Automotive News - April 21, 2008 - (Page 43)

APRIL 21, 2008 • 43 Former Toyota exec Convis is new Dana CEO DETROIT — Gary Convis, a former Toyota Motor Corp. manufacturing executive, last week was named CEO of Dana Holding Corp. Convis, 65, was appointed to Dana’s board of directors in January after retiring from Toyota last year. Before retiring, he was chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky. Convis spent 20 years with Toyota and worked in various jobs with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. earlier in his career. Convis is taking over from John Devine, Dana’s executive chairman, who briefly was acting CEO. Devine took the job after Mike Burns left when Dana emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in February. Farley: Ford’s marketing team is ready to roll Amy Wilson awilson@crain.com LAS VEGAS — Ford Motor Co. marketing chief Jim Farley says he has assembled his team of marketers. In March, former Ford personnel chief Joe Laymon said Ford continued to look for outside marketing talent even after hiring Farley from Toyota last fall. This month, Farley brought in Matt VanDyke, 35, from Lexus agency Team One in Los Angeles to become director of marketing communications for the Ford brand. “I don’t have any holes to plug,” Farley told Automotive News after VanDyke’s appointment. The changes are designed to get marketing experts in the top marketing jobs. Having functional experts leading the work in technical areas is a top priority of Ford CEO Alan Mulally, said Farley, group vice president of marketing and communications. Farley’s changes include: Hiring VanDyke, who had been Team One’s Lexus group account di- Big launch planned for F-150 ➤ 6 growth operations. Appointing company veteran Brett Wheatley in February as general marketing manager for Lincoln Mercury. He replaced Mike Richards, who is working on special projects for Farley. Appointing company veteran John Felice in January as general marketing manager for the Ford brand. He replaced Barry Engle, who became CEO of Ford of Canada. c Jim Farley: “I don’t have any holes to plug.” rector and has known Farley since 2000. “He’s going to be a huge asset for us,” Farley said. VanDyke replaces Ted Cannis, who becomes director of strategy operations for export and Landry: Chrysler’s consolidation will spawn service-only stores Mary Connelly mconnelly@crain.com DETROIT — Chrysler will create stand-alone service stores as part of its dealership consolidation plans, says Steven Landry, Chrysler executive vice president of North American sales. The stand-alone service centers will be created in some metropolitan markets as one Chrysler LLC dealer buys another, Landry said after a speech last week. He said the company approved one stand-alone center last week but wouldn’t give the location. It will be about two years before any of the centers are operating, Landry said. The strategy is designed to meet customer demand for service as the number of dealerships shrinks. “If we all of a sudden go from 80 stalls to 40 stalls, we don’t want to do our customers a disservice,” Landry said. “We want them to be handled just as quickly as they were before.” Chrysler is in discussions with “under 10” retailers about the strategy, he said. Landry gave no details about markets or dealerships. “In some cases, where one dealer is buying another one in a situation Steven Landry: “You need to have the right number of stalls.” where there are not enough service stalls, the buying dealership will be able to use the other dealership service stalls as a stand-alone service center,” Landry said. “You need to have the right number of stalls.” c A 2006 Hyundai Sonata Hyundai to fix airbag problem WASHINGTON — Hyundai Motor America is sending recall notices to owners of about 394,000 Hyundai Sonatas built for the 2006-08 model years. The problem: The advanced airbag system, which disables the front passenger seat airbag when it detects the presence of a child in the seat, fails to reactivate the bag in some cases when an adult later uses the seat. ALLIANCE Nissan-Chrysler ties grow more complex continued from Page 1 Denso names Katoh CEO TOKYO — Japanese supplier Denso Corp. last week named Nobuaki Katoh president and CEO, pending approval at an annual shareholders meeting in June. Katoh, 59, will replace Koichi Fukaya, 64, who will become vice chairman. Katoh joined Denso in 1971 and has been general manager of several departments. He also was president of Denso’s European business. Profits up at Johnson Controls MILWAUKEE — The auto parts operation of supplier Johnson Controls Inc. posted gains in the quarter ending March 31. Sales grew 2 percent to $4.6 billion, while profit increased 28 percent to $155 million. In its key market of North America, Johnson Controls swung from a loss of $1 million a year ago to a profit of $25 million — even though North American sales dropped 7 percent, reflecting lower industry production. niches in its lineup. “The issue is not that we can’t do it,” he said. “It’s whether we can do it faster. We will see if we can fill some of those voids faster than we could do it ourselves.” Chrysler co-President Tom LaSorda said the Nissan links don’t affect Chrysler’s cooperation with Chery Automobile Co., the Chinese carmaker. “At some point we believe we need more than one small car” for North America, LaSorda said. “We would be counting on Chery to provide that.” Chrysler executives call the Nissan cooperation a tactical move. Nardelli says talks about a strategic longterm partnership would be handled by Cerberus Capital Management LP, which owns 80.1 percent of Chrysler. So far, they say, that’s not happening. Chrysler will build a Nissan pickup, which will kill the Nissan Titan, shown. tion could help fill big holes in both companies’ powertrain offerings. Nissan does not have a diesel engine for its big Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs. Chrysler has one, and two more are on the way. All three engines are sourced from Cummins. The current diesel in the Dodge Ram pickup truck is an older, but bulletproof, inline six-cylinder. But two new clean-running diesels, a 4.2-liter V-6 and 5.2-liter V-8, are due around 2010. The Cummins name on a fender gives any light truck instant credibility with consumers who tow boats, trailers and other heavy loads. Nissan can use its link with Renault to supply diesel engines for Chrysler’s cars and crossovers. and mid-sized cars and small crossovers. But, alone, Chrysler likely wouldn’t be able to achieve the economies of scale to make money with its hybrids. Outfitting some Nissan vehicles with the Two Mode system could enable Chrysler to boost volume enough to lower the cost of battery packs, controllers and other proprietary items. Here’s a segment-by-segment rundown of how the two companies fit together. Mid-sized cars: The Chrysler Avenger and Dodge Sebring, introduced in 2007, have fared poorly. Chrysler has begun working on an urgent program, called Project D, to replace them as quickly as possible. The program suffered a setback when its leader, Mike Donoughe, resigned in March. According to published reports, Donoughe resigned after a dispute with senior managers. The company said there was no dispute. “Nissan has some great car platforms, which are really Renault platforms — the Versa, the Sentra, the Altima and the new ’09 Maxima,” says Global Insight’s Wolkonowicz. In 2007, the Nissan Altima outsold the Avenger and Sebring by 284,762 to 176,934. The Altima is perennially listed among the leaders in Con- Wheels are turning Still, other things are happening fast. In January, the two companies announced that Nissan will build a Versa-based subcompact for Chrysler to sell in Latin America. It will probably be a Dodge. Last week they expanded the cooperation in two areas. Chrysler will make a full-sized pickup in Saltillo, Mexico, for Nissan in 2011 as a 2012 model, meaning Nissan will stop making the Titan. Also, Nissan will build a Chrysler-designed car at its factory in Oppama, Japan, starting next year for the 2010 model year. Chrysler will sell that car in North America, Europe and other global markets. What next? Well, closer coopera- Help with hybrids Hybrids are another area where the companies need each other. Nissan is licensing a Toyota system for the Altima hybrid that is available in only eight states. Nissan was late in developing its hybrids. Chrysler could help fix that. Chrysler, when part of DaimlerChrysler, helped develop two sophisticated Two Mode hybrid transmissions. One is a rear-wheel-drive transmission designed for big pickups and SUVs; the other is a frontwheel-drive unit designed for small GM plans Brazil plant DETROIT — General Motors said it will spend $200 million to build an engine and components plant in Joinville City, Brazil. Production will begin in the fourth quarter of 2009. The 645,800square-foot plant will employ 500 workers, GM said. sumer Reports’ recommended family sedans. Chrysler could dump its midsized replacement program and put its own sheet metal on a version of the Altima. But Chrysler has made Project D a central component of its plan to re-establish engineering prowess after its nine-year merger with Daimler. Compact cars: The Nissan Sentra, also highly rated by Consumer Reports, sold in roughly the same number as the Dodge Caliber in 2007. Large rear-drive sedans: Nissan doesn’t sell one. Chrysler has two: the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger. The Dodge Challenger Hemi-powered muscle car, built on the same LX platform, arrives next month in dealerships. Minivans: Chrysler is still the king and the only company with two entries: the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan. The Nissan Quest is an also-ran. With the segment shrinking, Nissan would have to think long and hard about anteing up for a new Quest. Crossovers: Since it dumped the slow-selling Pacifica late last year, Chrysler has been virtually a nonplayer in the industry’s hottest segment. Nissan was one of the earliest and most successful play

