BMW
The First Decade – the 70s
With Ross Jensen’s strong interest in motor sport he gave the early support of Ross Jensen Motors to Rodger Anderson’s new model 1969 BMW 2002 Ti Alpina. Such was his outstanding success in the BMW 2002 Ti Alpina throughout the 1969/70 summer season that Rodger won first place in the 1001cc-
4200cc NZ Touring Car class and became the overall winner of the New Zealand National Touring Car series. Rodger was joined in 1970 national saloon races by fellow BMW 2002 racers Dr Dick (Doc) Langley and Paul Adams. Rodger Anderson – 1969 BMW 2002 Ti Alpina Paul Adams was well known for his rally driving skills as well as his circuit racing in his BMW 2002.With co-driver Don Fenwick, Paul won New Zealand’s premier rally event, the 1970 Silver Fern Rally driving his BMW 2002 Ti Alpina. Also entered in that rally was Jock Freemantle driving the very first BMW 2002 to be brought to New Zealand in late 1968.
Grant Clegg in the ex Paul Adams 1971 BMW 2002 Alpina Ti – Hampton Downs 2010
Ground-sky photo
PORSCHE
Porsche has always set milestones.
In 2008, we will set another.
Delugan Meissl Studio from Vienna is designing the new Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen. With its
bold design, this Austrian Studio prevailed against 170 competing architectural studios.
The museum will be a dynamically formed monolithic structure that appears to hover above the ground
and the ground floor level.
VOLKSWAGEN
Talk about a ”Volkswagen“ began in Germany in 1904.Engineers were already of the opinion that the future of the automobile industry lay in the mass production of inexpensive small cars. Pioneering developments in America, where a mass market for automobiles was gradually developing, were observed with astonishment. Nevertheless, the debate concerning a ”people‘s car“ provoked by the American model was accompanied by sceptical undertones because passenger cars were then seen wholly as highly taxed luxury items. In addition, the troublesome technical aspects of the current automobiles that required much maintenance
spoke against the popularization of the automobile The first ”people’s cars“ were produced on the other side
of the Atlantic starting in 1908, where mass purchasing power and the means of production made the motorization of American society possible. The Ford Motor Company, founded by Henry Ford, produced the Model-T on an assembly line, which was soon viewed by European manufacturers as the prototype of rationalized mass production. By the time the last one was built in 1927, 15,007,033 ”Tin Lizzys“ had left the Ford plant in Detroit. Through Henry Ford‘s inf luence, the idea of a Volkswagen became the leitmotif of automotive publications during the Weimar The Volkswagen: from Dream to Reality 1904 – 1945
Republic, inspiring the fantasy of designers. Late fame was gained by the 18-year old Hungarian technology student Béla Barény, who submitted a ”Fahrgestell-Entwurf für einen Volkswagen“ (chassis design for a Volkswagen) in 1925 and – along with August Horch, Ettore Bugatti, Ferdinand Porsche and Heinrich Nordhoff – came to be included in the ”Automotive Hall of Fame“. Although the motorcycle was the front-runner in the motorization of Germany during the 1920s, automobile manufacturers were making obvious advances. Because of high vehicle taxes and fuel prices, they pushed forward with the development
of small engined, economically feasible vehicles. The Volkswagen was the main attraction of the international
automobile show in Berlin in the early 1930s, not as a brand name, but as a classification. BMW, Mercedes,
Opel, Ford, Adler and Hanomag, all presented cheap-torun models suitable for mass production in 1934 that were marketed to the public as Volkswagens. The technical requirements were already available and the Volkswagen was on everybody‘s mind by the time the Nazi dictatorship came to power
BUGATTI
Ettore Bugatti born in 1881 in Italy designed Bugatti. His father was an artist as well as a famous sculptor. Due to his fine carpentry work, he earned reputation in Italy and other countries. Ettore Bugatti cleared his education in 1897 and joined an arts academy. There he participated in bicycle manufacture and repair processes. While in the academy, he gained valuable skills, which helped him, progress in the motor industry. At the age of 17, he designed a tricycle and fixed it with a motor. DeDion motors powered the tricycle. Prior to the century ending, Ettore Bugatti participated in motor race using the earliest Bugatti model. In 1901,
Ettore Bugatti improved the appearance of the automobile with help of the Gulinelli brothers. This occurred before they presented the automobile in an international automobile exhibition held in Milan. During the exhibition, the automobile scooped the T2 prize offered by the French Automobile Club. This popularized the automobile model all around the world.
