Automotive News - May 19, 2008 - (Page N26)

N26 • MAY 19, 2008 NISSAN’S 50 Years in America niti Q45 0-96 Infi 199 8 A Tall Man With a Tall Order Celebrating one man’s journey through 35 years of success with Nissan Jim Lukens is a tall man with a tall order, selling cars. He did it well and for a long time. He spent more than 50 years selling cars and more than 35 of those selling the Nissan line of automobiles. Lukens’ journey started in Anderson, Indiana and meandered to Decatur, Illinois, where he majored in business at Millikin University. In 1953, he took his family west to San Diego where he began selling cars at City Chevrolet. Within a few months, he was promoted to manager of the used car division. According to Lukens’ daughter, Susie McNutt, Lukens loved the car industry. “He also loved working hard and independently,” she said. In 1957, Lukens took on his ﬁrst dealership, selling Pontiacs in La Mesa. He ran the dealership until 1970 when his desire to sell imports led him to Datsun, that was just emerging in the American market. Lukens’ start with Datsun was humble. He began with a portable trailer as the sales oﬃce and two service bays in Ontario, California in 1971. By the summer of 1972, he bought an old, empty building that once had been a Chrysler dealership. The acquisition bumped his service bays from two to 16. He stayed in that Ontario location until 1988, when he moved to the Metro Nissan facility in Montclair, California, which still ﬂourishes today with sales in excess of $75M annually. Lukens, who stands 6’6”, continued as Chairman of the Board at Metro Nissan until 2006. He has also owned Nissan dealerships in Garden Grove, Redlands, and San Bernardino, California and operated RV dealerships in Yuma, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, and California. “He’s kept true to the Nissan line,” said McNutt, who has served for 31 years as the executive administrative assistant to her father and now his former partner, Dave Marvin, President of Metro Nissan. iti The Infin drove Q45 “ like a Japanese aid BMW,” s But Week. Auto years after six e market, on th ad to “Infiniti h e it that th adm didn’t market any want as m e Japanes it BMWs as LS s) did (Lexu 400s.” Savvy exec owned a tiny agency in California. But he ran Nissan public relations operations for 20 years. s Nissan grew from an upstart into a significant player in the United States, the company’s public voice in America was Bob Thomas and Associates, a tiny public relations agency in Redondo Beach, Calif. It was unusual for a small, outside agency to manage a major company’s PR. But Thomas pulled it off with sound instincts, a close relationship with Nissan’s top Japanese executive in the United States and a large Rolodex. When Thomas, now 79, started the agency in 1972 after 20 years of reporting on the auto industry for the Los Angeles Times, it consisted of himself and his wife, Claudia. The agency never got much bigger than that, even though by the time Thomas retired in 1994, Nissan had morphed into a giant. Thomas’ influence was wideranging. He organized the first trip to Japan for U.S. auto writers. He persuaded Yutaka Katayama, Nissan North America’s self-effacing president, to hold press conferences in Detroit even though Katayama thought it would be “impolite” to turn himself into a media star of sorts. Thomas presided over countless car introductions and the opening of the company’s first American plant in Smyrna, Tenn. And when Nissan failed to follow his advice on handling its U.S. name change from A Datsun, the company paid the price. “I wrote a plan that involved doing it in a day, doing it dramatically,” says Thomas. But when the board of directors met in Japan, they opted to phase in the change gradually. “Mr. Mitsuya Goto, a wonderful guy and the president’s right-hand man, came out of the board meeting and called me directly and said: ‘Bob, the board loved your plan, but they had one problem with it. They said it was so American.’ I said, ‘Goto, where the hell are they selling these cars?’ “The name change really was a terrible blow to Nissan. It took a long time to get over that.” When Washington was putting the squeeze on Japanese imports in the early 1990s, Thomas and his associate, John “Wahoo” McDonnell, met with Nissan’s top executives to craft a response. “The presidents and vice presidents looked at Wahoo and said, ‘What should we be doing?’ ” Thomas recalls. “And Wahoo looked at me and said, ‘Bob, what should we do?’ I was embarrassed, not just for me but for them. It was pretty evident that they needed a strong internal PR operation.” They established one soon after, but it was also evident that Bob Thomas and company had set the bar high. — Jeff Mortimer Lukens poses during Nissan’s Annual Golf Tournament in 1985. “My father’s stature kept him out of the economy lines,” she said, “but he fit comfortably in the Pathfinder.” McNutt also noted her father’s size made him a special attraction to the locals when he visited Japan for Nissan conventions. “They called him Jumbosun,” she said. “When the kids saw him on the street, they tried to climb him like a tree.” Lukens, who’s particularly taken with the Z-model, was honored by Nissan with the 30-Years of Service award. For those interested in following in his footsteps, he recommends Nissan. “It’s a product that has evolved constantly to stay at the forefront of the automotive industry,” he said. “Be prepared to work that 60-hour week, including weekends.” The reward for him, he said, was customer loyalty. “It felt good to see people coming back again and again over the years to buy new cars. They were loyal to the product.” Lukens is retired and lives in Indian Wells, California with his wife, Lola. He enjoys ﬁshing, boating, and in general, spending time on the water. He has four children all of whom live in the Inland Empire. Thomas, left, with actor and racer Paul Newman BOB THOMAS Earliest Nissan involvement: 1972 Role: President, Bob Thomas and Associates, an outside agency in charge of Nissan North America’s PR for 20 years. Key influence: Crafted Nissan’s image during explosive growth, when the Datsun name was dropped and when angry workers and politicians bashed imports Happy 50th Nissan. We’re proud to be part of the journey.

