Car Stock Exchange
Auto Executives
June 12, 2009
Flexibility was the topic of the Automotive News Conference in Birmingham, Alabama this week. While auto manufacturing factories slow with the weak economy and sales drop, car makers are finding ways to optimize operations during this industry breather. Manufacturing executives from Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai and Volkswagen all gave accounts of how they are being flexible.
Bill Taylor, the retiring President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, who oversees the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, plant that makes the ML, GL and R Class vehicles for 130 countries, says "fast and flexible defines the industry today... continuous improvement is part of the solution." Taylor stressed the importance of training during these times and said that in January there were 500 job changes at his facility of 3,000 employees.
Chuck Ernst, Senior Vice President, Honda Manufacturing Alabama, says Honda engaged in "flexibility and reprogramming vs. retooling" 10 years ago and has been moving production between plants in reaction to the market demand ever since. He called April 10th of this year "a fun, flexible day" when one line at his plant made 2009 Pilots, 2009 Odysseys, Accords and 2010 Pilots in two 8 hour shifts. Ernst says downtime is being used to find ways to cut costs and revamp the facility by doing simple things to improve efficiency, like making new parts' racks.
Josef Kerscher, President, BMW Manufacturing, who ran BMW's Munich plant for ten years before taking over the factory at Spartanburg, South Carolina, three years ago, says they make 170,000 vehicles a year for the world. Specifically, the X5 and X6 Sports Activity Vehicles (SAVs) and soon production of a new X3 will move from Austria to Spartanburg. The Spartanburg plant, BMW's first outside of Germany, celebrates its 15th anniversary in December. Kerscher looks forward to making the 555 horsepower M version of the X6 and X6 hybrid and says they are "well underway with their plant expansion".
Don Jackson, President, Manufacturing, and Production, Volkswagen Group of America, boasted that VW's sales drop of 15.5% this year is much better than the overall industry. In "early 2011", VW will be making an all-new mid-size sedan at a factory under construction in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which will be their 62nd plant worldwide and "the model of flexibility" with room to expand. Jackson repeated the company's goal of nearly doubling Volkswagen's current global production to 11 million vehicles by 2018.
Steve St. Angelo, Senior Vice President of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America which covers seven plants in the U.S. and two in Canada, gave the most lively presentation, using props, slides and video to show how his plants are reducing costs. As examples, they are removing lighting and air conditioning in storage and work areas where there are no people. Toyota, which hasn't laid off any "team members" is using the extra time to create more space by reorganizing their floor plan and replacing old technology with new. St. Angelo showed videos of their "Quality Idol", where employees sing familiar tunes with words changed to describe Toyota's quality. Sounds like a good morale booster.
In Hollywood, while waiting to audition for a role or filling time before a call to perform, it's called the "hurry up and wait" scenario. Actors are taught to make the most of that precious time by using it to best advantage. For now, car makers are in the "hurry up and wait" mode - making the most of their downtime.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton June 12, 2009, 9:54 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
April 15, 2009
Doug Speck, President and CEO of Volvo Cars North America
covered a lot of ground in his speech in Los Angeles yesterday. Methodically discussing each vehicle and the uncertainty surrounding not only the industry but Volvo's fate when Ford picks a buyer for the Swedish car company.
The Volvo XC60, introduced at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show and on sale for a month now in the U.S. is a "no apologies product from Volvo" according to Speck who "expects it to be the volume product in range until we get to the S60". Speck says "the new S60 next year is critical to grow Volvo".
The standard City Safety feature on the XC60 is all a buzz and Speck likened the technology to a swarm of locusts who fly in tight formation and never crash, let lone touch each other at high speeds. City Safety is a radar-based system that recognizes vehicles and pedestrians and applies the brakes to avoid a collision. Many of us experienced it yesterday going 5 miles an hour into a row of cones and having the vehicle brake for us. And on that note, Speck stated that "by 2020 no one should ever die driving a Volvo".
