Trade News – Page 678

Magna’s Walker sparked Canada auto industry

Magna spread its wings under Don Walker, and the Canadian auto industry soared as a result.

Walker's colleagues and competitors believe Canada's supply chain gained respect in an increasingly complex and globalized landscape, thanks in large part to his 15-year run as CEO of Magna International.

Walker, 64, who retires at the end of this month, focused on global expansion and the development of new technologies, which helped give other Canadian suppliers credibility and fueled their own growth, said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.

During Walker's time as CEO, the Aurora, Ontario, company became the world's third-largest auto parts supplier, with worldwide sales to automakers of $39.43 billion in 2019.

Magna employs 152,000 people in 27 countries. Its explosive growth under Walker's leadership proved to be invaluable for other Canadian suppliers, said Volpe.

"Fo…

Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria champions ‘helping culture,’ employee empowerment

At Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria in Arizona, all employees have a job to do, but they're never alone in striving to achieve their personal goals.

The dealership's 106-person staff leans on one another like family. When the store gets busy — or upended by the unthinkable, as seen this year with the coronavirus pandemic — all employees take on multiple responsibilities to help each other out.

"That helping culture is something you can't even put a price on," said Rick Trinkl, the dealership's general manager since August 2016. "Everybody wants to help the person next to them and isn't working at their expense. They're working with them — and for the betterment of everyone."

The store, which sold 1,678 new and 932 used vehicles in 2019, is once again being honored as an Automotive News Best Dealership To Work For, after first receiving the award last year.

For 2020, Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria tops the large dealershi…

Mustang Mach-E adds performance package

DETROIT — The first electric pony car is getting a little extra kick.

Ford Motor Co. said last week that the Mach-E GT Performance Edition will go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, get 480 hp and produce 634 pound-feet of torque. The automaker is targeting a range of 235 miles.

"We already pushed the envelope by creating an electric vehicle with the pony badge, so it's only natural that we push it even further," Darren Palmer, Ford's global director, battery electric vehicles, said in a statement. "Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition not only gives you the added performance you expect from the GT name, but accentuates the thrill with the responsiveness of an all-electric powertrain."

The optional package comes with a few cosmetic upgrades, including 19-inch front brakes, an aluminum applique on the instrument panel and a special badge on the rear of the vehicle. It's available in eight colors.

Ford said customers who ha…

Best Dealerships To Work For: Hispanic employees

Dealerships included in this ranking have at least 10 Hispanic employees, or 10%, working in the organization, whichever is greater; a Hispanic response rate to Best Companies Group's survey of at least 40% (80% for employers with less than 25 Hispanic employees); at least 10 Hispanic responses; an 80% average positive response for Hispanic employees

1. DCH Millburn Audi, Maplewood, N.J.

2. Lithia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas

3. Warren Henry Jaguar-Land Rover, North Miami, Fla.

4. Roswell Honda, Roswell, N.M.

5. Warren Henry Infiniti, North Miami, Fla.

6. Sunrise Chevrolet, Glendale Heights, Ill.

7. Rick Hendrick Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Duluth, Duluth, Ga.

8. Bob Stallings Hyundai, Dallas

Lease returns, sedans, fleet buoy Toyota as others sink in Nov.

Strong lease returns, a push from fleet and being one of the few automakers still in the high- volume sedan business helped Toyota escape a broad industry sales fall in November, a month made worse by a calender quirk that pushed three selling days into December.

Across the industry, the seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of sales finished at 15.88 million in November, according to Motor Intelligence. The SAAR fell under 16 million for the first time since August, when it was 15.22 million, and was significantly weaker than October's 16.38 million.

Toyota Motor North America finished November down 1 percent — including a flat month at Toyota Division and a 6.8 percent slide at Lexus — yet posted record November sales for its lineup of hybrids and year-over-year gains for its two pickups.

Bob Carter, head of sales for the Japanese automaker, said he went into the final weekend in November believing the industry was experiencing…

Best Dealerships To Work For: Millennial employees

Dealerships included in this ranking have at least 15 millennials, or 10%, working in the organization, whichever is greater; a millennial response rate to Best Companies Group's survey of at least 40% (80% for employers with less than 25 millennials); at least 10 millennial responses; an 80% average positive response for millennials

1. LaFontaine Ford of Birch Run, Birch Run, Mich.

2. Mall of Georgia Mazda, Buford, Ga.

3. Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria, Peoria, Ariz.

4. LaFontaine Subaru, Commerce Township, Mich.

5. Delray Buick-GMC, Delray Beach, Fla.

6. DCH Kay Honda, Eatontown, N.J.

7. Faulkner Subaru Harrisburg, Harrisburg, Pa.

8. My Auto Import Center, Muskegon, Mich.

9. Hendrick Volvo Cars of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.

10. Lithia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Great Falls, Great Falls, Mont.

11. Warren Henry Jaguar-La…

How pandemic could permanently change service departments

The coronavirus pandemic, with its associated state-mandated lockdowns and limitations, forced many customers across the country to work from home, reducing wear and tear on their vehicles. Some delayed bringing vehicles in for service to avoid face-to-face contact. As a result, franchised dealership service departments had to adapt and innovate.

