Jason Stein

There is a member of management at Volkswagen Group's Seat brand who has a story to tell.
His identity doesn't matter, but the message is remarkable. About five years ago he joined Seat for one reason: The mix of a German-led organization with Spanish emotion and style would be heaven on Earth.
Or the opposite …
)x("”",Seat was a mess,” he told me on a recent trip to Seat's headquarters near Barcelona. )x("”",No direction. No focus. No plan. It was sad to realize this wasn't for me.”
Enter the 61-year-old Erich Schmitt. And exit the doom and gloom.
In September, Schmitt will celebrate two years as the head of Seat. What a positive spin it has been for people inside the company.
Reconstruction artists take note: You think you can fix an unfixable brand? Better get up early. Actually,

June 9, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

It didn't have the cachet of Milan, the splendor of Venice or the heart of Florence, but Turin, the home of our two-day stop last week, in many ways was symbolic of what we do at Automotive News Europe.
The 12th ANE Congress, May 19-20 -- and the first in Italy -- represented where we are in the industry today.
Turin is an industrial city.
It is hard working and it is struggling to keep its place in a changing global landscape.
But it is also full of life.
This is where the automotive world still finds its step. It is where Fiat, a near-death brand just a few years ago, was reborn and where hope is more than just an idea.
If you missed it, Europe came to Turin in droves last week.
Four hundred delegates.
Major automakers and suppliers.
And relevant topics

May 26, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Back when he was running the Volkswagen group, the rumor was that Bernd Pischetsrieder used to enjoy sitting outside at his house in the Bavarian countryside smoking his cigars.
It's a good bet that he's smoking a few now.
Look at the latest quarterly earnings report out of Wolfsburg, and Pischetsrieder's success is all over it.
"Volkswagen Group Continues Success Story" is the headline on the company's latest earnings release.
More vehicles delivered. Increased sales revenue. Sharp rise in profit. Cost plan working.
What does that say?
The better question is what it doesn't say: Bernd Pischetsrieder's hard work totally paid off.
Pischetsrieder isn't the first guy to get whacked, then be forced to sit back and watch as the

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 19 [SUB]

Back when he was running the Volkswagen group, the rumor was that Bernd Pischetsrieder used to enjoy sitting outside at his house in the Bavarian countryside smoking his cigars.
It's a good bet that he's smoking a few now.
Look at the latest quarterly earnings report out of Wolfsburg and Pischetsrieder's success is all over it.
)x("”",Volkswagen Group Continues Success Story” is the headline on the company's latest earnings release.
More vehicles delivered. Increased sales revenue. Sharp rise in profit. Cost plan working.
What does that say?
The better question is what it doesn't say: Bernd Pischetsrieder's hard work has totally paid off.
Pischetsrieder isn't the first guy to get whacked, then be forced to sit back and watch as the success story is attributed to someone

May 12, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

What do cars and beer have in common?
In both cases, having too much regulation causes a hangover.
Last week a report written by European Commission officials said there was "no valid reason" to renew the car industry's block exemption regime for new-car sales and repairs after 2010.
It brought to mind the case of, well, cases of beer.
In the 1990s, the UK government took on the major breweries to exert more control over how they sold beer. New regulations sought to limit the number of pubs that brewers could own and to allow pubs that were tied to breweries to sell other beer brands.
The goal was to increase competition, keep prices in line and protect pubs.
What happened?
Two brewing groups concluded there was more money to be made running pubs than brewing beer,

April 14, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

The demise of Turin's coachbuilder industry has all of the makings of a classical Italian opera.
There is hope for a better future. There is a love for the product. And, ultimately, there is tragedy.
Look at the latest news from the coachbuilders in Italy and it brings to mind Rossini, Verdi and Puccini.
The plot is simple. It has loyalty, friendship, virtue and absolute power. The comedy non-existent. The final curtain appears near.
With the recent news that the Pininfarina family will reduce its stake in the same-named Italian coachbuilder to attract more capital from other investors, the story appears to be winding to a close. Combine that with the lingering issues at Bertone and you have enough actors for an operatic fateful end.
But let me rewrite that final scene.