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Automotive News - April 21, 2008 Reorganization plan gives more muscle to 4 sales-channel execs Hummer plummets, Saturn soars in sales per franchise Chrysler-Nissan: Loads of partnership potential LIFESTYLE PICKUPS Strike averted Friday at GM transmission plant Hyundai to phase out Tiburon Veteran lobbyist looks back on decades-long mpg battle Autonews.com offers news customization GM offers free digital marketing package to dealers Lithia extends vehicle repair warranty to 3 years/50,000 miles With new products, is there life in Saturn? Ford plans $100M-plus F-150 launch Ford broadens its diesel strategy GM pitches its management system to dealers Supplier to help Mahindra offer diesel hybrid Transplants top 40% of N.A. output in March Geely chief: 'We are still an ant' Honda could import cars from China GM redirects efforts to serve emerging markets Beijing showstoppers New Challenger is appetizer for full line in 2009 Last week, I got a glimpse of the future Service contracts: Federal oversight is needed Delphi mess drags on Can't we stop importing oil? Ryan revolutionized this business An editorial glass ceiling? Driving on hydrogen — pros and cons BMW should build even more here Not what New York ordered Magna exec: More suppliers will fail Canada sales off 0.4% in March Bosch pushes crash avoidance Chrysler plans hybrid Dodge Ram Honda engineer is honored by SAE for safety efforts Panel: Diesels may hit 20% of U.S. market by 2020 Automotive News PACE Awards: Night of black ties, trophies, praise PACE Awards honor innovation Truck sales drop 31% in March Honda's new Pilot is bigger, more upscale In China, GM looks to fresh vehicles in 2009 U.S. economic woes hurt shareholder values Judge refuses to toss GMC franchise-award case Dealers Farley: Ford's marketing team is ready to roll Landry: Chrysler's consolidation will spawn service-only stores Profits up at Johnson Controls Hyundai to fix airbag problem GM to build $200 million Brazil plant Convis is CEO of Dana Holding Denso names Katoh CEO Stephen Feinberg speaks! Hogan eyes CEO spot in startup Chrysler reviving its global dreams? How I saved Delphi: A work in progress Tesla Motors' lawsuit: Designer Fisker ripped us off Concert in the key of C-3PO

Automotive News - April 21, 2008

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