On the industry, Speck recited Ford's 2009 U.S. total sales projection of 10.5 million and his dealers have seen "the best traffic since the end of the 3rd quarter last year".
For Volvo, Speck says there will be refreshed a C30 and V70 in the first quarter of 2010 and a new micro-hybrid in 2011. Volvo is pursuing plug-in hybrids and plans to bring diesel powered vehicles to North America.
As far as Volvo's ownership, Speck says "Ford is speaking to interested parties" and will wait for the right price but when the deal is made, likely this year, he expects Alan Mulally's team to complete it quickly. He says Volvo's plan for untangling from Ford has been worked through.
Volvo is known for safety and Speck even pointed out that this is the 50th anniversary of the 3-point seat belt, which has saved more lives than any feature. "Volvo released the patent to the industry at no cost" according to Speck, and, if you've recently rented the movie Flash of Genius, the story of the intermittent wiper, you'll know that Volvo's contribution was a big one. And speaking of Genius, Volvo Car Corporation just received the prestigious "Genius 2009" award from Allianz insurance company for the City Safety system.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton April 15, 2009, 10:07 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
March 19, 2009
Subaru of America is making management changes, all promotions, all positive, just like their sales numbers which increased 0.3% in 2008 over 2007, the only volume brand to see a gain. Subaru sales are up 4% in the first two months of 2009 over 2008.
Thomas J. Doll
, who joined Subaru of America in 1982, has been promoted to chief operating officer and will retain his roles as executive vice president and CFO that he has held for the past 15 years.
Tim Colbeck is promoted from vice president, sales to senior vice president, sales and also assumes responsibility for vehicle logistical planning. Additionally, Tim Mahoney senior vice president and CMO assumes responsibility for Customer Relations and Loyalty.
Tomohiko Ikeda, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Subaru of America, also gets a promotion by returning to parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan on April 16 as corporate senior vice president. Mr. Ikeda joined Subaru of America in April 2007 and oversaw the launch of the Impreza and Forester models which along with Legacy sedan achieved sales records in 2008. He will be replaced by Mr. Yoshio Hasanuma, who is currently corporate senior vice-president, Subaru Global Marketing division.
Subaru Forester sales have doubled from last year after the introduction of a new model. A billboard next to Subaru of America's headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey brags about Forester's 2009 Motor Trend SUV award.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton March 19, 2009, 6:19 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
March 13, 2009
"Our tank is filled and we're ready to drive through the economic crisis" were the words from Volkswagen of America CEO Stefan Jacoby in front of a few hundred people, mainly students, at UCLA's John Anderson School of Management on Thursday. Jacoby said, "we're going to turn challenges into opportunities".
Jacoby kept his focus on VW and was reluctant to discuss Detroit's bailout, even though their Routan minivan is made in Canada with the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan. He did say the bailout is all about the U.S. even though "GM is strong in Europe and China" and "it cannot be a solution to let Opal, Vauxhall and Saab go". He said, "too much is driven by quarterly reports and Wall Street".
VW is investing heavily in the U.S. with a $1 billion "environmentally friendly" production facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, "on schedule" for a 2011 opening and have stated their goal of selling 1 million vehicles annually in the U.S. by 2018. Jacoby says, "we are determined to part of the (environmental) solution".
Jacoby believes "it will take 20 to 30 years to phase out fossil fuels" and VW TDI "clean diesel" engines with reduced emissions vs. gas "is a step in the right direction". He says diesel fuel is more expensive than gas because of "high demand in the U.S. for heating and farming." He said, "new technologies should be supported by tax credits".
He says, "it will be 15 to 25 years before electric cars are affordable to consumers globally". He cited charging, recycling, battery and infrastructure issues and said, "there is a global shortage of batteries" and "no country is prepared for electric cars".
Jacoby favors tactics used in Europe. "The U.S. government should tax to push people into fuel efficient vehicles. Europe has been raising taxes on gas for 15 to 20 years to push fuel efficient cars." Jacoby also says incentives to dispose of older cars or "scrappage is working in Europe" and proposes that would help dealers and be a stimulus to industry in the U.S.
