Automotive News - May 12, 2008 - (Page 28)

28 • MAY 12, 2008 Chrysler asks dealers to donate to museum Bradford Wernle bwernle@crain.com Canada sales post 3.8% gain in April April sales of cars and light trucks in Canada rose 3.8 percent from April 2007 to 175,382 units. For the first four months of 2008, volume is up 6.2 percent from the same period last year, to 539,663 units. Top-selling General Motors plummeted 13.6 percent from April 2007 to 38,739 vehicles. GM’s year-to-date total of 121,667 is off 3.6 percent from last year. Chrysler LLC gained 7.8 percent to 24,266 vehicles in April. Ford Motor Co. sales dipped 5.7 percent during the month to 22,073 units. Asian automakers, except Mitsubishi and Mazda, posted April sales gains in double-digit percentages. Toyota Motor Corp. rose 19.8 percent to 25,441 vehicles. Through the first four months, Toyota pulled to within 870 units of third-place Ford Motor Co. Toyota’s year-to-date sales are up 16.2 percent to 70,247. — Bernadine Williams Canada light-vehicle sales, April & 4 months Canada sales by model available online at: www.autonews.com/datacenter April 2008 April 2007 4 mos. 2008 4 mos. 2007 DETROIT — CEO Bob Nardelli has asked Chrysler LLC’s dealers nationwide to donate $5,000 apiece to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Chrysler, which has operated the museum as part of its communications department, is setting up a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, Nardelli said in a letter to dealers. The new entity will be called the Walter P. Chrysler Museum Foundation. Dealers who contribute will be featured on a Founding Dealers Society Donor Wall in the museum, on the grounds of Chrysler headquarters in suburban Detroit. Nardelli has said he will look to unload “nonperforming assets” from Chrysler’s operations. But Frank Fountain, president of the Chrysler Foundation, said the company wasn’t making the museum move to save money. “In terms of financial impact on the company one way or another, it’s relatively insignificant,” Fountain said. “The motivation isn’t to improve the company’s bottom line because, frankly, you wouldn’t notice if we had a museum or not.” The museum employs about six full-time staffers and has roughly 200 volunteers, many of them retired employees. It displays about 70 vehicles in 55,000 square feet of exhibit space. Fountain said the company submitted its application for nonprofit status to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in April. The first dealer to contribute $5,000 was John Schenden, owner of Denver Pro Chrysler-Jeep in Denver. He said the museum is an important resource. “It’s our history. It’s my history,” Schenden said. “Who doesn’t like to go to an automobile museum?” c BMW division (D/I) Mini (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) BMW (D/I) Chrysler Division (D/I) Dodge Jeep Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) CHRYSLER LLC† Maybach (I) Mercedes-Benz (D/I) Smart (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) DAIMLER AG† FERRARI (I) Ford division Lincoln Mercury Jaguar (I) Land Rover (I) Volvo (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) FORD MOTOR CO. (D/I) Buick Cadillac Chevrolet (D/I) GMC Hummer Pontiac Saab (D/I) Saturn Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) GENERAL MOTORS (D/I) Acura (D/I) Honda Division (D/I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) HONDA (D/I) Hyundai division (D/I) Kia (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) HYUNDAI-KIA (D/I) MASERATI (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) MAZDA (D/I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) MITSUBISHI (D/I) Infiniti (D/I) Nissan Division (D/I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) NISSAN (D/I) Total car (I) Total truck (I) PORSCHE (I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D) SUBARU (D/I) Total car (I) Total truck (D/I) SUZUKI (D/I) Lexus (D/I) Toyota Division (D/I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) TOYOTA MOTOR (D/I) Audi (I) Bentley (I) Volkswagen division (D/I) Total car (D/I) Total truck (D/I) VOLKSWAGEN AG (D/I) Domestic car Import car Total car Domestic truck Import truck Total truck TOTAL CANADA 2,310 456 2,225 541 2,766 2,755 15,749 5,762 6,462 17,804 24,266 – 1,869 359 1,813 415 2,228 10 20,548 441 2 113 202 767 5,257 16,816 22,073 1,990 984 18,103 5,084 78 10,743 140 1,617 21,247 17,492 38,739 2,222 16,412 13,446 5,188 18,634 9,412 3,719 8,154 4,977 13,131 15 5,610 3,505 9,115 1,186 750 1,936 903 7,946 6,103 2,746 8,849 145 81 226 1,916 54 1,970 1,070 381 1,451 1,558 23,883 18,407 7,034 25,441 1,128 22 3,382 4,297 235 4,532 61,052 36,311 97,363 64,267 13,752 78,019 175,382 2,258 373 2,027 604 2,631 3,332 15,904 3,278 7,341 15,173 22,514 1 1,529 252 1,383 399 1,782 9 21,118 817 38 82 353 995 5,897 17,506 23,403 1,839 833 20,074 6,614 122 13,115 197 2,054 23,530 21,318 44,848 1,670 13,447 10,468 4,649 15,117 7,235 3,318 6,173 4,380 10,553 12 6,929 3,412 10,341 1,131 822 1,953 714 6,741 5,357 2,098 7,455 151 82 233 1,403 53 1,456 744 411 1,155 1,309 19,934 15,471 5,772 21,243 799 21 3,501 4,146 175 4,321 61,637 30,535 92,172 65,576 11,278 76,854 169,026 6,145 1,153 5,440 1,858 7,298 11,999 49,511 17,904 21,953 57,461 79,414 2 5,862 1,113 5,596 1,381 6,977 40 66,215 1,532 21 325 834 2,190 16,996 54,121 71,117 5,601 2,717 57,296 17,888 349 32,296 383 5,137 61,726 59,941 121,667 7,235 51,775 41,596 17,414 59,010 25,641 10,878 20,911 15,608 36,519 50 17,496 11,216 28,712 3,726 2,511 6,237 2,785 24,876 17,865 9,796 27,661 361 271 632 5,582 397 5,979 2,821 1,018 3,839 4,412 65,835 49,120 21,127 70,247 3,062 55 11,147 13,563 701 14,264 184,310 100,532 284,842 211,837 42,984 254,821 539,663 6,775 1,071 5,559 2,287 7,846 10,922 51,674 13,007 21,879 53,724 75,603 2 5,124 635 4,554 1,207 5,761 36 65,034 2,181 90 289 897 3,097 18,751 52,837 71,588 4,634 2,958 57,932 20,751 446 32,011 622 6,876 58,313 67,917 126,230 5,875 39,599 30,610 14,864 45,474 22,537 9,543 17,667 14,413 32,080 32 18,814 9,276 28,090 2,737 2,486 5,223 2,338 23,739 17,672 8,405 26,077 436 203 639 4,936 228 5,164 2,270 1,317 3,587 4,126 56,318 42,192 18,252 60,444 2,415 72 11,723 13,619 591 14,210 172,695 87,382 260,077 211,630 36,377 248,007 508,084 †DaimlerChrysler sold the Chrysler group on Aug. 3, 2007; Chrysler LLC and Daimler AG totals through July 2007 are extracted from DaimlerChrysler. *Estimate Note: (D) = produced in North America; (I) = imported to Canada; vehicles are domestic unless noted Source: Automotive News Data Center and Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada Looking for a cure for … I Improving your customer retention? I Growing your customer pay business? I Increasing your bottom line profits? Get a free diagnosis of your dealership at lu Cal s 9 ll f 9-3 ou’ -82 …Y 00 1-8 ! tter l be 00 ee www.mightycure.com The Automotive Dealership Specialists http://www.autonews.com/datacenter http://www.probac.com http://www.probac.com http://mightycure.com http://mightycure.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - May 12, 2008