March 31, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

In the mix of new technology, higher performance and new ways to save CO2, there was a small car that made everyone forget about the big debuts in Geneva.
Forget going green. Forget new segments. Do you want to know the star of this year's Geneva auto show? Four letters: N-a-n-o.
And why?
Because, as one supplier executive told me: )x("”",It simply changes everything.”
There are some big things about the Nano that have the industry very intrigued.
The main one is what the Nano will mean for the future of manufacturing. Another is that suppliers can still make a few euros (but not many) on it. Automakers can also solve CO2 issues in a hurry. And consumers can have something that is mobile, if not flashy.
But here's the real reason why the crowds were thick and the conversation

March 17, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

The waste bin of corporate governance is filled with stories of things that somehow just go wrong.
But there isn't a waste bin large enough for the story that wrapped up last month in Germany.
The names Klaus Volkert and Hans-Joachim Gebauer (among unnamed others who somehow escaped detection) will long be talked about in the hallways of automotive management — and not for the parties and special favors and tantalizing tales of prostitutes that did or did not occur but for how German companies should finally realize it is time to shape up.
As you may have read in news reports, Volkert, who as works council chairman had led Volkswagen's labor union, was sentenced to 33 months in jail for his role in a 2005 corruption scandal at VW. Gebauer, a former VW personnel

12:01 am U.S. ET | March10 [SUB]

The waste bin of corporate governance is filled with tales of things that just went wrong.
But there isn't a waste bin large enough for the story that finished last week in Germany.
The names Volkert and Gebauer (among unnamed others who somehow escaped detection) will long be talked about in the hallways of automotive management.
And not for the parties and special favors and tantalizing tales of prostitutes. But more for how German companies should finally realize it is time to shape up.
Simply put: Corporate governance in Germany doesn't work.
The Volkswagen case of sex, bribes and scandal rocks the whole shaky edifice of Germany's consensus-based labor model.
Don't believe me? Just listen to the guilty.
)x("”",At some point [the system] tears you apart, regardless of

March 3, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

If the European Commission is looking for a role model for CO2 legislation in Europe, we've found your man.
He drives a car that screams green: a Toyota Prius.
He talks tough about big, thirsty and polluting SUVs. )x("”",Irresponsible tractors,” he calls them.
And he will not allow a few car companies to get in his way. )x("”",There's really no justification for owning cars producing this amount of carbon emissions,” he says.
Yes, EU citizens, London Mayor Ken Livingstone is your guy.
Drive a Ford Mondeo, BMW 335i convertible, 540i sedan or -- gasp! -- a Land Rover Range Rover into the city?
Better bring some extra money.
Livingstone said last week he will triple London's daily congestion charge to £25 (about €33) for high-polluting vehicles. Owners of vehicles that emit more

Feb. 18, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Here's an interesting tale about car emissions, automakers and government that might have you emitting a little CO2 when you gasp in disbelief.
A European automotive executive and a member of the European Parliament met recently to discuss the impending change in emissions regulations.
The parliamentarian spent an hour beating the drum for cleaner, smaller cars. The auto guy argued back.
)x("”",At the end of all that, he smiled and asked me if I could get him a better deal on his company car,” the auto guy told me, incredulous.
Who says politics and cars aren't a messy mix?
Here's a warning: It is just beginning.
If you listened closely during the press days at last week's Detroit auto show, the message came through loud and clear. Cars and politics have some bewildering days

Jan. 21, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

If you read the company's predictions, just about everybody will be driving Volkswagens in the near future.
There will be small ones (the Up concept). Big ones (new Phaetons). And in-between ones (radically redesigned Golfs).
The line of eager customers will stretch from Warsaw to Wolfsburg. People will clamor for anything with a VW name: hybrids, V-10s, SUVs, sports cars.
VW will steadily, gradually and inevitably eat into the market share of Toyota. In a rapid reversal, the Japanese will concede defeat.
Two words: Dream on.
VW's plan to grow its way into the top spot globally and catch Toyota isn't a stretch target. It is just a stretch.
Volkswagen group CEO Martin Winterkorn believes German attention to detail will help Europe's largest automaker overtake Toyota