VW's sales in the first two months of 2009 is 26,404, a decline of 14.7% from 2008, which is less than the industry's fall-off rate and Audi's 2009 sales through February are 9,375, a 25.4% drop from 2008. Jacoby says "we are car guys - we believe in branding - a strong emotional brand is important". Volkswagen is the world's 3rd largest vehicle maker and, including Audi numbers, near the bottom of the top 10 as ranked by U.S. sales. Jacoby says, "we like to be little David fighting Goliath in the U.S. market".
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton March 13, 2009, 5:59 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
February 11, 2009
The Chicago Auto Show Media Days - or should I say media day or maybe half day - are underway with virtually nothing major expected. The big Chicago news is the weather with a high of 63 degrees today, breaking the Feb. 10th record going back to 1876! Fitting that Chicago is experiencing almost equator-like temps when American Suzuki, which introduced their Equator pickup truck a year ago in Chicago, will reveal all the awards this vehicle has won like 4-Wheel & Off-Road's "4X4 of the Year".
The 2009 Equator, a re-badged Nissan Frontier, offers a standard 152 horsepower 2.5-liter DOHC inline four-cylinder engine or an available 261 horsepower 4.0-liter, V6 DOHC engine which start as low as $17,995 (including the $775 destination and handling charges).
American Suzuki has brought back Koichi Suzuki, as executive vice president of the Automotive Operations unit of American Suzuki Motor Corporation who spent 5 years at Suzuki's Southern California headquarters during its haydays before heading back to Japan in April 2007. He was most recently group leader, North America marketing group at Suzuki Motor Corporation. Suzuki, like every auto executive, will be looking to make the business more efficient and cost-conscious. Mr. Suzuki, no relation to the brand he works for, will also assume the duties of Gary Akin, vice president of sales at American Suzuki, who "has left the company" after coming over from VW in March 2007.
Suzuki is a big force internationally with sales of 2.6 million cars in 2008 according to Gene Brown, Vice President of Marketing who says India and Japan are among Suzuki's biggest markets. American Suzuki sold about 85,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year. January sales were nearly cut in half from January 2008, somewhat surprising for a company that has fuel-efficient, inexpensive, made-in-Japan vehicles.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton February 11, 2009, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives, Vehicle News
February 10, 2009
Bob Lutz, General Motors' Vice Chairman of Global Product Development, will transition to a new role effective April 1st as Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor. The 76 year old Lutz will provide strategic input into GM's global design and key product initiatives until his retirement at the end of 2009. He will continue to report to GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner.
"Bob Lutz was already a legendary automotive product guy when he rejoined GM in 2001," Wagoner said, "and he's added to that by leading the creation of a string of award-winning vehicles for GM during his time here. His 46 years of experience in the global automotive business have been invaluable to us. I've personally learned a great deal from Bob and have very much enjoyed the time we've worked together," Wagoner added. "I'm looking forward to Bob's continued contributions to GM for the remainder of 2009 - and I know the impact of his efforts leading GM global product development will continue for years to come.
Wagoner also announced that effective April 1, that the GM Board of Directors elected Tom Stephens, Vice Chairman - Global Product Development, reporting to President and Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson. Stephens, 60, and a 40 year GM veteran, is currently Executive Vice President, Global Powertrain and Global Quality. In this new assignment, Stephens will maintain his responsibility for overseeing GM's global quality activity.
GM is restructuring its global powertrain group to integrate powertrain functional activities into their respective global GM functions. Stephens will now have responsibility for global powertrain engineering, in addition to global design, product engineering, product planning and program management. Powertrain manufacturing will report to Gary Cowger, Group Vice President of GM Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton February 10, 2009, 12:04 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
February 5, 2009
At NADA in New Orleans last week Jim Press painted a positive picture for Chrysler to a media roundtable, then he apparently gave an inspiring speech to his dealers and followed that with an uplifting conference call following this week's announcement that Chrysler experienced a 55 percent drop in January sales vs. a year ago and a 31 percent sales decline from December. Press also mentioned last week that Chrysler's market share of 10 percent is about where it was 15 years ago.
