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AUTONATION WANTS NEW CO-CEO WITH STRONG AUTO INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

Steven R. Berrard will step down as co-CEO of AutoNation Inc.Mr. Berrard, 44, says he'll devote full time to his New River Capital Partners venture-capital company. But he will remain an AutoNation director.The firm is looking for a successor, a leader with a strong auto-industry background. Mr. Berrard says he'll stay on until his replacement is named. The executive recruiting firm, Korn/Ferry International,

Aug. 1, 1999

Timken’s 100 Years:From buggies to Boxsters

Say "Timken" and you might just as well say "bearings." Henry Timken invented the tapered roller bearing, various examples of which can be found in virtually any and every vehicle. The Timken Co. celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.At 61, Mr. Timken came out of five years of retirement from making buggy springs to concentrate on the problem of friction. He often said, "The man who could devise

Aug. 1, 1999

Proposed New York dealership training center is in the works

NEW YORK, NY - Nowhere is the need for a dealership training facility more acute than in the Northeast, say members of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association.Accordingly, the association wants to build a 90,000-sq.-ft. training and education center for prospective dealership employees and existing staff. Those include service technicians, sales people and office workers.The proposed center

By Steve Finlay • Aug. 1, 1999

Saab Finds its Stride with Luxury Wagon

DEL MAR, CA - Saab Cars USA had hoped its 1999 9-5 wagon would be a hit among car buyers looking at the luxury station wagon segment, and apparently the company's hopes are ringing true.The new wagon, which went on sale in April, is expected to help Saab grab at least 6.3% of the 60,000-unit luxury wagon segment expected for the U.S. this year. In 1998, about 48,000 import luxury sport wagons were

By Andrea Wielgat • July 1, 1999

Emissions Rules Up in the Air EPA, automakers forge ahead despite court ruling

federal appeals court threw in a monkey wrench at the eleventh hour, but for now the Environmental Protection Agency and automa-kers appear to be proceeding according to plan in dealing with proposed new Tier 2 vehicle pollution standards. As they are written now, the new rules will force automakers to sharply cut tailpipe emissions and oil refiners to produce much cleaner fuels beginning in 2004.Under

By DREW WINTER and DAVE ZOIA • June 1, 1999

Labs ‘Demystifying’ Ceramics Manufacturing

The Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories, five commercial ceramic manufacturers, and Los Alamos National Laboratory are studying methods to bring true "science" into ceramics production in an effort to create better products and slash costs."We are demystifying ceramics manufacturing," says Sandia scientist Kevin Ewsuk, who is spearheading the project. "In the past, new ceramic component

By Bill Visnic • June 1, 1999

The Velvet TouchMeat axe approach rarely works in mergers

It seems like everyday you pick up a newspaper you read about companies merging, one company buying out another, or selling or spinning off various parts of their business.I read somewhere that more than 60% of these mergers, buyouts, and such end up in failure. I'm sure that this figure is somewhat inflated because there are situations where one company buys out another company that's a "basket case"

By STEPHAN SHARF • March 1, 1999

The Greatest Show on Earth Detroit extravaganza is the best I’ve seen

Many of you reading this slogged through the ice to the Detroit auto show and saw that amazing display of new and future models. I'm writing this as the show opens. It will be long closed when you read it.We've got short deadlines in this monthly magazine. But I want to write about this show, anyway. It's that important.This was the best auto show I've ever seen, and I've been from Frankfurt to Birmingham

By Jerry Flint • Feb. 1, 1999

A Sardine Story There’s more to it than just buying and selling

There are industries such as computers, restaurants, gambling and maybe a couple of others where you can start with an idea and create an empire.But when it comes to manufacturing, it doesn't seem to happen anymore. Creating innovative products for consumers has been replaced with creative financial manipulation to increase stock prices.It's apparent that if you want to be a successful producer in

By STEPHAN SHARF • Feb. 1, 1999

Connolly Leather Fights Back You don’t have to buy a Rolls anymore to get it

LONDON - Anthony Hussey is a funny guy. With his British accent and a gentleman's charm, he is always ready with a witty phrase. For instance: "We don't really have a family tree - it's more like a family bramble."When his family business, the renowned U.K.-based Connolly Leather, was struggling with the concept of JIT (just-in-time) delivery, he came up with the term "NQIT," for "not quite in time."Here's

By Tom Murphy • Feb. 1, 1999

Wagons Ho! Young designers rediscover the station wagon

You were young once, remember? You were a little wild. You were going to live your own life, different from everyone else. You would travel the world, write the Great American Novel, date a movie star. Live fast. Die young. Leave a beautiful corpse.And you would never, ever drive a station wagon, the ultimate symbol of throwing away all the dreams of your youth to become a boring middle-class suburbanite

By DREW WINTER and BILL VISNIC • Feb. 1, 1999

The Car Biz’s Real Y2K Problem

Thinking about the cars of the "new millennium" used to seem like an academic exercise - but now it's an immediate concern.In a few weeks the North American International Auto Show will open in Detroit and we'll be hip deep in . . . exactly what model year vehicles? How to "designate" 2000 models is the first question to be settled.When car-company personnel are pressed to guess what the cars of the

Dec. 1, 1998

Mitsubishi: ‘Time of Real Change’Trouble at home drives U.S. reorganization

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., in a recently announced global restructuring, will cut 1,000 jobs, or 22% of its 5,400-person U.S. workforce over the next three years. Most cuts will come through attrition, company officials say, but layoffs will affect hourly workers and executives.Plans call for shrinking the 1,200-person sales division to 1,000, while 700 jobs will be eliminated at the company's Normal,