Jan. 7, 2008 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Markets are booming. Factories are expanding. Dealers are lining up to be considered for new franchises.
And you can't see the end in any of it.
This isn't the model we've grown accustomed to in Europe of late. But it's real.
How refreshing is it to sit with a leading executive in Europe and have him tell you he is going to exceed every expectation in the coming years?
How refreshing it is to be in the game in Russia.
General Motors Europe President Carl-Peter Forster has a vision. It is more plants, new agreements and higher revenues. And he wasn't talking about western Europe.
Truth be told, the Russian market is the saving grace in everybody's European plans. When even the most conservative growth estimates for western Europe sound wildly optimistic, Russia is the

Dec. 10, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

WARNING: Driving this car harms you and the people around you.
If the European Parliament has its way, that could be the tag line for a future Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Ford television commercial, instead of a snappy saying about engineering excellence or the joy of driving.
A couple of weeks ago, the Parliament proposed that EU car ads carry tobacco-style labels, warning of their environmental impact.
Under the plan, 20 percent of the space or time of any auto ad would be devoted to information on a car's fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Both measures are cited as indicators of contributions to climate change.
So I ask, should we prepare for warnings along the lines of )x("”",Driving this car may damage planet Earth?” Or maybe something more direct: )x("”",Your V-8 is killing me.”
Of

Nov. 12, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

TOLMIN, Slovenia -- That sound you hear in the distance is the hum of an economic engine starting up. It is faint, for the moment.
It will get decidedly louder.
It is the sound of Low Cost Countries becoming Leading Competitive Centers. We are talking suppliers, automakers, workers, distribution networks and the future business center of Europe.
Don't believe it? Take the winding roads east of Italy into the heart of Slovenia -- a country that has found prosperity following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1991 -- and talk to Iztok Seljak, the vice president of sales and marketing for supplier Hidria.
)x("”",Slovenia is not a low-cost country anymore,” Seljak says. )x("”",We don't like that term.”
If there are poster children for the budding prosperity of central Europe, they

Oct. 29, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Auto sales in Germany are down substantially this year, still wounded by a tax increase that took effect in January. The CEOs of luxury carmakers are sweating over the costs of meeting pending CO2 regulations.
So is the heart of the European auto industry feeling threatened to its core? Hardly.
Don't let the headlines fool you -- Germany is more vibrant than ever. Just look at the new group of industry leaders making headlines.
What are they focused on? Euros, euros and more euros. Just listen.
)x("”",We are looking for profitable growth,” Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche recently told us. )x("”",We see significant opportunities in emerging markets. We see further opportunities as far as market share.”
Then there's Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking on his company's growing stake in Volkswagen:

Oct. 15, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Here's a quick quiz. Which automaker stands for these three simple brand characteristics: Quality, safety and environmental friendliness?
The answer: Who doesn't?
You may have missed the recent announcement by Renault's German boss, Jacques Rivoal, that the French carmaker is )x("”",going on the offensive” with a new brand campaign. Renault will reposition itself in communications to declare it is like … well, everyone else.
Renault's new brand pillars: High quality, impressive safety and environmental concern.
)x("”",We are launching a brand offensive this fall,” Rivoal told Automotive News Europe's sister publication, Automobilwoche. )x("”",We want to reach the point where the Renault brand is recognized along these three lines.”
OK, what's next?
A brand campaign based on

Oct. 1, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

FRANKFURT -- The message at this year's Frankfurt auto show was simple: Go green, or go home.
From something called the Flextreme to fuel cells to fuel-saving tires, the IAA was all environment, all the time.
Even the political Green party was here.
)x("”",Some of the carmakers have finally got the message that they have to do more to protect the environment,” Winfried Hermann, a member of the German parliament for the Green party, said last week. )x("”",But these cars are nowhere near as climate-friendly as they're selling it to us.”
Ah, and what a sell.
For a few days last week, most of the industry tucked their mega-horsepower sports cars near the back of the stands and went green.
Someone not paying attention might think the auto industry just discovered something called

Sept. 17, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

I remember the day General Motors Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz stood in a new, gleaming Kroymans dealership on the north side of Munich beaming like a proud parent.
)x("”",This is only the beginning of better days for Cadillac,” he told me, his hand pressed against the side of a shiny new Cadillac BLS. )x("”",I am convinced that we're going to get it right this time.”
This time.
When it comes to the success of GM's premium-vehicle brand in Europe, at some point this time always becomes next time. Cadillac relaunches. Sales flutter upward a moment, then slam back to earth. Until the next time.
Privately, I wonder if Lutz has run out of patience with GM's American brands in Europe.
Word is that the automaker is seriously considering taking back importing, marketing and distribution operations