As in the sales Press Release, Jim Press pulled the positives, saying Jeep Wrangler sales increased 4 percent compared to January 2008, the new Dodge Journey sales continued to climb, Dodge Challenger and Avenger sales were both up 6 percent over December 2008 and the inventory level is down 13 percent compared with January 2008.
The January sales statement reads: "Total sales were suppressed by a significant reduction in fleet sales, which is aligned with the Company's sales strategy helping to maintain or improve the overall residual value of Chrysler vehicles for our customers. Fleet sales were down 81 percent for January compared to the same time last year."
At the media roundtable, Press repeated that Chrysler made a small profit in the first six months of 2008 and the second half was slammed by high gas prices, a free fall in consumer confidence and a severe credit crunch. His optimism goes as far as him saying, "2009 will be a spectacular year for us". On December 29th Chrysler received the first installment of a government "bridge loan" to the tune of $4 billion with a second installment of $3 billon expected on March 31st. Chrysler's finance company received $1.5 billion in TARP funds to help consumers get into new vehicles. Press expects to start paying the money back in 2012 on the premise that Chrysler will be "viable and remain solvent by investing in new products, marketing and dealers."
Press is bullish on the FIAT deal saying that it will accelerate fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S., preserve jobs in America with Chrylser plants in the U.S. building FIATs and allow Chrysler dealers to sell FIATs to help sustain the U.S. auto industry. My global media friends tell me FIAT is making great cars, no longer Fix-It-Again-Tony. Press says that FIAT will invest in hardware and tooling for Chrysler facilities. The big question is how soon? A question that couldn't be answered. FIAT currently has no U.S. distribution and Chrysler's global presence is neglible compared to GM and Ford.
Another positive is that Dodge Viper sales jumped 74 percent in January to 127 from 73 a year ago as Chrysler announces that they have three possible buyers for the Viper business.
Project Genesis is the Chrysler program for reducing the size of its dealer network which currently stands at about 3,300 but Press will not give a forecast for dealer reduction categorizing the dealers into rural, secondary and metro market. Press said the rural dealers have strong market share and that was echoed by the rural dealers I spoke with at NADA who said they were happy with how the new Ram is selling.
We're in an uncertain economic environment - Press says, "if I was in a bar room brawl, there's nobody I'd rather be with than Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep dealers." The fight is going to be for the fewer than 10 million vehicles that may be sold in the U.S. this year.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton February 5, 2009, 10:03 PM
- Categories: Auto Executives
February 4, 2009
We've been expecting this for awhile and I had a hunch it was getting closer after watching Dick Colliver's AIADA speech in New Orleans which seemed to have more passion and more career recap than usual. It was his farewell as American Honda's top executive. Colliver joined Honda in 1993 after Mazda abandoned the launch of their Amati luxury car division that he was spearheading. Colliver will become a senior adviser to Honda.
Stepping up to the plate to replace Colliver in these trying economic times is another Mazda alum, John Mendel who joined Honda five years ago and moves from executive vice president of auto operations to EVP of auto sales.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton February 4, 2009, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
January 7, 2009
To those mainstream media criticizing GM, Ford and Chrysler for making cars that Americans won't buy, the Detroit 3 sold a combined 6,349,084 vehicles or 48% of all vehicles sold in the U.S. last year. So why are they losing money?
Chrysler President & Vice-Chairman Jim Press told us on September 2nd, "Because we were spending money as a four million car company, we had the manufacturing capacity to do four million cars and trucks; the problem is, the revenue to pay for all that was only two and a half million." Press goes onto say, "We've taken a million capacity out of Chrysler in less than a year." Four months after those remarks we know that Chrysler sold less than 1.5 million in 2008 so that gap translates to a money-losing business until they scale back more and sales of profitable vehicles pick up.