By Barbara McClellan • Dec. 1, 1998

Ivy Towers vs. Gritty Streets Why economic turmoil caught experts off guard

Economists are a rare breed. They're often astute thinkers who gather tons of information, run it through their blenders and pour out sage counsel and advice to their constituents.Seldom, however, do they venture beyond their ivy towers and into the gritty, grimy world where they can see with their own eyes trends that could quite possibly sharpen their forecasting skills.This occurred to me during

By David C. Smith • Nov. 1, 1998

Inoculated Eastern Europe immune to world financial crisis

Will the financial crisis that has snaked through Asia, South America and Russia leaving chaos in its wake wreak havoc in Eastern Europe? That's the question and fear on everyone's mind.Don't worry, say analysts who assure that Eastern Europe is still strong."The economies of Eastern Europe have really been able to distance themselves from Russia," says Paul Tibbitts, automotive analyst with PlanEcon.There

By Andrea Wielgat • Nov. 1, 1998

Brazil Rides Out the Storm Interest rates soar and car sales stumble

Ford Motor Co.'s new car factory under construction in Guaiba, Brazil, is expected to build about 170,000 vehicles annually.Lucky for Ford, the plant doesn't come on line until 2001.By then, Latin America's economy should be off the brake and back on the accelerator. But at what speed is anyone's guess.As the international financial crisis continues to cruise through Latin America, fresh from doing

By SAID DEEP • Nov. 1, 1998

Steel Attacks Closure Panels Doors, hoods, decklids can be made 10% to 30%lighter

Exactly how much weight can you take out of a steel car without substituting lighter alternative materials? That's the question an international consortium of 35 sheet steel producers -at considerable expense - continues to research.The efforts started in the mid-1990s with the so-called body-in-white: a car or truck's raw steel body without the doors, hood or decklid attached. The result, $22 million

By Drew Winter • Oct. 1, 1998

Ah, Buzzwords An alternative spin on modularity

I propose that Ward's Auto World sponsor a Buzzword of the Year contest. Readers could submit their nominations. Ward's staffers would have some input. Then we could pick one or two words and give them a good-natured roasting.We'd take a light-hearted jab at how great minds of the industry have bought into the latest craze of industry jargon like Ponce de Leon splashing in the fountain of youth.Recently

By GREG GARDNER • Oct. 1, 1998

New Galant a Gallant Effort Style and 6-cyl. power for Mitsubishi’s midsizer

PORTLAND, OR - Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America's (MMSA) 1999 Galant, the latest redesigned entry in the ever-crowded midsize sedan segment, is for the first time exactly that - midsized.The previous model, which shared its Mirage stablemate's truncated platform, was classified as a compact car by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.The longer, wider and taller stance of the '99 Galant

By NATALIE NEFF • Aug. 1, 1998

Rapid Cost Cuts RP sales up as prices plummet

The rapid prototyping industry is evolving as quickly as the solid models they produce. Still in its infancy, rapid prototyping (RP) is only about 10 years old. But it has mushroomed to a $452 million industry worldwide, and its future looks bright.RP machines produce physical models based on a 3D computer-generated design. Layer by layer, RP machines use liquid, powder and sheet materials to fabricate

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 1998

More Discontent at Saturn; Outsourcing for Future SUV at Issue

When Saturn Corp. workers granted strike authorization to UAW Local 1853 in July, one issue in dispute was how much of a bonus 7,200 workers should receive for the second quarter. The UAW says the payment, which hinges on the plant achieving production, quality and training targets, should be about $1,400 per person. The company wants to pay $390.But the larger issue is whether the labor-management

Aug. 1, 1998

Close Enough to Perfect In the push for quality, Six Sigma leaves no stoneunturned

Alexander Pope, the English poet and satirist, could not have foreseen nearly 300 years ago how suitable his words would be in describing the state of manufacturing on the brink of the 21st century.Company executives say they want zero defects from their plants, but they seem to settle for mere improvement out of an acceptance that perfection is, well, inhuman.But that thinking has no place in the

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 1998

Wake-up Call A solution to skilled-trades shortage

I don't know how many articles I've written predicting the shortage of skilled trades. I've talked about different ways of promoting a career in skilled trades for those high school students who have no intention of going to college; about upgrading the training to reflect today's higher level of technology; and about giving graduates in skilled trades a more professional status to reflect the new

By STEPHAN SHARF • Aug. 1, 1998

Bridging the Gap Investor merges Western and Chinese business cultures

The road from Wall Street to the Great Wall may not have been a direct route for Jack Perkowski, but it was a fortuitous one.In less than five years, Mr. Perkowski, chairman and CEO of Asian Strategic Investments Corp. (ASIMCO), has become one of the largest direct foreign investors in China. He has 15 joint ventures in key sectors of the Chinese economy under his firm's belt and, coming soon, two

By Barbara McClellan • Aug. 1, 1998

Bridging the Gap

The road from Wall Street to the Great Wall may not have been a direct route for Jack Perkowski, but it was a fortuitous one.In less than five years, Mr. Perkowski, chairman and CEO of Asian Strategic Investments Corp. (ASIMCO), has become one of the largest direct foreign investors in China, with 15 joint ventures in key sectors of the Chinese economy under his firm's belt and, coming soon, two wholly

By Barbara McClellan • July 1, 1998