Sept. 3, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

Warning: Decisions by the European Commission could be hazardous to your health but healthy for your domestic industry -- especially if you build sports cars, luxury sedans and large SUVs.
In case you missed it -- easy because there was almost no fanfare -- all signs suggest the EU is seriously considering a weight-based system to regulate vehicle CO2 emissions.
Who wins? Germany's makers of big vehicles.
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was first to weigh in (so to speak) by publicly endorsing the weight-based system. The system )x("”",would have to apply to all manufacturers,” Stadler said.
Who loses? The EU.
In the fierce debate over CO2 emissions, the EU had a chance to avoid the deadly sin of watering down legislation to please one country.
No one is sure if the weight-based

Aug. 20, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

So going small is the next big thing, right?
Renault is going to build a car that will be priced less than the ultra-cheap Logan. Volkswagen is designing a vehicle that will be smaller -- and cooler -- than the Polo. General Motors is considering a Logan-fighter. And earlier this month Chrysler finalized a deal with China's Chery for a small car priced under €10,000.
I have a question: What is going to happen to everyone's bottom line?
If the growth area for carmakers comes in small packages, how exactly are those packages going to improve the profit-and-loss statements at companies that already badly need a boost in revenue?
The race to solve the world's CO2 problem -- or at least appear as if you are trying to solve the problem -- comes with a giant risk for the balance

July 23, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

By the time you finish reading this column another automaker, supplier or dealer group will have decided to move east.
As we just heard at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Prague, if you aren't already in central and eastern Europe, you are yesterday's news.
Competitive wage rates, generous government subsidies and the lure of untapped markets are the magnets pulling automotive executives into the region at a blinding rate.
But here's the warning: The market is moving so fast, automotive decision-makers must be more flexible than they've ever been before.
Flexible? Auto industry? Rarely have these two ever met.
The industry is typically slow, plodding and methodical -- everything the East is not.
Need proof? Just look around Prague.
At Skoda's factory in Mlada

July 9, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

He had a horrible cold, was delayed by a traffic blockade for a US president and had every reason in the world to be doing business rather than talking business.
But Sergio Marchionne knew how to win over the room.
)x("”",I am suffering like hell,” Fiat's boss joked to about 400 people that day, pausing for effect before making his point. )x("”",But sometimes the job has to be done.”
And how. When he spoke at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Vienna a year ago this week, Marchionne brought a prescription for automotive success stronger than any cold medicine: Take a non-auto executive with long hair, throw in some risk, add efficiency, change designs and -- poof! -- financial health.
Marchionne made the impossible look easy.
A year later, who is in the headlines again? Who is

June 25, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]
   • Fiat turnaround is a template for Ford

Sex. Lies. And now political resignations.
In the endless, steamy chronology of the Volkswagen affair, this is the proverbial icing on the strudel.
Hans-Jürgen Uhl probably never thought what he did or didn't do at private parties in 2001 -- where maybe there were prostitutes arranged by former VW labor leaders -- would chase him all the way to Berlin's parliament.
Add Uhl to the list of the disillusioned.
)x("”",I have not told the truth in dealing with allegations against me in this context,” Uhl wrote on his Web site May 29 when he resigned his seat as a member of Germany's Social Democrat Party.
In this context? Here's the context: The blaze of bad publicity is about to really heat up for VW when it is trying desperately to distance itself from the past. When former works

June 11, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]

As sure as Dieter Zetsche will never be known as Dr. Z again, there are already textbooks being written about the most famous marriage to never have a honeymoon.
Some say a clash of cultures brought DaimlerChrysler down. Others say decision making was too split, hung somewhere over the Atlantic.
Here's why the merger failed: It never had a chance. Two separate discussions I had over the last few years demonstrated that Daimler was never really OK with Chrysler, and vice versa.
Three years ago, during a talk in Southern California, then-Chrysler marketing boss Joe Eberhardt argued that, despite the fact Chrysler was getting an old Mercedes SLK as the basis for its new Crossfire, the sharing was coming.
"Just wait," Eberhardt told me that day, six years into the marriage, "we

May 28, 2007 06:01 European CT [SUB]