Automotive News - February 11, 2008 - (Page 1) FEBRUARY 11, 2008 • 1 82nd year — No. 6294 GM will sell used vehicles on eBay Motors SAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could radically alter the used-car business, General Motors said Friday that 3,900 auto dealers who sell GM’s Certified Used Cars will list their inventories on eBay Motors. The listings will be free for dealers. Mark Mathews, GM’s director of usedvehicle activities, said the vehicles will be listed on the classified site starting in the second quarter. GM Certified encompasses used Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Pontiac vehicles. Cadillac, Hummer, Saab and Saturn have separate programs, but their inventories will be listed on eBay, too, Mathews said. — Arlena Sawyers what was going on. The Chevrolet Traverse was a bigdeal debut here. The fourth member of General Motors’ mid-sized crossover family arrives this summer. It will be the high-volume member of the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook family. Power comes from a 286-hp, directinjected, 3.6-liter V-6 that will deliver as much as 26 mpg on the highway, says Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper. The Traverse also will have a six- Chevrolet Traverse: Lots of high-tech speed automatic transmission. It has room for eight passengers and will be loaded with high-tech features not usually found on Chevrolets, such as a rearview camera and heated and cooled seats. The styling is Chevy classy/conservative. The large grille, for instance, is trimmed in chrome, and headlights are smoothly integrated into the fender. No word yet on prices. BMW’s O’Donnell to take over as No. 2 in N.A. Jim O’Donnell, BMW’s top executive in the United Kingdom, will take over as the No. 2 man of BMW of North America LLC on April 1. O’Donnell, 58, a native of Scotland, was named president of the North American unit and also will assume Howard Mosher’s role as vice president of operations. Mosher, 61, will retire March 31. O’Donnell will report to outgoing President Tom Purves, who will remain chairman and CEO of BMW Holding Corp. and chairman of BMW of North America’s management board. Purves also remains the regional manager for the Americas. — April Wortham SCOTT KENNEDY PHOTOS Ford will build the Transit Connect, a version of its European delivery van, in Turkey. Will young Americans like its style? Chicago’s Greatest Hits Strolling through McCormick Place last week, our car guy found a lot more to like than he expected. Editor’s note: We turned Richard Truett, one of our ace car guys, loose at the Chicago Auto Show and asked for his unvarnished opinion. We asked for it, and we got it. Here’s Truett’s report from the Windy City. One question we’ll have when he returns: Does he really think Ford can turn a delivery van into a funky vehicle that will pry young people away from their Scions? Richard Truett rtruett@crain.com HOW TO REACH US Web site: www.autonews.com Editorial staff: 313-446-0361, e-mail autonews@crain.com or fax 313-446-0383 Advertising: 313-446-6790 or fax 313-446-8030 To locate information that has been published in Automotive News, call 313-446-1662. To start or renew a subscription or to report an address change or a delivery problem, e-mail subs@crain.com or call 888-446-1422 (in the U.S. or Canada) or 313-446-1662 (in all other locations). CHICAGO — Here’s what I was thinking as I headed off to the Chicago Auto Show last week: The reborn Dodge Challenger was a flash-in-thepan muscle car that would cool off quickly once rich retro-geezers got their hands on one. My mistake. After taking a good, long look at the Dodge Challenger 1970s icon that debuted at the Chitown extravaganza, I’m a believer. The Challenger is one serious performance machine — a growler that will give buyers a shot at a car that can run with Porsches and other sports cars that cost tens of thousands of dollars more. Even though spy shots of the production version have circulated for months on the Internet, the Challenger certainly generated the most buzz at this year’s Chicago show. And it was a lot of buzz, too. Chrysler LLC co-President Jim Press said the car zips from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds — a statistic that had wags’ tongues wagging. Press said the Challenger, with its 425-hp Hemi engine, will reach a top speed of 170 mph. Huge Brembo disc brakes on all four corners can bring the car to a stop from 60 mph in just 110 feet. There is decent room inside, including in the rear. Small families can travel in comfort. Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s product development boss, said production will be roughly 30,000 a year. Chrysler plans to reveal details of its base V-6 model at the New York auto show in April. That version likely will be the high-volume model. Volkswagen Routan: Chrysler genes Looking at the Volkswagen Routan, you can’t tell that it has Chrysler genes. This is the snazziest-looking VW van since the ultracool hippie vans of the mid-1960s. The Routan, which will be built by Chrysler for VW, shares almost none of the Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country’s sheet metal. It has a smoothly styled, sloping front end and wraparound taillights that would look at home on a Passat, Jetta or any other VW. Stefan Jacoby, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said the Routan will start at under $25,000 when it goes on sale later this year. VW should sell a lot of them. Next I sauntered over to the Ford see HITS, Page 85 Traversing McCormick Place After the Challenger — a certified hit in my view — I did the full walkaround of McCormick Place to see CLARIFICATION A story on Page 99 and a table on Page 98 of the Feb. 4 issue combined estimated Smart ForTwo sales with sales at Mercedes-Benz USA. Smart vehicles are distributed by Smart USA, a unit of Penske Automotive Group, not by Mercedes-Benz USA. The Smart and Mercedes-Benz sales figures should have been aggregated as parts of Daimler AG. The story and a photo caption on Page 99 say incorrectly that sales of the Smart ForTwo accounted for nearly all of Mercedes-Benz USA’s year-overyear sales increase in January. Compared with January 2007, the Mercedes-Benz brand was up 7.1 percent in January. Also, Automotive News has revised its estimate of January 2008 ForTwo sales downward from 2,500 to 700 units. Klegon: Chrysler’s new platform is flexible Rick Kranz rkranz@crain.com CHICAGO — Chrysler will spin a variety of vehicle types off its new mid-sized global vehicle platform, including sedans, hatchbacks, crossovers and small pickups. “It has to be a pretty flexible platform,” said Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s head of product development, said in an interview at the Chicago Auto Show. The platform will replace Chrysler’s D-segment platform, used for the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger cars and Dodge Journey crossover. “We set up a small group. We’re calling it Project D, to take a look at the next generation” mid-sized platform, said Klegon. They are “taking a look at Chrysler product chief Frank Klegon: Team is looking at “where we ought to go with the next midsegment cars.” worldwide demand — it is one of the largest segments worldwide. That segment breeds a lot of offspring.” Chrysler created the mid-sized team in December as part of a realignment of its product organization. Michael Donoughe, an engineer with experience in both front- and rear-drive platforms, heads the team. Project D is made up of engineers, product planners and program man- agers, as well as purchasing and international business managers. Klegon expects the group to make recommendations by June. Klegon said the team’s job is to come up with a strategy — not plan and execute a new platform. “They have to look at where we ought to go with the next midsegment cars,” he said. “That goes from taking an existing platform and building upon it, to designing a new platform. It could be front-wheel drive; it could be rear-wheel drive; it could be the ability to switch.” The group will consider where in the world the vehicles should be built and will recommend whether Chrysler should partner with another automaker. “All those things are on the table with no preconceived answer to the question,” said Klegon. He said the first vehicles will arrive in five to six years. The pickup based on the platform would be a lifestyle truck, he said. The Honda Ridgeline falls into that category. Automakers are scrutinizing this strategy because the smalland mid-sized truck market is declining, he said. They also are looking at light-weight pickups that offer better fuel economy. “Everybody is hunting down this formula,” Klegon said. “What is that substitute? Is it a smaller body-onframe? Is it unibody? Can it be front drive? Can it just carry 1,000 pounds? We don’t know yet.” c http://www.autonews.com
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.