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November 19, 2002: Tires to be relabelled

As part of the Ford Explorer tire fall-out, where Ford told customers to underinflate tires, leading to tire separations, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration has ordered that tires be marked with an identification number and the date of manufacture on both sides, and that automakers put more clear, colorful labels onto their driver-side door pillars to tell owners what the recommended inflation pressures are. This will ease recalls and help owners to know what the automaker things the tire pressure should be.

November 19, 2002: Chrysler reorganizes zones

Chrysler is reorganizing its old 24-zone geographical office system with eight (so far) main business centers in the United States. Zone officials have, in Allpar's experiences, generally been lambasted for their poor customer service, tending to prefer to avoid customers. Chrysler says the move will improve communication, better align the zones with the corporate strategy and marketing efforts, and save money, albeit also dislocating current zone employees (who are being offered relocation).

At the moment, marketing and vehicle content are handled nationally, but this move would allow regions to have greater control over marketing and content.

The business centers will have their own finance, legal, marketing, parts, service, fleet, customer relations, training, and warranty staff. The zones had 24 managers with 78 dealer operations managers.

Regional business centers have been or are being set up in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, and Washington, DC. Current zone managers are being re-assigned to handle service and parts, field operations, marketing, or the dealer network.

November 19, 2002: DCX testing the waters with diesel Jeeps

Doug Hetrick noted that Truck Trend road-tested the Jeep Grand Cherokee with its Detroit Diesel 2.7 liter turbodiesel, and found much to like, saying the tradeoff between gas mileage, overall price (lower than the V8 model), and acceleration ended up in favor of the diesel. The review (click here to read it) also noted that a "top" German publication, 4 Wheel Fun, chose the Grand Cherokee diesel over the Mercedes ML270, which uses a Mercedes diesel.

If the Truck Trend review was supported by DCX, it could be a sign that Chrysler is getting more serious about finding out American reactions to current diesels, and may be getting ready to put one into the Liberty and next-generation Grand Cherokee (both sport diesels in Europe already). Diesel engines may also be a key to raising Durango sales, which have fallen since the TrailBlazer arrived with a more powerful, more economical straight-six engine.

November 18, 2002: Ford to cut dealer "satisfaction" payments

Ford will make substantial cuts to payments under its version of the Five Star customer satisfaction program, according to Detroit News. Ford brought out its dealer-service quality program amidts heavy fanfare, touting its independent judges (J.D. Power), but Ford set the bar low enough to allow most dealers to qualify without any changes. (Chrysler set the bar higher, but perhaps fatally damaged the program's credibility by allowing zone reps to certify dealers.)

November 15, 2002: GM readies new mid-sized cars

GM is preparing a new, smaller fleet of mid-sized cars, including a new version of the fast-selling Chevy Malibu. Details will be released soon. Chryser's own mid-sized Stratus and Sebring have been selling slowly and will soon be replaced by Galant-based models.

November 15, 2002: Lincoln comes home

Ford's Lincoln group has been brought back from California to Michigan after a brief stay.

November 15, 2002: Nuclear shipping accident

Russ noted that a Norwegian newspaper covered the collision of a United States nuclear submarine with a Norwegian gas tanker, damaging the latter's hull. No injuries have been reported, and thanks to the tanker's dual hull, no fuel leaked. The US did not acknowledge that its Oklahoma City attack sub was involved, though it did report a collision with an "unknown merchant vessel" at the same time as the tanker reported its accident.

November 15, 2002: DCX Services reshuffle

The following is a DCX press release.

DaimlerChrysler Services North America has announced the appointment of several key executives.

Paul Knauss is appointed vice president - Chrysler Financial, reporting to Juergen Walker, president and CEO, DaimlerChrysler Services North America. Knauss is now responsible for all of the activities in North America and Canada plus DaimlerChrysler Insurance Company. Knauss replaces Thomas McAlear who is retiring “in order to pursue other opportunities”. [their quotes]

Mark Manzo, formerly vice president - Chrysler brands marketing, will replace Knauss as vice president - customer service reporting to Walker. Manzo will be responsible for organizational strategy development and operations for collections, customer service, vehicle remarketing and credit card.

Dietmar Exler is appointed vice president - Chrysler brands marketing reporting to Knauss. Exler is responsible for the marketing activities of the Chrysler Financial brand. In his previous position, Exler served as senior manager - operations programme management.

Martin Geers is appointed to the newly created position of vice president - communications and corporate marketing reporting to Walker. He will oversee the entire operations in communications, public relations, event marketing and marketing communications. Geers previously was head of international communications and public relations for the Chrysler Group in Auburn Hills and has been with DaimlerChrysler since 1985. [This is quite a feat since DaimlerChrysler did not exist in 1985. Perhaps they meant he joined Chrysler in 1985.]

November 13, 2002: Mitsubishi on a roll

With its advertising finally getting people to try out new Mitsubishis - which in our opinion are ready for prime time (Ok, the SUVs feel underpowered, but the cars are nice) - the company is planning a second North American plant, and is about to roll out a bunch of new vehicles, some designed with Chrysler, some designed independently. Dan Minick summarized an article in just-auto.com, where the head of Mitsubishi North America, Pierre Gagnon, stated that: (comments in brackets are ours)

• the new Galant will be out in Fall 2003, three months ahead of schedule [this one was, we are told, designed entirely by Mitsubishi, and is not the shared-platform version to be sold as the Dodge Stratus replacement]
• The Lancer Sportback (Lancer Cedia Wagon) is to be brought to the US in 2003, helping to fill America's craving for SUV styling in convenient car form
• The hot-performing Lancer EVO will hit the US in 2003, [competing directly with the Dodge SRT-4]
• Mitsubishi has more than 20 projects currently with Chrysler, including engineering, development and purchasing.
• Mitsubishi USA dealers are begging for a pickup, and sharing production with Chrysler has been discussed. [A small MMC pickup sold as a Dodge, like the old Ram 50, would not be entirely unexpected - it would help Mitsubishi achieve the volume it would need to build a small pickup in the US, while filling a gaping hole in the Dodge line. If produced, it would most likely have an optional 3.7 V6, but that's pure speculation.]
• The Endeavor SUV will be shown in January.

Click here to visit our 2001 and older news stories [large file, be patient]

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