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Federal investigators had just bought a 2007 Lexus ES 350 and were running it through a battery of tests at the government’s Vehicle Research and Test Center in East Liberty, Ohio, when they noticed something funny with the electronic throttle…

Tags: 2007 Lexus Es, 2007 Lexus Es 350, East Liberty Ohio, Electronic Throttle, Federal Investigators, Funny, Lax, Lexus, Lexus ES, Lexus Es 350, Liberty, Ohio, Oversight, Test Center, Vehicle Research and Test Center

Mike Jackson saw it coming, the tsunami that would wash over the Detroit 3 thanks to their push production system — a system that would spawn multibillion-dollar losses even in big sales years.

Tags: Detroit, Dollar Losses, Mike Jackson, Multibillion Dollar, Push System, Tsunami

Toyota’s meltdown has led thousands of car buyers to cross the brand off their shopping lists and has sent the company’s vaunted image into free fall. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.

Tags: Car Buyers, Image Free, Meltdown, Shopping, Toyota, Toyota Motor, Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Sales, Trauma, United States

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has promised to launch a global quality task force to rein in the explosion of recalls that are hammering the company’s reputation and sales.

Tags: Akio Toyoda, Explosion, Global Quality, Launch, Quality Meetings, Quality Task Force, Recalls, Reputation, Toyota

When auto dealer Gary Grossinger calls himself “the craziest guy in Chicago,” he’s not talking about his low-priced deals. He’s talking about his Taj Mahal dealership.

Tags: Auto Dealer, Chicago, Gary Grossinger, Great Lengths, Grossinger, Taj Mahal, Taj Mahals

Soon after General Motors execs Ed Whitacre and Mark Reuss met with National Automobile Dealers Association officials to blame NADA for legislation that mandated arbitration for rejected GM dealers, GM drastically slashed its plans for next month’s…

Tags: Arbitration, Association Officials, Automobile Dealers Association, Ed Whitacre, Execs, General Motors, Gm, Gm Dealers, Legislation, Mark Reuss, Nada, National Automobile Dealers, National Automobile Dealers Association, Reuss

As hundreds of rejected dealerships prepare to file for arbitration, Chrysler Group appears poised to strike back.

Tags: Arbitration, Chrysler, Chrysler Group, Obstacles

What a difference a decade makes. Remember 2000, when General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group controlled nearly two-thirds of a whopping 17.

Tags: Chrysler, Chrysler Group, Decade, Detroit, Ford, Ford Motor, Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Two Thirds

Sales in 2009 were truly terrible, and, no, happy days are not here again. But sift through the data and talk to numbers crunchers and you’ll discover surprising pockets of optimism about the year ahead. U.S.

Tags: Ahead, Crunchers, Discover, Happy Days, Optimism, Pockets, Signs Of Life, United States

Tall, handsome and enterprising, California dealer Mike Kahn believed himself to be Nissan’s fair-haired boy.

Tags: California, California Dealer, Courtroom, Mike Kahn, Nissan, Wrath Of Kahn

Toshio Furutani, the straight-talking sales and marketing specialist who took over as Lexus’ global chief last June, is turning his attention to a growing set of problems in the United States.

Tags: Big Bucks, Lexus, Sales And Marketing, Sedans, United States

The Automotive News guide to top executives in the North American automotive industry. This is a PDF document download.

Tags: Automotive Industry, Automotive News, Industry Executives, Industry News, News Guide, Pdf Document, The Automotive News, Top Executives

In a new push to remodel dealerships, General Motors Co. is offering to help pay for the work — with a catch or two. Dealers must follow GM’s guidelines — which require them to separate GM and non-GM brands, among other things.

Tags: General Motors, General Motors Co., Gm, Gm Store, Remodel

In a poignant sign of the times, 85-year-old Chrysler-Jeep dealer Stanley Balzekas Jr. reads a letter last May notifying him that his franchises had been terminated.

Tags: Chrysler, Chrysler Jeep Dealer, Franchises, Jeep, Stanley, Stanley Balzekas Jr.

With federal mileage standards rising, automakers next week will show a fresh group of fuel-efficient vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Tags: American International Auto Show, Automakers, Cavalcade, Detroit, Fuel Efficient Vehicles, International Auto Show, Mileage, North American International Auto, North American International Auto Show

More than six months after Chrysler and General Motors began dumping dealerships, many surviving dealers anticipate a tough time keeping millions of those dealerships’ orphaned customers in the family.

Tags: Chrysler, Chrysler Motors, General Motors, Gm, Orphans, Six Months

It was supposed to be the decade of prosperity.

Tags: Decade, Prosperity, Riches To Rags

It may be the worst of times for new-vehicle sales, but in a nondescript office building on a busy highway in suburban Philadelphia, executives at Subaru of America have pulled off a miracle.

Tags: America, Miracle, New Vehicle Sales, Philadelphia, Recession, Subaru, Subaru Of America

Japanese automakers sold 319,342 vehicles under the U.S. cash-for-clunkers program this year, almost half of the roughly 677,000 vehicles purchased. About 115,000 of those Japanese vehicles were imported.

Tags: Clunker, Japan, Japanese Automakers, Japanese Vehicles, United States

For some executives, being posted below the equator at GM Holden Ltd., General Motors Co.’s obscure Australian subsidiary, might have been a kind of banishment.

Tags: Australian Subsidiary, Banishment, Equator, General Motors, General Motors Co., Gm, Gm Holden, GM Holden Ltd., Holden Ltd, Man At Work, Mark Reuss, Reuss

The stocky, brown-haired trucker arrived on Halloween to pick up a new 2010 LX 570 SUV from Lexus of Memphis. The hauler, who appeared to be in his 30s, spoke with a thick foreign accent and smoked heavily.

Tags: Foreign Accent, Halloween, Lexus, Lexus Of Memphis, Memphis, Thieves, Trucker

Michael Simon, newly installed as general manager of a stand-alone Saab store under new ownership, kept pushing sales right up until the death sentence was delivered. Simon bought more new Saabs from less-hopeful dealers.

Tags: Death Sentence, Michael Simon, Saab, Saab store, Saabs

Dealers, don’t get your hopes up too soon. House approval of legislation that would give broader arbitration rights to 2,150 dealers rejected by General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group is welcome news to those retailers.

Tags: Arbitration, Big Win, Chrysler, Chrysler Group, General Motors, General Motors Co., Legislation, Pitfalls, Welcome News

Toyota is spending a ton of money to nail down this year’s U.S. brand sales race, but No. 2 Ford has seized the momentum. So while Toyota is a sure thing in 2009, there’s no guarantee about which brand will be on top in 2010.

Tags: Brand Sales, Ford, Guarantee, Momentum, Money, Sure Thing, Toyota, United States

In its new home under product development chief Tom Stephens, the purchasing division of General Motors Co. has new marching orders: Cooperate.

Tags: Chief Tom, General Motors, General Motors Co., Gm, Purchasing, Tom Stephens