Vehicles: Page 196

Europeans Advance on Gasoline DI

Mitsubishi Motor Corp. led the way with its patented GDI (gasoline direct injection) system, and now three major German auto makers are heading the European advance into this promising powertrain development. Big gains in fuel economy and emissions reduction are direct gasoline injection's (DGI) main advantages along with the possibility of downsizing engine displacement, a practice that can chop

By David Scott • July 1, 2002

2002 Ten Best Engines: Long-Term Intro

When the burden of supplying readers with scintillating industry coverage becomes too much, one of the Ward's staff balms is our long-term test program, undertaken in conjunction with the annual Ward's Ten Best Engines Award. After a too-long day, it's always a comfort to drive away in a vehicle powered by one of the year's best engines. Long-term test vehicles are our way of evaluating one or two

By Bill Visnic • July 1, 2002

SUVs: Problem children of the used-vehicle industry

SUVs are becoming problem children for the used-vehicle industry as their residual values weaken rapidly. Droves of SUVs are coming off lease with actual residual values well below values predicted at the start of the leases. The wide disparity of predicted and actual values has caught residual predictors and others off guard. It's pushed prices down. Worse, pickup trucks could be next. SUVs will

By Steve Finlay • June 1, 2002

2001 10 Best Engines: Long-Term Wrapup

DETROIT Ward's editors always hate to part with our 10 Best Engines long-term test vehicles, because that means we're parting with one of the year's 10 Best Engines. Audi AG's 2001 A4 Avant and its sparkling 1.8L turbocharged DOHC I-4 will be particularly missed, though: After logging a grand total of 38,567 miles (61,707 km), the entire Ward's staff is universally delighted with Audi's brilliant

By Bill Visnic • June 1, 2002

Preventive Medicine

Inside a pristine, brightly lit warehouse in Auburn Hills, MI, rests a grim reminder of the cost of negligence. Several metal carts sit in a row, covered with greasy engine components. This is where dead engines come for their autopsies, where engineers play medical examiner to figure out the cause of death. A price tag taped to each cart reveals the cost to repair or replace each engine. A Jeep Wrangler

By ALISA PRIDDLE and TOM MURPHY • June 1, 2002

When 350 HP Isn’t Enough

Reeves Callaway knows something about high horsepower. In the 1980s, a derivative of his celebrated C4 Twin Turbo Corvette was known as the SledgeHammer, and it recorded a speed of 254 mph (406 km/h) on an Ohio test track, with 880 hp. At the New York Auto Show in 1998, he rolled out the Callaway C12, based on the newly redesigned Corvette. The SuperNatural LS1 engine produces 440 hp (yes, that's

By Tom Murphy • June 1, 2002

Forester Gump?

BIRMINGHAM, AL No, we're not in Greenbow County. And the movie character Forrest Gump wouldn't be able to compare the '03 Subaru Forester to a box of chocolates. After building its reputation on all-wheel-drive cars for several decades, you know what you're going to get from Subaru: unibody construction, quirky exterior design, adequate interior size, sufficient passenger and cargo carrying ability

By Brian Corbett • May 1, 2002

Denso, Witzenmann prep for CO2

Denso Corp. will be ready in the event the auto industry adopts carbon dioxide (CO2) as an air-conditioning refrigerant in future vehicles. The world's top supplier of climate control systems supports CO2 because it is an abundant refrigerant, has a negligible effect on the environment and can be used for heat-pump systems in electric or hybrid vehicles. But using CO2 in automotive is no simple task.

April 1, 2002

Testing Makes the Grade

The departure of the major Tier 1 suppliers from the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit was a blessing of sorts this year for lower-tier suppliers that often toil in obscurity but nonetheless play a vital role in testing future vehicles. This year, Horiba Ltd., FEV Engine Technology Inc., AVL List GmbH, IAV GmbH and Schenck Pegasus Corp. didn't stand in the shadows of Delphi

By Tom Murphy • April 1, 2002

PSA casts tentative eye on U.S. market

It's been 10 years since PSA Peugeot Citroen sold cars in the U.S. namely the Peugeot 405 and 505 wagon but it will be at least a few more years before the French auto maker considers another run at North America's largest vehicle market. Richard Lucki, director of PSA Peugeot Citroen in North America, tells WAW that his company has a clear growth strategy that concentrates first on Mercosur (South

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • March 1, 2002

Visteon sells plant, cuts 1,600 jobs

As it seeks to hone its core competencies, Visteon Corp. sells its Restraint Electronics plant in Markham, Ont., to Autoliv Inc. for $25 million as part of a restructuring effort that will result in 1,600 job cuts and a first-quarter charge of up to $150 million for the Dearborn, MI, supplier. Autoliv will continue to produce restraint electronics at Markham and will retain 250 employees there, while

By Compiled by Senior Editor Tom Murphy [email protected] • March 1, 2002

KNOW YOUR USED-VEHICLE MARKET, TOO

While 2002 new-vehicle sales estimate consensus are down approximately 10% from the 17.2 million sales level in 2001, used-vehicle sales are expected to increase in total. Depending on which report you read, franchised dealer used-vehicle sales in 2001 totaled between 12.9 million (NADA) and 15.9 million (ADESA). Total used vehicle sales, all sources, for 2002 are predicted to be in the 43 million-unit

By Tony Noland • March 1, 2002

2003 Civic Hybrid: Great Taste, Less Filling (At the Pump)

There's talking about it, and then there's doing it. When it comes to production-vehicle hybrid-engine technology, there are plenty of auto makers making promises. But in reality, there are only two global players: Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Now Honda, with its second-generation Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system that powers the new 2003 Civic Hybrid, has gained the competitive

By KATHERINE ZACHARY • March 1, 2002

Engineering Through a Downturn

It takes money to make money, or so the saying goes. Likewise, it takes money to design and make a car easily topping $1 billion by conventional platform standards. So it has been a rough ride the past year for automotive engineers who have to do their jobs on shoestring budgets. Of all the money that gets spent in creating a new car, the most important expense is that of design, build and validate.

