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Mitsubishi Fuso, the commercial truck maker partly owned by DaimlerChrysler, will - like Freightliner, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi Motors - now receive an infusion of German management. In addition, as with Chrysler vehicles in Europe, the current diesels will be replaced by Mercedes engines. Overall, Mitsubishi's engine capabilities seem to be under attack by Daimler, with the four cylinders to be replaced by a Hyundai basic design, the sixes slated for replacement by Chrysler designs, and now the commercial-vehicle diesels being supplanted by Mercedes engines. /speculation/ A trend does seem to be emerging, that is, the creation of a number of "centers of competency" throughout DaimlerChrysler, heavily favoring Mercedes-Benz. It was already announced that Chrysler would handle V6 engines, Hyundai appears to be in charge of fours (though they had much-needed help from Chrysler and Mitsubishi with the current model), and Mitsubishi is handling small car platforms and contributing their mid-sized car design to the next generation. While the two companies are working together on many projects, overall, it seems that the future may hold much more specialization. The risk of that is lower innovation, but the promise is cost savings - and Daimler has made its preference for cost savings above all else (outside of Mercedes, of course) clear. /end speculation/
(thanks, Doug Hetrick, for the news!)
Having shed much of its parts manufacturing into a separate company (a move also made by General Motors), Ford is now boasting that it will have saved $1 billion on parts by the middle of next year by buying them from China. By 2005 or so, that savings could reach $10 billion. China is a source of inexpensive parts for many companies, but has also been controversial, accused of using child and (effectively) slave labor and having little protection against pollution and toxic dumping. Ford spends about $50-60 billion per year on parts and components.
Dave Urwin pointed out that Neon-racing Scott Mohler of Team Phatridz locked up the points championship for the NDRA ProStock category.
According to Chrysler, 83 percent of first-time Neon buyers would get another. The second-generation Neon seems free of the issues which plagued 1995-1997 models (windows falling out of adjustment, exhaust gasket noises, head gasket failures).
Bill Cawthon wrote: "All of the Dodge Vipers scheduled for production in the 2003 model year has been sold. Dodge contacted current Viper owners and gave them the first chance to buy the redesigned version with its 500-hp engine and they bought every one. Anyone else who was hoping for a new Viper has to wait until 2004."
Sterling Marlin finished 21st in Sunday's rain-shortened New Hampshire 300 NASCAR Winston Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway and gave up the series points lead for the first time since February.
Marlin, driving a "Dodge Intrepid R/T," dropped to second in the standings, six points behind new leader Mark Martin. Martin finished 16th Sunday. Marlin had held the lead after the past 25 races.
Marlin's teammate, Jimmy Spencer, took top honors for Dodge drivers at New Hampshire. Spencer's No. 41 Target Dodge finished 15th.
Other Dodge Intrepid R/T finishers at New Hampshire were:
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Brendan Gaughan drove his No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Ram to victory
Friday
night in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Silverado 350 at Texas Motor
Speedway.
Gaughan became the first repeat NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winner at Texas Motor Speedway, winning back-to-back races at the track in the same year. The win was his second career win in 24 career starts. In his three starts at TMS, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader has finished second, first and first, respectively. Gaughan joins Kurt Busch and Kenny Irwin as the only NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers to post multiple wins in their rookie season.
The victory moved Gaughan to 11th in the series point standings with five races remaining and helped Dodge tighten the manufacturers standings. Chevrolet continues to lead with 115 points, followed by Dodge with 110 and Ford with 94.
Four Dodge Rams finished in the top 10 at Texas. Ted Musgrave's No. 1 Mopar Performance Parts Dodge Ram finished sixth and Musgrave moved up to third in the series standings, 63 points behind leader Mike Bliss. Robert Pressley finished seventh in his No. 18 Dickies/Square D Dodge Ram and remained fifth in the standings, 139 points behind.
Jason Leffler started eighth and finished eighth in the No. 2 Team ASE/Carquest Dodge Ram but dropped to seventh in the standings, 154 points behind the leader.
Other Ram finishers at Texas were:
Sue Unger, DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President, received Automation Alley’s 2002 “CIO of the Year” award for her ability to motivate employees and implement new technologies within DaimlerChrysler. Some years ago, Unger actually monitored Internet newsgroups (presumably including rec.autos.makers.chrysler), resulting in actual changes to Chrysler vehicles.
Unger was named Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for DaimlerChrysler AG in November 1998. She is responsible for directing systems and computer hardware strategy and planning, systems applications development, data center operations and telecommunications network operations for DaimlerChrysler worldwide.
Unger joined Chrysler in September 1972 as a finance analyst in Sales and Marketing and has held various positions in Finance and Product Development before moving to the Information Services Group in 1993.
Chrysler's IT department had been lauded for its efficiency before the acquisition, bringing the company to the forefront of automotive technology with a relatively small staff.
Due to slow sales, Chrysler is idling two plants for one week. The closing of the Newark, Delaware plant that produces Dodge Durangos is no surprise, since the Durango has taken a pounding from the Chevrolet TrailBlazer (which has a more efficient drivetrain and softer suspension). The Brampton, Ontario plant which makes the LH series (Intrepid, Concorde, 300M) is in some ways more of a surprise, since the 300M and its LH kin are critically acclaimed, albeit soon to be replaced by rear wheel drive V8 models, but sales of the large cars have been unaccountably low.
"Mr. Source" wrote that Dodge will have a number of new models over the next few years: "New Durango, new light commercial van, 4500 and 5500 heavy duty trucks, small SUV, sports coupe, new convertible, a large sedan." This list was confirmed by an article in Automotive News. Everything which follows is our speculation, based on reports by Dan Minick and others in the news forum.
We already knew the new Durango was coming, as well as a version of the LX large cars; the small SUV is expected to be a version of one of the new Mitsubishi small SUVs (probably Endeavour), while the light van is almost certainly the Mercedes Sprinter. The heavy duty trucks were rumored way back when the original Rams first came out, but were never produced; possibly these will be Ram-based, but they might also be rebadged Freightliners.
As far as the sports coupe and convertible, we'd expect the coupe at least to be the upcoming Neon replacement, and the convertible could be based on just about anything (another Mercedes CLK? a Lancer? a Galant?). Of course, this is all still at the rumor stage - we only know for certain about the Durango and Sprinter.
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