Chrysler's sales fell 30% in 2008 from 2007 and much of that was by design. Press, in the same speech, said, "In terms of capacity, we've cut out alot of fleet volume on purpose." Why? "We were doing almost 40 percent of our volume for fleet, mainly daily rental." Press adds, "We weren't covering our overhead, and we were really hurting our residual values."
Ford F Series, Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram had combined sales of 1,226,418 or about 9.3% of all vehicles sold in 2008 so people are buying pickup trucks. Press says, "If you look at full-size trucks and SUVs, it's about 2 million or a little less per year going forward. There's enough market there for us."
Volkswagen Jetta sales of 97,461 in 2008 represents 44% of VW's 223,128 U.S. sales and Audi A4 sales of 43,343 is 49.4% of Audi's U.S. sales.
Small cars helped luxury carmakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Mercedes-Benz sold 225,128 vehicles in 2008, an 11.2% drop from 2007, but add in the 24,622 smart cars sold, total Mercedes sales fell just 1.5%. The BMW brand sold 249,113, a drop of 15.2% but add the MINI to the mix with sales of 54,077, a 28.6% jump from 2007 and BMW total sales fell only 9.7%.
The number crunching continues.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton January 7, 2009, 11:07 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives, Auto Sales Updates
December 9, 2008
While the executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler are pleading their cases for loans to Congress, let's look at the sobering yet optimistic remarks from the CEO and President of Renault and Nissan Carlos Ghosn at the Los Angeles Auto Show a month ago. This is advice the troubled automakers should listen to - if it's not too late.
Ghosn confessed that "the usual rules of business are up in the air... and we're in uncharted territory" with Nissan's "short term objectives to avoid burning cash and maintain a position of cashflow". Ghosn forecasts that we could have "2 to 3 more years of nobody knows." Ghosn said that consolidation takes place in times like this and admitted that two years ago Nissan had discussions with General Motors that "reached no conclusion". Ghosn said there's "no alliance without a mutual appetite - alliance is like marriage and can't start where one is excited and the other is skeptical".
Ghosn did give us reasons to hope saying that, "cars have no substitute, in 10 to 15 years people will be driving cars... owning a car is a statement of freedom". Doing some population growth math, Ghosn told us "there are 6.7 billion people in the world now and by 2050 there will be over 9 billion" which means with "600 million vehicles worldwide today and an annual selling rate of 70 million, in 2050 we'll be up to 2.5 billion vehicles."
Then Ghosn gave us the scary math saying that the growing markets of "China and India have fewer than 50 vehicles per 1,000 vs. 800 per 1,000 in the U.S.... If China catches up to the U.S. we'll need 2 planets... If the rest of the world catches up we'll need 11 planets." That seems like a rosy picture so maybe GM better reconsider cutting back on brands.
And now the electrifying comments....
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton December 9, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
November 25, 2008
I had a fun-spirited conversation with Hyundai Motor America's President and Chief Executive Officer Jong Eun Kim at the L.A. Auto Show last week as we watched his sister company, Kia, unveil the Soul. Today we learned why Mr. Kim was in such a good mood - he's heading back to Hyundai Motor Company headquarters in Korea.
John Krafcik has been promoted to Acting President and Chief Executive Officer and will be responsible for implementation of strategic direction and management of the company's operations. Krafcik, who joined Hyundai in April 2004 from Ford Motor Company, moves up from his post of Vice President of Product Development and Strategic Planning.
Former BMW North America and Volvo Cars North America President, Vic Doolan told me at the L.A. Auto Show that the Hyundai Genesis sedan is "one hell of a motor car". Those sentiments are also found on Edmunds.com CarSpace pages.
The sizzle around the 2009 Hyundai Genesis sedan, which went on sale in the summer, continued at SEMA in Las Vegas a few weeks ago with three variants brought to us from RKSport/Hyundai America Technical Center (HATCI), RIDES magazine and DUB magazine.