They introduced or accelerated programs already in place, such as pickup and delivery, mobile service vans, "touchless" customer interactions and sanitization of vehicles. But once the pandemic ends, which of these programs will continue, and why?

Those "lasting changes" were discussed Oct. 29 during the fourth session of the 2020 Fixed Ops Journal Forum. The third annual event was held online this year over five Thursdays.

Here are edited highlights on select topics.

Bergamotto: The "wow" to the customer is second to none. ... I know it's the future. There's no way to ge…

Rockin’ New Year’s Eve duo: Kia and Seacrest

The new year won't magically wipe away the coronavirus or erase the political strife of 2020. But the mere changing of a numeral on the calendar at least brings hope that the next 12 months will be different, and Kia Motors America is seizing on the rare moment of optimism in otherwise dark times.

Kia is unleashing its first-ever large-scale New Year's marketing campaign.

The effort includes using a redesigned 2021 Sorento to haul the "2021" New Year's Eve numerals from the brand's U.S. headquarters in Irvine, Calif., to New York City, where they will be installed at the top of One Times Square.

The Sorento will make stops at dealerships along the way, with the goal of luring some local media coverage. And the brand will try to make a national splash with TV ads running during ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021." The deal with ABC includes an in-show integration that will spotlight the Sorento road trip using footage of n…

ZF and Wabco make progress as one

Just over six months into the union of German parts giant ZF Friedrichshafen and U.S.-based Wabco Holdings Inc., the companies are making progress in combining their talents to develop technologies for commercial vehicles.

And that's despite the challenge of a virtual integration by the two companies without all the usual handshakes, face-to-face meetings and receptions to get to know each other.

ZF, a supplier of transmission, chassis components and systems, and steering, braking and active and passive safety systems, closed its $7 billion acquisition of the Auburn Hills, Mich., trucking parts supplier in May, just as the industry was starting to ramp up after the pandemic-forced shutdown.

Integrating the two large industrial companies has been unique under work-from-home stipulations around the world. But ZF and the former Wabco have synergies in advanced driver-assist systems and autonomous features that have already proved ben…

Where are the basic work vehicles?

TO THE EDITOR:

I drive a 1999 Chevy Tahoe four-wheel-drive that I bought used. The vehicle is often broken, but it is a work vehicle and I go places only the brave dare enter, so old is OK. I priced a new replacement and decided that the extreme purchase cost, higher taxes, higher insurance, etc. supported having the old dog stay at my house for many years to come.

Next year, I won't have the expense of emission testing or repair, and that further supports my decision.

I don't need automatic parking, lane-departure warning, backup cameras, emergency stop radar, etc. — I already know how to drive. I just want a reliable work vehicle that will get me out of mud bogs and carry equipment.

Bring back the 5-cent cigar and a $20,000 work vehicle.

RAY JUSAK, Partner, En/Fac, Atlanta, En/Fac provides environmental and construction services to the auto, industrial and commercial industries.

The end of GM’s freefall … and other long-term trends

Automakers that switched to reporting U.S. sales quarterly instead of monthly argued that the wider span gave a truer measure of their performance. There is some truth to that, as much as I have pushed for preserving the monthly standard.

But as most of the industry is taking the longer view, let's go real long. As in 10 years.

We're winding down a year ending in zero, so it's as good a time as any to dive into the numbers.

Here are some trends I gleaned from a comparison of this year's figures, most of them through September (sorry, that's the latest we have for the entire industry), to those for 2010, courtesy of the Automotive News Data Center.

It's been a fact of life through most of our lives that General Motors' U.S. market share would plunge from decade to decade. It went from 50-something in the 1960s to 20-something before the Great Recession and bankruptcy.

The bleeding has largely stopped. In…

Hyundai EV platform promises long range, sporty driving

Hyundai Motor Group intends to carve out a share of the electric vehicle market starting next year with the first two battery-powered crossovers from its new e-GMP platform.

The flexible platform is key to the South Korean automaker's target of selling 1 million EVs globally by 2025.

Last week in Seoul, the company unveiled the e-GMP architecture, short for electric global modular platform, with executives promising sporty performance.

The base layout will be rear-wheel drive, with a low center of gravity, long wheelbase and short overhangs. The setup is geared toward larger vehicles from the C-segment and above, all the way to a seven-seat crossover in the realm of the Hyundai Palisade, the automaker said. And it can accommodate a wide range of vehicle body types, from sedans and crossovers to performance cars.

All three of the auto group's brands — Hyundai, Kia and Genesis — will use e-GMP, and the marques will diff…