Automotive News - January 14, 2008 - (Page 16) 16 • JANUARY 14, 2008 Need Salespeople, Tech’s, Managers, & Other Employees? The Auto Industry’s #1 Recruiting, Training & Job Placement Agency Salespeople~BDC~Detailer~Porter~Technician Body Tech~Service Advisor~Service Manager Parts Counter~Parts Manager~Sales Manager Finance Manager~Office Staff~GSM~GM Provoq is Caddy’s small crossover Rick Kranz rkranz@crain.com ADVERTISING STAFF Circulation 313-446-0450 Advertising 313-446-6790 Classified Advertising 313-446-6065, 800-388-1800 E-mail lschlagheck@crain.com Web site www.autonews.com ADVERTISING AND SALES DETROIT 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2997 313-446-6790 Fax: 313-446-8030 Larry Schlagheck, Advertising Director lschlagheck@crain.com, 313-446-6790 Rick Greer, rgreer@crain.com 313-446-6050 Kathleen C. Lightbody, klightbody@crain.com, 313-446-6037 Russ Procassini, rprocassini@crain.com 313-446-0350 Karen Rentschler, krentschler@crain.com 313-446-6058 Jerry Salame, jsalame@crain.com 313-446-0481 Regional Sales Managers Bryan Foster, Marketing Director bfoster@crain.com, 313-446-6013 Ellen Dennehy Director of Relationship Marketing edennehy@crain.com, 313-446-6039 Lance Graves, Promotion Art Director lgraves@crain.com, 313-446-0469 Marie Hingst Classified Advertising Manager mhingst@crain.com, 313-446-6065 Dolores Lanivich, Denise Hendricks Classified Advertising Sales LOS ANGELES Justus Breese jbreese@crain.com, 323-370-2446 Pacific Region Sales Manager Lauren Ford, lford@crain.com 323-370-2447 Todd Landau, tlandau@crain.com 323-370-2466 Regional Sales Managers 6500 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048-4947 Fax: 323-655-8157 NEW YORK Scott Ghedine sghedine@crain.com, 212-210-0126 Henry Woodhouse hwoodhouse@crain.com, 212-210-0125 Regional Sales Managers 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 Fax: 212-210-0489 CHICAGO Jim Farnan, Regional Sales Manager jfarnan@crain.com, 312-649-5257 360 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601-3806 Fax: 312-649-5265 800-421-4550 www.clickhereforadvice.com Brian C. Hall, President & CEO The Provoq crossover concept that debuted last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas shows Cadillac’s intent to offer a small crossover. General Motors picked the show to introduce its fifth-generation fuel cell and to solidify the automaker’s intention to position Cadillac as its technology leader. “Cadillac has a history of introducing innovations and technology leadership,” said Nick Zielinski, GM’s vehicle chief engineer of advanced system integration. “We think it is appropriate to marry the most advanced propulsion system we have at GM with, effectively, our brand that has the leadership for innovation and technology.” The Provoq concept seats five and has a 114.4-inch wheelbase with short front and rear overhangs. The Provoq is essentially a thinly disguised production vehicle expected to go into production around 2009. That vehicle will use a gasoline-powered V-6 and compete with the BMW X3 and upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLK. The Provoq’s exterior styling draws on cues introduced on the 2008 Cadillac CTS, such as a bolder grille and extensive use of jewelry in the headlight modules and on the front fenders. Aerodynamics were a key part of the design, said Clay Dean, GM global design chief. Dean and Zielinski spoke at a briefing last month at GM’s tech center in Warren, Mich. “We put a lot of time on Cadillac language and form philosophy and tried to understand how does that effect aero,” Dean said. Aerodynamics are “one of the big things that a lot of cars are going to have to deal with. And sometimes aerodynamics aren’t as friendly in terms of personality and visual cues Cadillac says aerodynamics were a key part of the design of the Provoq. that we think are very important.” Aerodynamic highlights of the Provoq include moveable grille louvers that open automatically only when the fuel cell stack needs cooling, full underbody aerodynamic cover, flush door handles that feature pushto-release operation and side glass mounted flush with the pillars. “The concept is essentially an electric vehicle with a fuel cell,” Zielinski said. The Provoq has a 300-mile range — 280 miles on hydrogen and 20 miles on electric power. GM’s fifth-generation fuel cell stack is about one-third smaller than the fourth generation now being tested in a fleet of about 100 Chevrolet Equinox vehicles. “We include a