By 1911, Ettore Bugatti had developed a couple of Bugatti models used in the racing sports.Many sports drivers preferred Bugatti automobile because it had high speed. It also consumed fuel sparingly thus was economical. In the period of 1914 1918, Ettore Bugatti developed airplane engines used in the First World War. The engines had concepts used by both French as well as Americans in the construction of airplanes. Using this blend, he came up with cost effective engines. His industry expanded and employed hundreds of workers. As time passed by, he developed new Bugatti models, which had new body as well as engine designs.
In 1927, Ettore Bugatti thought of a luxurious model after introduction of Royale luxury model in 1926. Royale model was very expensive and only the affluent afforded it. It had eight cylinder engine as well as 12.7 liter capacity. Its engine had a 300 horse power. Introduction of Royale in the market was wrongly timed because at that time, the world experienced the Great Depression. Many economies had collapsed therefore only very few people had ability of purchasing this automobile. Since a lot of capital was invested in development of Royale Bugatti model, the company faced heavy losses due to poor sales margin associated with Great Depression.
In 1932, the Bugatti Company stood again after being given a contract to build train engines by the French government. These engines were meant for high speed trains. Using the same technology, Ettore Bugatti developed new Bugatti models used as railcars. In the twentieth century, more models have cropped up due to an advance in automobile technology. There are several Bugatti models available today. They include racing cars and luxurious cars.
Many motorists, due to its economical fuel consumption prefer Bugatti. Today, Volkswagen AG owns the brand name. Following astute management displayed by this company, many models have been developed. These models have also performed exceptionally in international automobile exhibitions. Bugatti automobile has a long history in vehicle production. This has created a strong foundation for development. Proper management and hard work has also contributed in its success.
ROLLS-ROYCE
Rolls-Royce 200EX
200EX is the latest experimental car from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It explores a design direction for a dynamic, modern, four-door Rolls-Royce engineered for the 21st century.
PHILOSOPHY
Experimental models have always played a significant role in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, from the first – 1EX, built in 1919 – to the most recent – 101EX,built in 2006. Unlike a concept car, the experimental models developed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars have always been fully functioning vehicles, residing in a tangible world of wood, leather and metals rather than clay and foam. EX cars offer designers and engineers the opportunity for real-world innovation and have been used to showcase new components and engineering techniques as well as exterior and interior designs. “Modern automotive engineering is a balance of creativity,innovation and application. 200EX is an opportunity to assess these new ideas,”
explains Helmut Riedl, Director of Engineering.
100EX was the first experimental car unveiled after Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was relaunched under BMW Group ownership in 2003. Revealed at the Geneva motor show in 2004, the two-door, four-seat convertible was built to mark 100 years of Rolls-Royce motor car design and engineering. Just two years later, 101EX was presented, which explored modern coupé design. Both of these cars inspired production models that not only closely resemble their EX progenitors but have also redefined luxury motoring in the modern age. Following on from this success, the same group of designers and engineers has created 200EX, itself pointing the way to RR4, a new Rolls-Royce model scheduled for production in 2010. The brief for 200EX? To create a modern, lithe and dynamic Rolls-Royce that bears all the hallmarks of the great cars.
CHEVROLET
Chevrolet Camaro - one of the models of cars manufactured by Chevrolet. Chevrolet Camaro received any good reviews of car owners for their consumer qualities. On this page we present you the most successful hoto gallery of Chevrolet Camaro and wish you a pleasant viewing experience."GM Racing developed the new Chevy Indy V8 racing engine for 2002 based on GM Powertrain's Premium V engine platform and on the series’ current technical requirements," said Joe Negri, GM Racing IRL/Road Racing Group manager. "The Chevrolet IRL engine is significantly different from the Oldsmobile engine, with improved efficiency and higher output. This project is accelerating our development program as we make the transition to the new IRL engine rules that will take effect in 2003."