The RKSport Genesis with a white body and black hood and roof has a Hyundai-developed screw-type supercharged 4.6 liter Tau V8 engine taking the stock 375 horsepower up to 460 horsepower enabling a zero to sixty dash in 4.9 seconds, not bad for a luxury sedan. With cylinder deactivation, similar to some GM and Chrysler engines, the Genesis achieves 18 miles per gallon in city and 27 miles per gallon on the highway matching the fuel economy of the Genesis 3.8-liter V6 engine.
Continue reading...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton November 25, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives, Vehicle News
October 16, 2008
Jim Taylor
is the new CEO of Hummer which is on the General Motors auction block. Taylor, a 28-year GM veteran, has been Cadillac's general manager since 2004 and before that was Cadillac's global Vehicle Line Executive overseeing the introduction of new models like the popular Cadillac CTS and STS sedans and SRX crossover.
Taylor reports to Mark McNabb, the former Nissan, Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz executive, who GM hired in April as GM North America vice president in charge of Cadillac/Premium Channel, a position that Taylor may have hoping for. Martin Walsh, currently general manager of HUMMER, will team with Taylor on the transition and ongoing dealer relations, and then will move to another assignment that will be announced soon.
Cadillac's U.S. sales are falling with the industry, down 16.4 percent in the 9 months of 2008 while Hummer's sales have fallen 47.4 percent.
"By creating a new and more comprehensive leadership position for HUMMER with Jim Taylor as the top executive, we are bolstering the strategic review process and the brand" according to Mark LaNeve, GMNA vice president of Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. Hmmmm....
The 2009 Hummer H3T
is on sale and trades on the Car Stock Exchange
.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton October 16, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
September 3, 2008
On September 6, 2007, Toyota Motor North America President Jim Press jumped to Chrysler shocking the automotive world and, a year later, he's still loving it. Press told a large gathering of the Motor Press Guild in Los Angeles that, "it's like being back at grade school." After 37 years at Toyota, Press says, "it was an opportunity to transition from a sunset to sunrise - a chance to redefine an auto company." And, from what he told us, Chrysler is well on their way to being "an economic rebirth of a company."
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is the private equity firm that bought Chrysler from Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz parent company, and Press explained that the "Detroit paradigm of the more cars you make, the more money you lose" had to change when Chrysler became a private company. Press said that, "Daimler was building a 5 million car-per-year company, spending money as a 4 million car-per-year company but the problem is that the revenue to pay for it is 2.5 million cars-per-year." Press said that Chrysler also had to adjust for Daimler's pre-sale "pump up the volume" move which boosted "fleet sales for daily rental cars to almost 40% of their business, hurting residuals."
Press explained that Chrysler had to "substantially reduce overhead and billions of fixed expenses" by cutting out a lot of fleet volume and unprofitable models like the Pacifica, Crossfire, Magnum and PT Cruiser convertible to stabilize costs. "Warranty costs are down 29%." Press said that, "this year's volume will fall short, though within 7,000 units of forecast" and that they "financially achieved their target in the first 6 months of 2008" and clarified that, "I didn't say we were profitable."
"You can't have brands competing a block away", Press referring to Chrysler and Dodge brand vehicles, such as the minivan, that compete against each other. "It costs $100 million to introduce a new product and you've got a two car race with both on the same team."
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton September 3, 2008, 5:55 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
September 2, 2008
Stephen Odell
, 53, goes from Ford of Europe's chief operating officer to president and chief executive officer of Volvo Car Corporation, replacing Fredrik Arp, who has decided to leave after three years leading Volvo.
Effective October 1st, Odell, will be responsible for Volvo's global operations out of its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, and report to Lewis Booth, executive vice president of Ford Motor Company and chairman of Volvo Car Corporation, who will continue to oversee the strategic direction of Volvo.