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Automotive News - May 19, 2008 Ford eyes smaller F-150 cousin Sonic: Mercedes tries to 'extort' store upgrades Chrysler seeks 25% slash in parts prices Dealership managers pushed Chrysler's latest incentive Crain names 4 new VPs Automotive News staffers win Wheel Awards GM will keep cutting sales to fleets GM studies the future of full-sized trucks American Axle plans to expand in Asia At Lexus, the sales laggards are cars VW positions Tiguan as 'GTI' of small SUVs Tata enters race for 100-mpg car Harley Earl was the daddy of auto design Focus will follow Fiesta as a global vehicle Lexus shows how it sweats details Industry slows tide of state CO2 rules Chevy tweaks Cobalt to add fuel economy Be careful; don't do anything dumb Looking ahead to different industry They thought they knew everything Cerberus doesn't belong in autos Dealers as scapegoats Smart, steady growth works best for suppliers Farley's smart to value Ford's heritage Absurd logic in the U.S., cowardice in Germany BMW, Daimler keep a wary eye on U.S. economy James Franey Dealers' approach can lessen pain of staff cuts GM plans to distinguish Opel with image makeover Make or buy? Software can estimate costs for company Honda, Toyota see robots in their futures Bosch aims to lead in hybrids technology King of hearts Clarke aims to get GM back on track in N.A. Fields navigates Ford through 'white water' LaSorda steers Chrysler's global ventures Toyota's Lentz: A crash course in hard times Truck sales fall 13% in April Modine sells Thermacore unit Alcoa to close Mexico plant Toyoda Gosei expands in Mexico Hayes Lemmerz plans to close Georgia factory Japan's sales slide 2% in 1st quarter; output climbs Dealers Hyundai let U.S. direct Sonata freshening After .com and .edu, is it time for .car? Panoramic sunroof of Lincoln MKS boosts Inalfa sales Chrysler hedged gas price bet Smart phones help dealerships retain customers CAW completes pacts with GM, Chrysler early GM, UAW resolve 2 disputes New media buyer for Chrysler Visteon names Stebbins CEO Convertible registrations drop Ferrari: From denial to debut Buildings Porsches in U.S.? Depends whom you ask Toyota will go slow in Tupelo Ghosn is glum on prices, U.S. sales prospects Pischetsrieder has earned a celebratory cigar NHTSA spins VINs, averts meltdown F_RD GU_S WI_ BUI-_KS 50 PEOPLE FOR 50 YEARS Yutaka Katayama Clarence Talley Jim Morton Pete Brock Marvin Runyon Yoshikazu Hanawa Bill Bruce Shin Maki Jack Collins Mitsuya "Scape" Goto Bob Link Soichi Kawazoe Jerry Hirshberg Takashi Ishihara Roy Rogers John Parker Bob Thomas Teruo Uchino Morrie Sage Bob Thomas Nobe Wakatsuki Earl Hesterberg Carlos Ghosn Lee Clow Jerry Benefield Yutaka Kume Doug Betts Tim McCarthy Jed Connelly Atsushi Nakatsuji Dave Hubbard Joe Opre Patrick Pelata Yoshiyuki Kimura Diane Allen Mad Mike Taylor Chuck King Larry Dominique Mark Igo Mitsuhiko Yamashita Shiro Nakamura Tom Mignanelli Dick Roberts William Cushing Emil Hassan Chester Luby Jane Nakagawa Louis Schweitzer MR. K Ray Lemke Richard McCutcheon

Automotive News - May 19, 2008

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