Chevrolet’s return to Indy-style racing is a key element in Chevy’s wide-ranging motorsports marketing program. The red Chevrolet Bowtie has long been a symbol of success in American motorsports. No other car or truck manufacturer can match the number of NASCAR, NHRA, road racing and off-road championships that Chevrolet has won.
AUDI
FORD
History of Ford Motor Company:
Ford Motor Company was established by a visionary and revolutionary entrepreneur named Henry Ford in 1903. The initial operation of Ford was in Dearborn,Michigan, USA. Henry Ford is popular for his practices that were unique in those days as he believed in revolutionary ideas and building revolutionary leadership.
He practiced worker friendly policies, innovative methods of large scale car manufacturing and management of huge workforces. He designed a unique mechanism of flexible assembly lines with interchangeable parts that ensured that same parts can be fitted in multiple models of the products. In 1911, the first production unit outside the USA was established in the UK by Henry Ford by converting a tram works at Trafford Park south of Manchester.
In the UK itself the famous Dagenham facility was established in 1920 that formed the base for launch of Ford Motor Company Limited (UK) in 1929. The Ford Motor Company Limited, UK served as the hub of the European Ford organization. This organization later developed into Ford Motor Company Europe in 1967.
The Dagenham facility of Ford Motor Company UK served as one of the most productive assembly plants in entire Europe. This plant was closed in 2001 amidst some local damaging factors that reduced the competitive advantages of Ford manufacturing in Britain against Germany and other parts of Europe given that Germany and parts of Europe offered much more peaceful and strike free industrialization proposition.
Miel van Blitterswijk & Rosen Karadzhov
18
The primary reasons for closure of Ford Dagenham Manufacturing was the insurgence of shop-floor militants that developed vandalizing power center disrupting production by launching Guerrilla war against Ford management that resulted in a financial loss of about 5.45 billion dollars in 2001. [Wright, Natisha and Frailing, Kyle et al. 2005; www.ford.co.uk]
In 1971 Ford consolidated the operations in entire North America by combining the operations of United States, Canadian and Mexican operations together. Ford has been known for their world famous “Model T” and the innovation of interchangeable parts in moving assembly lines that makes it possible to use same parts in multiple models while assembling cars thus resulting in low cost and high reliability manufacturing.
Ford has been aggressively globalizing by rapidly entering into new markets following the marketing strategy of studying the local requirements and demands of the customers thus focusing on localization of cars with customized features suitable for the choice and affordability of the local customers of a country.
Ford did not attempt to push the models popular in the markets prevailing at USA, UK and Europe. Ford owned the Lincoln, Volvo, Mercury, Mazda and Aston-Martin brands in the US and the world famous British motor brands Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK.
[http://www.duttondirect.com/history/view/make:ford; Owen, Geoffrey Sir. 2002]
The most controversial leader of Ford was Lord Alex Trotman who took over as Chairman and Chief Executive of Ford in 1993, an year after the company made a record loss of $7 billion. He could revive the company to reach $7 billion of profits five years later when the share price of Ford Motor Company on Wall Street rose from $11.45 to $32.25 per share. But he believed in absolute centralization in the globalization strategies of Ford’s business.
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Lord Trotman established the Ford 2000 initiative to centralize power from several regional groups – North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, etc. This centralized system did achieve cost cutting in many ways but narrowed down the focus of Ford to the US and European markets that already were in the process of stagnation.
Some of the Ford’s niche excellence like exchanging parts in multiple models kept them ticking. Ford 2000 initiative of Lord Trotman was blamed to result in poor executions in the global markets and an almost collapsed car business by year 2002 and the share prices slumping to less than $10 per share.
Lord Trotman had to finally step down and Jacques Nasser took over as Chairman in 1998 with a mission to revive the reducing revenues and repairing the damage caused by the gross failure of Ford 2000 initiative by Lord Trotman.