By Tom Murphy • March 1, 2002

INTELLICHOICE PICKS BEST-VALUE VEHICLES FOR 2002

IntelliChoice, a company that develops and distributes consumer automobile pricing, specifications and ownership and leasing cost data, gave out its 16th annual Best Overall Value of the Year awards for 2002 vehicles. The awards recognize cars, trucks and SUVs that will cost less to own than would be expected of vehicles at their purchase prices. A listing of this year's winners and more information

March 1, 2002

Rotary’s Life of Hard Knocks

Since the former Toyo Kogyo Motor Corp. introduced the first Japanese rotary car in 1967 (the NSU Spider, launched in 1964, was the world''s first rotary engine production car), the rotary engine has had a roller-coaster ride, one which has been mostly down in recent years since the RX-7 was pulled from the U.S. market. The first unit, the twin-rotor 10A, had a displacement of 982 cc. The engine,

By Roger Schreffler • March 1, 2002

Behind the Curtain

So your marketing budget is tighter than a lineman's waist band after Thanksgiving dinner, and you have to decide where to spend those precious dollars to get the word out about your product. You have two choices: Buy a booth at a trade show such as the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress or invest in more targeted private technology showings for the OEMs. The crowd will be bigger at SAE,

By Tom Murphy • March 1, 2002

Asbury selects women’s clothing exec as new CEO

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc., ranked fourth on the Ward's Megadealer 100 list, names Kenneth B. Gilman as president and CEO. He succeeds the late Brian Kendrick. Gilman, 55, joins Asbury Automotive from The Limited, a women's clothing retailer, where he spent 25 years in executive positions. Gilman was CEO of Lane Bryant when The Limited decided to sell that $1 billion women's plus-size business.

Feb. 1, 2002

Steep Slope

It has been three years since German engineering firm IAV GmbH opened its North American offices in Ann Arbor, MI a great location to cultivate relationships with domestic auto makers and with the University of Michigan. At the time, the move appeared to be a no-brainer. The U.S. auto industry was humming along with the economy and record vehicle sales were just around the corner. Everyone wanted

By Tom Murphy • Feb. 1, 2002

WHY BUYERS CROSS SOME VEHICLES OFF THEIR SHOPPING LIST

High prices, bland styling and a lack of incentives are key factors that can cause new-vehicle shoppers to reject models they initially considered, according to an inaugural J.D. Power and Associates' study based on responses from nearly 30,000 new-car buyers. While many of our studies focus on what consumers think of a vehicle they've already purchased, this new study taps into the reasons why new-vehicle

Feb. 1, 2002

Prominent GM engine guy Miles dies

The world powertrain community lost a vigorous and learned voice in January when Donald L. Miles, until recently General Motors Corp.'s chief engineer for V-6 engines, died at age 53. Miles, who joined GM in 1970, was a tireless proponent of overhead-valve engine designs and became chief engineer for GM's 90-degree V-6 engines in 1988; in 1993, he also assumed responsibility for GM's 60-degree V-6

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Feb. 1, 2002

Visteon wins GM interiors business

Visteon Corp., the top supplier to Ford Motor Co., manages a coup of sorts by winning a spot in General Motors Corp.'s strategy to outsource vehicle interiors to suppliers. The Dearborn, MI, company makes fewer seats and components than the dedicated interior mega-suppliers. But Visteon says it has an advantage: more experience with cockpits, electronics, climate control, steering and audio systems.

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S AUTOMOTIVE REPORTS • Feb. 1, 2002

This isn’t getting any easier

Welcome to the eighth annual installment of the Ward's 10 Best Engines awards. Our list of the year's best engines remains the auto industry's only best of list to concentrate solely on the engine, what we consider to be any vehicle's single most important collection of components. For 2002, nothing about our few 10 Best Engines rules has changed. All engines compete on equal footing. Small-displacement

By Bill Visnic • Feb. 1, 2002

Orbital: Plenty of Irons in Fire

Orbital Engine Corp. Ltd., the company best-known for its dogged development of the 2-stroke engine for transportation applications, has all but left the 2-stroke behind as it morphs into a automotive supplier with plenty of new business activity. Last month, Orbital named a new CEO, Peter Cook, who takes over from longtime CEO Kim Schlunke, as Schlunke is transitioning to a position that Orbital

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Jan. 1, 2002

Tiny external-combustion ceramic engine planned for remote stealth plane

The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract for development of a 0.5-hp all-ceramic engine to Advanced Ceramics Research (ACR), Tuscon, AZ, and Regi U.S., Columbus, IN. The small engine, for use in an unmanned aerial vehicle, will employ Regi's Rand Cam rotary vane engine system and will have an external combustion chamber. The engine will operate without a cooling system on either diesel or JP5 (jet engine)

By Compiled by the staff of: WARD'S ENGINE AND VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY UPDATE • Jan. 1, 2002