Automotive News - May 12, 2008 Factories Punish Rogue Exporters U.S. Firms Sink on Supplier List Clarke: Buyers Don't Know Saturn Brand Greer Takes Top Sales Post At Automotive News Sonic Sues Mercedes-Benz Fiat Ponders Mexico Plant Ford: Wait on Kerkorian Going Green: It's No Longer An Option LaSorda Reaffirms Axle Plant Plan Chrysler: Jeep Seats From India Make Sense Toyota Exec: Maybe It's Time to Raise a Prius Hybrid Gamily Chevy Traverse, Ford Flex Face Off This Year As U.S. Waits, Chrysler Sends Cars Made in China to Mexico Nissan Plans Wide Range of Electric Vehicles Honda: Sales are Flat, But Market Share Soars Kia to Bring Small Car to U.S. Changing Models Yearly Created Object of Desire Fla. Law: Automakers Can't Force Dealer Upgrades Partnership Seeks "Premier" Stores GM Payback for Axle Bailout: Lower Prices, Innovation UAW Vote May Be Nearing a Honda's Alabama Plant Suddenly, Small Was Big in April GM's Big Problem: Too Many Brands Irvin Was Smart, Friendly, Helpful Dealers Are Tuned in to Absorption Figures Dealers Should Sell Alternative Fuels Museum Funding is Bold Watch Your Car-Truck Inventory In Tough Times Dealers Must Coddle Customers Ford's Challenge: Long-term Reliability Nissan N.A. Unit Gets New Head of Communications Maserati North America Taps Luxury-Segment Veteran Eulberg as CEO Former GM PR Chief Joins BMW Nissan: N.A. Off the Hot Seat VW Uses Free Service to Improve Sales, Image Shops Cited For Labor Violations Survey: Consumers Like Indie Shops Report Cites Trends in Repair Costs Aftermarket Center Opens at Mich. College Dealers Mich. Stores Merge Under Project Genesis VW is Europe's Top Seller Honda Exec Red-Flags Detroit 3 Aid Court: Auction Not Liable for Truck Defect Retail Personnel Canada Sales Post 3.8 Percent Gain in April Chrysler Asks Dealers to Donate to Museum Obituaries Complaint Will Delay UAW Revote at JCI Plant Supplier Deals are Smaller, Fewer GM's Truck Inventories Up Despite Strike Profits Up at Superior Industries Autobytel Post $2 MIllion Loss eBay Motors Courts Automakers Ford Touts 6-Speed Transmissions Toyota Raises Some Prices No Pickup for Hyundai, Kia April Output Drops 7.8 Percent Trustee Must Untangle the Chamco Debacle Scientists Say Chysler's Gas Plan is Just a Dodge From Cookie Sales to Auto Dough? In Europe, Small SUVs Soar; GM's Snore Daimler Seems to Be Betting On Peace in Iraq When Soccer Booms, VW Will Be Ready Molder AMP is a Case Study in Auto-Suppliers' Travail Spinoff Dismatles ArvinMeritor Ambitions GKN Driveline to Grow in China Kia Supplier Builds Ga. Plant BorgWarner Adds Turbo Capacity Supplier Personnel Supplier IAC Consolidates Operations and Know-How Mann + Hummel Sees Growth

Automotive News - May 12, 2008

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