Before he was appointed chief operating officer of Ford of Europe in April 2008, Odell served as Ford of Europe's vice president of marketing, sales and service for nearly three years. Prior to that, he held several senior level positions at Mazda from 2000 to 2005. Odell was vice president, marketing and sales, Jaguar North America from 1997 to 2000. Stephen Odell joined Ford of Britain in 1980 as a graduate trainee.
"Stephen Odell brings to Volvo a wealth of experience of strong leadership in the automotive industry," said Alan Mulally, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company.
Volvo XC60 Trades On The Car Stock Exchange - On Sale in U.S. in 2009
Volvo is approaching the 10th anniversary of its $6.45 billion purchase by then-Ford-CEO Jac Nassar and after the recent sales of Jaguar and Land Rover by Ford, the "for sale" question surrounds Volvo as its losses continue to mount. Mulally says, "I believe that Stephen is the right person - together with Lewis Booth and the Volvo Cars Management Team - to take Volvo forward and to return the business to sustainable profitability." Through July, Volvo 2008 U.S. sales were 51,305, down 19% from the first seven months of 2007.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton September 2, 2008, 7:04 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
August 1, 2008
The 2009 Kia Borrego
has already started arriving in showrooms and this week Kia Motors America announced the hiring of a new Vice President of Marketing - Michael Sprague
- who will help sell them. After a six month search to replace Ian Beavis who was ousted with CEO Len Hunt in February, Sprague, like Beavis, comes to Kia from Lincoln Mercury where he was group marketing manager. Sprague officially starts at the Irvine headquarters on August 11th.
During 12 years at Ford, Sprague was also Ford's Corporate Brand Strategy Manager and Cross Brand Product Marketing Manager and before that General Manager of Global Brand Marketing at Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan. His other Ford positions were: Advanced Product Strategy Manager, Mercury Cougar Brand Manager, Regional Marketing Manager for Lincoln Mercury, District Sales Manager at Lincoln Mercury and Cross Vehicle Line Manager - Export Operations at Ford.
The Borrego, which trades on the Car Stock Exchange
, starts at $26,245 and comes in 7 trim levels with two engines choices: a 276 horsepower 3.8 liter V6 and a 337 horsepower 4.6 liter V8.
Continue reading...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton August 1, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
July 21, 2008
Len Hunt
who was ousted from Kia Motors America in February, just two months after being promoted from COO to CEO, recently landed with Gallup Consulting. Hunt departed Kia on the eve of NADA apparently over a Kia TV commercial that led to a "who's the boss?" debate with Byung Mo Ahn just five days after Ahn took the newly created position of chairman and group CEO of Kia Motors America and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia.
Hunt, a veteran auto industry executive who has worked with Jaguar, Audi, Volkswagen and Kia has joined Gallup in as a Partner based in Irvine, California and will be responsible for managing existing client relationships as well as developing new relationships in the automotive and non-automotive fields.
Steve Wilhite
resigned as Hyundai Motor America's chief operating officer in September 2007 apparently over not achieving almost unrealistic sales targets. Many thought Wilhite would wind up back at Ford as marketing chief, a job that Toyota's Jim Farley got a few weeks later in the Fall of '07. Wilhite instead takes the newly created position of President at Jumpstart Automotive Media, an automotive publisher rep firm, wholly-owned by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. Wilhite, a veteran auto marketer who has worked with Volkswagen, Nissan and Hyundai, is in San Francisco nearby his alma maters Berkeley and Stanford. Wilhite replaced Bob Cosmai at Hyundai, who left in January 2006, apparently as an executive ego clash casualty.
As of now, it looks like neither Hyundai nor Kia have replaced Wilhite or Hunt.
Written by CSX Contributor Richard Saxton.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton July 21, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
July 18, 2008
John Middlebrook
, General Motors global sales and marketing chief officially retired on July 1st after 49 years with GM and on July 15, the same day as the company announced a $15 billion dollar cost saving plan, Middlebrook celebrated his departure with about two hundred people paying tribute to their friend. I was honored to be one of them.
