For many decades it was assumed that a local dealer had to stay local. He or she couldn't expand beyond a single point, so the goal was to make the single dealership grow. That notion was destroyed when the imports came looking for ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13

When old issues seem to have gone away, they can crop up again. Sometimes they are good ideas that have been ignored. Sometimes they are practices that you hope have disappeared but that come back again. Just when it seemed ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6

I persuaded Peter Brown to join Crain Communications 28 years ago to help launch Crain's Detroit Business. A few years later he became the editor of Automotive News. That was a quarter of a century ago. And this ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 29

Some things that seem certain never happen. For example, in the 1990s everyone knew that the 12-volt battery was not going to be able to handle the power requirements for the growing number of electrical devices on the modern ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 22

It's appropriate to recognize how important engineering is to the automobile industry. Engineering touches every aspect of the vehicle, from design to development to manufacturing. Not that long ago, just a few people had heard ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 15

One of the greatest dangers to drivers of motor vehicles is distracted driving. And some recent research suggests adults are more prone to texting than younger drivers. The automobile industry -- globally -- must confront this ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 8

If you were at the New York auto show last week or just read about what went on, you quickly realized that consumers and dealers have more product choices than ever. And the offerings these days run the gamut. Just recently I saw a ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 1

Just because you're a single-point dealer in the middle of the United States with a franchise from one of the Detroit 3 doesn't mean you should not worry about Europe. Europe is in tough economic condition. The automobile sector is ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | March 25

Events in the past couple of weeks featured settings around the world where you could enjoy the automobile business. As always, the Geneva auto show was interesting. Although the economy has just about everybody's profit-and-loss ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | March 18

There will be an increasing debate about the new definition of brand and who owns a brand. Twenty years ago, there was no doubt that the make of a car was the brand, with exceptions for certain nameplates such as the Corvette and ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | March 11

This week the automotive world converges on Geneva for a couple of days to reveal new models for European consumers and in some cases the world. Executives also will talk about their businesses. During press days, all the ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | March 4

For some reason that only oil tycoons understand, gasoline prices are heading for the roof , and many people are predicting $5-a-gallon gasoline by summer. Great timing for the Detroit 3, which are all launching or about to launch ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 25

During the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month, you could hear the buzzing in Cobo Center. Everyone was excited about the new products and the prospects for North America this year. During the National ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 18

It doesn't seem that long ago that my friend David Halberstam and I were interviewing a young reporter from the Detroit Free Press. David was in Detroit working on The Reckoning, an automotive book that turned out to be ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11