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Why dealers need to address the length of closing times

Posted 11:14 am U.S. ET, April 20
blogs Dave Guilford is enterprise editor of Automotive News.
 
In the space of about six weeks this winter, my wife and I bought two new cars. The reason for this splurge was exactly what industry-watchers have predicted: Old, wheezing cars eventually need to be replaced.
In our case, two vehicles in our household fleet of three (self, wife, daughter) reached the end of the road. The shopping process was prett ...
     Continue reading "Why dealers need to address the length of closing times" » Apr 20, 2012 11:14 am U.S. ET
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How Opel, Peugeot showed off their cultural differences

Posted 1:01 pm U.S. ET, March 7
GENEVA -- OK, here’s one indication that there might be some cultural distance between General Motors and Peugeot, at least in operating style.
At the auto show here, GM basically explained its alliance with Peugeot by putting Opel chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke in a series of journalistic roundtables in cramped interview rooms. But Peugeot inv ...
     Continue reading "How Opel, Peugeot showed off their cultural differences" » Mar 7, 2012 1:01 pm U.S. ET
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Clint’s 'Halftime': A hit with just a hint of Chrysler

Posted 10:27 am U.S. ET, Feb. 11
DETROIT -- As the furor over the Chrysler Group “Halftime in America” commercial tapers off -- it is tapering off, isn’t it? -- three thoughts stick with me about the annual Super Bowl advertising fest.
The first: Chrysler certainly scored the biggest celebrity with Clint Eastwood. But it’s axiomatic that th ...
     Continue reading "Clint’s 'Halftime': A hit with just a hint of Chrysler" » Feb 11, 2012 10:27 am U.S. ET
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Saab's bid for scale, pricing power fell short

Posted 12:48 pm U.S. ET, Dec. 20
It's sad to see the efforts to rescue Swedish automaker Saab fail. But for anyone watching the attrition of marginal brands in the past few years, it's not surprising.
Going back to General Motors' ownership of the brand, no one was able to puzzle out a way to make Saab viable. Finally a tangle of Chinese investors and GM's desire to protect its te ...
     Continue reading "Saab's bid for scale, pricing power fell short" » Dec 20, 2011 12:48 pm U.S. ET
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View Chevrolet Volt fires in perspective

Posted 12:30 pm U.S. ET, Nov. 30
No question, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is doing the right thing in exhaustively studying fires in crash-tested Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids.
And there’s no question that General Motors must take whatever measures are necessary to decrease the risk of fire in the Volt’s lithium ion battery packs.
Continue reading "View Chevrolet Volt fires in perspective" » Nov 30, 2011 12:30 pm U.S. ET
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Buick and Opel look to share more product

Posted 9:13 am U.S. ET, Sept. 13
FRANKFURT -- Years ago, the Opel Kadett was sold through Buick stores in the U.S.
The Kadett isn't coming back, but it looks like product-sharing between Buick and Opel will be part of General Motors' product strategy.
GM Europe chief Nick Reilly emphasized the brands' similar positioning under the new drive to ...
     Continue reading "Buick and Opel look to share more product" » Sep 13, 2011 9:13 am U.S. ET
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Bob Lutz...the rest of the latest story

Posted 11:26 am U.S. ET, Sept. 12
I ran into Bob Lutz at luggage claim in the Frankfurt airport and he shed some light on the recent news that he has rejoined General Motors as a paid consultant.
That was always part of his retirement plan, Lutz said. But GM's federal government overseers balked at what they saw as a  "golden parachute."
L ...
     Continue reading "Bob Lutz...the rest of the latest story" » Sep 12, 2011 11:26 am U.S. ET
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Apple ease and elegance don't come easy

Posted 3:21 pm U.S. ET, Sept. 9
You often hear auto executives cite Apple Inc. as a model these days.
No mystery there. Apple's sleek styling, intuitive controls, avid early-adopter fans and sky-high profits are the envy of most businesses.
But emulating Apple isn't as easy as it might seem.
For instance, ...
     Continue reading "Apple ease and elegance don't come easy" » Sep 9, 2011 3:21 pm U.S. ET
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When it comes to mpg, eventually you’ll have to answer to the buyer

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Sept. 3
There has been a lot of muttering lately about the mpg ratings that some companies put on their cars, as my colleague Rick Kranz noted this week.
Here’s a footnote to Rick’s column. Over lunch recently with a former produc ...
     Continue reading "When it comes to mpg, eventually you’ll have to answer to the buyer" » Sep 3, 2011 12:01 am U.S. ET
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