lithium ion battery pack that has the capability of being plug-in charged overnight at home,” Zielinski said. “It is a smaller pack than we use typically with our E-Flex approach because we really want to focus on hydrogen propulsion because we think hydrogen is a much more efficient storage mechanism for electricity.” c Despite sage advice, Detroit 3 kept on truckin’ in 2007 John K. Teahen Jr. I guess I must be showing my age. I can remember when cars, not trucks, were the kings of the American road. Actually, it wasn’t all that long ago: 2001. It just seems longer. The truck supremacy continued last year. Trucks outsold cars by 384,750 units, and trucks had 51.2 percent of the U.S. market, vs. 48.8 percent for cars. In 2006, trucks accounted for 50.9 percent OK, now the age bit kicks in. In 1990, cars had 66.9 percent of sales. Why pick 1990 for a comparison? Because that’s when the Detroit 3 (they were the Big 3 in those days) abandoned the car market and became primarily truckmakers. It was an unwise decision, and now it’s biting the Detroit 3 where it hurts the most: in the pocketbook. Or on the bottom line, as the bean counters would say. Sound familiar? It should if you read this column from time to time. I’ve been preaching the car gospel for more years than I care to count. I have implored the Detroit automakers to get back into the car game. I have asked them to consider their position when the truck boom ends. I have reminded them that the Japanese have expanded truck efforts but haven’t quit on cars. The Detroit brass didn’t listen worth a darn, and two of the Detroit 3 have virtually nothing to sell when it CONFERENCES salestales Libby Irwin, Conference Director lirwin@crain.com, 313-446-0420 Shauna Vercher-Morrow Special Events Manager svercher-morrow@crain.com, 313-446-0485 WWW.AUTONEWS.COM John Fitzgerald, Director of Business Planning and Online Commerce jfitzgerald@crain.com, 313-446-1679 John K. Teahen Jr. is the senior editor of Automotive News. comes to cars. General Motors, thanks to Bob Lutz, is returning to the car business. Ford and Chrysler are nowhere. A few more numbers, if I may. Last year, the Detroit 3 had 37.8 percent of car sales in this country. In 1990, they had 65.8 percent. How could the Detroiters willingly give away that much of a prime market? Did you notice Ford division’s car sales for December? The total was 46,736. That was about half as many as Toyota, about two-thirds as many as Chevrolet and Honda and only 3,139 more than Nissan. Just five years ago, in 2002, Ford division sold 63,296 cars in December. And how about the Chevrolet Impala? December sales dropped 32 percent, and the Impala slipped out of the 10 best-selling vehicles for the only time in 2007. Hey, Chevy, better triple-shift those Malibu plants and maybe add a few more locations while you’re at it. You may e-mail John K. Teahen Jr. at jteahen@crain.com CIRCULATION subs@crain.com 888-446-1422 (U.S. & Canada) 313-446-1662 (all other locations) Fax: 313-446-6777 To subscribe via the Web www.autonews.com/subscribe.htm Patrick Sheposh, Circulation Director Lauren Cialella, Circulation Manager Jennifer Natone, Circulation Coordinator Subscriptions U.S. 1 year, $155; 2 years, $266. Canada $239 (U.S.); other countries, $395. Single copy sales, $5 per issue plus shipping. Reprints Kristi Fulkerson, The YGS Group, 800-494-9051, Ext. 144 kristi.fulkerson@theygsgroup.com Microfilm ProQuest Information and Learning Co. 800-521-0600 PRODUCTION Terry Driscoll, Production Manager tdriscoll@crain.com, 313-446-6062 Larry Williams, Production Supervisor AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE www.autonewseurope.com aneletters@craincom.de Jason Stein, Publisher jstein@craincom.de/+49-8153-907522 Arjen Bongard, Editor abongard@craincom.de/+49-8153-907501 Thomas Heringer Sales and Marketing Director theringer@craincom.de/+49-8153-907404 Nina Sauer, Sales Manager nsauer@craincom.de Argelsrieder Feld 13, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany +49-8153-907500 Fax: +49-8153-907510 Lars Timmermans, Sales Manager ltimmermans@craincom.de +31-315-345772 http://www.clickhereforadvice.com http://www.autonews.com http://www.clickhereforadvice.com http://www.actionIM.com http://www.actionIM.com http://www.forcemktg.com http://WWW.AUTONEWS.COM http://www.forcemktg.com http://www.autonews.com/subscribe.htm http://www.autonewseurope.com http://www.autonews.com/classifieds
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.