Among the half dozen people who recounted John's career at the GM Heritage Center in Detroit was Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner who reminded us that "gas was 31 cents a gallon in 1959 when Middlebrook started." Wagoner said that Middlebrook "knows more about marketing than anyone I've ever met" calling him a man with passion with the ability to relate to people and built a network of admirers around the world while knitting together GM's Global Marketing team.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton July 18, 2008, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
June 9, 2008
Jeff Conrad
has swapped jobs with Steve Center becoming Vice President of the Acura Division
. Conrad joined Honda in 1982 as a district sales manager and has held positions including Mid-Atlantic zone sales manager, Acura national sales manager from 1987 to 1993 and the western region manager from 1993 to 1994. In December of 1994, Conrad was promoted to assistant vice president of National Marketing and then to assistant vice president of Dealer Relations in 1999.
Steve Center moves to Conrad's last assignment of vice president, Advertising and Public Relations of the Automobile Operations Division for American Honda...
Continue reading...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton June 9, 2008, 10:26 PM
- Categories: Auto Executives
April 16, 2008
Seven of the 36 vehicles that trade on the Car Stock Exchange are from General Motors so its significant to sales that GM is aligning its U.S. marketing and field
operations into four retail channels with three GM veterans and one new addition in charge, effective June 1:
- Ed Peper, 46, is appointed North America Vice President, Chevrolet Channel.
- Susan Docherty, 45, is appointed North America Vice President, Buick-Pontiac-GMC Channel.
- Mark McNabb, 47, is appointed North America Vice President, Premium Channel - Cadillac, Hummer & Saab...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton April 16, 2008, 9:30 PM
- Categories: Auto Executives
March 13, 2008
It's been almost two years since Nissan North America moved its headquarters from Gardena, California, to Nashville, Tennessee. Word is that maybe 400 of the nearly 1,300 employees elected to leave Southern California in June 2006 and many of those have resigned since. Nissan lost about a dozen of its top executives on the headquarter re-location, including its then-chief of sales and marketing, Jed Connelly, who chose to retire in July 2006. Brad Bradshaw took over Connelly's spot and a year later left...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton March 13, 2008, 4:49 PM
- Categories: Auto Executives
March 11, 2008
By the end of the year Volvo Cars of North America will relocate its headquarters from Irvine, California, back to Rockleigh, New Jersey, where it currently has its customer care, parts and service operations. Volvo's U.S. headquarters opened in 1956 in Newark, New Jersey, then moved to Englewood Cliffs before settling in Rockleigh in 1964.
Doug Speck,
a 25-year Ford Motor Company veteran, will become president and CEO replacing Anne Belec effective immediately. The 48 year old Speck joined VCNA in July 2006 and was named executive vice president of Sales and Marketing in March 2007...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton March 11, 2008, 7:05 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
February 12, 2008
The buzz at NADA parties in San Francisco on Saturday Feb. 9th was that Len Hunt was out at Kia Motors America (KMA) after just over two years as the highest ranking non-Korean executive at the automaker and just 3 months after being elevated to President and CEO of KMA. Not a huge surprise because the Korean car companies have been a revolving door for U.S. executives over the past few years...
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton February 12, 2008, 9:48 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
January 26, 2008
smart fortwo,
made by Mercedes-Benz Cars in France,
measures
8.8-feet long by 5.1-feet wide and
averages 33 miles per gallon in city traffic and 41 on the highway.
30,000 U.S. buyers put their names on the smart list to take delivery starting in mid-January.
Smart USA,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Penske Automotive Group Inc...</sp
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton January 26, 2008, 11:33 PM
- Categories: Auto Executives
December 27, 2007
Hyundai Motor America announced that Jong Eun Kim has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Southern California-headquartered company.
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- Posted by: Richard Saxton December 27, 2007, 11:58 AM
- Categories: Auto Executives
