FCI Automotive says it has solved that dilemma with the launch of "the world's first" complete interconnection system used in the automated assembly of flex cable harnesses

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

Autobytel is here to stay, says its senior vice president

Your August, 2000 article headlined, "3rd-Party Lead Providers' Future Iffy," predicting that independent online buying services would eventually become "insignificant," failed to consider one very noticeable player in its analysis of the future Internet automotive equation: the consumer.The assertion that Autobytel.com must ultimately choose whose side it's on - the consumer's or the dealer's - seemed

By Charles W. Ramsay • Nov. 1, 2000

Daewoo Motor in Death Struggle as Creditors Pull Plug

SEOUL — Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. was expected to unveil a self-rescue plan on Oct. 31 that would include a 15% reduction in its workforce and 30% wages across the board. The plan is the first step of a restructuring scheme to appease creditor banks, which have shut-off Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd.’s life support system by refusing to grant the company any more credit, while demanding sweeping restructuring

By Vince Courtenay • Nov. 1, 2000

Spirit in the showroom

Dealership's on-site clergyman ministers to 185-employee flock In today's tight labor market, many dealers are scrambling to come up with innovative employee satisfaction programs. Greenville Automotive in Greenville, SC, has taken the unusual step of hiring an on-site minister to help spiritually satisfy its staff.Owner Terry Wall hired The Rev. W. Carey Hedgpeth four years ago to serve as a spiritual

By Laurel Wright • Nov. 1, 2000

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

Team effort boosts accessory sales

Auto manufacturers are working with their dealers to get a bigger piece of the accessories market. More sales of factory parts and accessories improve manufacturer and dealer profitability and give retailers a hedge against dipping new-vehicle margins.It's easier said than done, however. Franchised new-car dealers hold just 10.5% of the $6.8 billion accessories market, according to most recent figures

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 2000

TURN SERVICE WRITERS INTO SUPERSTARS

It's no surprise to service managers that good service advisors are as hard to find as good technicians.How then does one find a service advisor superstar? More real-istically, how do service managers turn their existing service advisors into superstars?No easy task to be sure. On the other hand, what separates a "superstar" service writer from a so-so service writer?Superstars know that Mrs. Jones

By DAVE SKROBOT • Oct. 1, 2000

Editorial

The Boom Can't Go on Forever, Can it? A 17-million three-peat probably isn't in the cards Once again we are poised at the beginning of what we now very loosely call the "new model year," which used to officially kick off on the first of October. That means it's time to dust off the cliches about tarot cards, dart-boards and crystal balls and even make an educated guess or two about what vehicle sales

By Drew Winter • Oct. 1, 2000

GMAC vice president sets the record straight

I was very disturbed to read the misinformation printed in the July issue under the headline, "GMAC's new system to speed up processing loan applications."There are five specific inaccurate areas:1. "We intend to reduce approval rates to two days or less on average and, in turn, reach an average rejection rate of 5%." You have mixed apples and oranges. This is a serious question of definition. We

By David L. Jones • Oct. 1, 2000

How to motivate employees to do what you want them to do

As a consultant and coach to leaders in the automotive industry, I hear two common questions.How do I motivate employees to do what I want?How can I move my organization to the next level when I am spending so much time putting out fires?Below are the answers to those questions. If you want more information tune to ASTN for my five-part series called "Legendary Leaders; How to Develop Staff."Getting

By Gloria Gault Geary, CSP • 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

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

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

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

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

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