Jacques Nasser focused on new business models and carried out critical reviews of the manufacturing plants. He was forced to take many drastic steps and made changes to cut costs and reduce excess capacities like the controversial shutting down of the Dagenham plant that was evaluated to be taking 30% more time and resources in producing a car compared to any other European plants. This plant was retained later to develop engines for the global markets.
The axe didn’t fall only on the Dagenham plant given that two more unproductive plants were closed in Poland and Belarus. Jacques Nasser established primary strategies to achieve spreading costs across all models of Ford Motor Company (modularization), building of better supplier relationships and establishing new business partnerships. He didn’t get into repeating the same blunder of absolute centralization at the global platter.
[The Economist, 2005; Strategic Direction, 2003; Donelly, Tom and Morris, David. 2003]
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2.2 - Strategic Framework of Ford Motor Company:
Ford consolidated their global risk management practices in year 2000 under one single large framework in order to get an integrated view into their global threats and resulting risks such that mitigation strategies can be worked out.
They consolidated their global risks pertaining to market risks, hazard risks, operational risks, counterparty risks, etc. that enabled them to establish their global risk management strategies in a collaborative analytics and learning mode and arrive at strategies that enabled them to fulfill their vision of becoming a globally accepted brand. Freeman Wood, director of Global Risk Management in year 2000, selected “Risk Metrics” to serve as the Global Risk Management system. This system comprised of a global Data Warehouse populated with global risks and mitigation information that presents risk reports in graphical formats to execute trend analytics which in turn can predict future risks based on knowledge of past risks using probabilistic analysis. [Bedell, Denise, 2001]
The innovative concept of “world window of risks” and the corresponding mitigation process and applying the same to enhance global competencies enabled Ford to successfully launch their operations in various countries by carefully selecting franchisees and suppliers. However, experts feel that their supply chain strategies were not industry standard and comprised of huge pitfalls.
Veloso and Kumar (2002) presented a strategy paper about the automotive supply chain strategies of major motor manufacturers and commented that Ford’s strategy of mono-supplier strategy comprised of high risks.
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Ford chose single vendor strategy to supply large modules of parts and also chose to push the vendors to own the tools in manufacturing them. This resulted in suppliers getting concerned about their amortization schedule getting impacted due to fluctuating volumes and hence quoted higher prices. Also, Ford suffered loss of power over the supply chain by making suppliers like Lear & Magna more powerful and knowledgeable about the supply chain industry although Ford saw clear benefits in terms of cost and quality competitiveness.
It is emphasized that Ford chose such a strategy to realize their dream of “global car” that can be accepted in all the markets of this world. Way back in 1996, Rayport and Sviokla presented Ford’s vision of establishing “virtual value chain” in addition to “physical value chain” to realize their dream of the “global car”.
Ford developed their “Contour Sedan” in North America that later on was enhanced into the “global car” by assigning best professionals across the world and integrating them through video conferencing and collaborative CAD/CAM.
Veloso and Kumar argue that their concept of single supplier manufacturing large chunks of parts of particular models to be supplied globally is a part of this strategy. Not stating affirmatively, but failure of such aggressive strategies of Ford may have caused the downfall that they witnessed in the past decade and this decade.
JAGUAR
Following our successful Jaguar 75 Drive it Day on 5 September,
organised without any support from the local Jaguar organisations, it is interesting to read what Jaguar’s Head Office in the UK
did. They invited 75 owners of SS and Jaguar cars – one from each year since 1935 - on a 75th anniversary tour from Coventry to the
Goodwood Revival Festival, during which an overnight stop in London included a black tie dinner at the Mayfair Hotel to re-enact the moment when S.S. Cars presented the first true Jaguar model in exactly the same room. Tony Brown considered it fitting not to offer anything written by his hand this month, but instead present to you something written by a far greater authority on Jaguar and the history thereof, none other than Sir William Lyons himself.
This was the 1969 Lord Wakefield Gold Medal Paper, which was presented to the assembled audience of the Institute of the
Motor Industry in 1969. It contains much that you may not and
may never have known, such as the origin of the name Jaguar, the acquisition of various companies, the history of the move from
Blackpool to Coventry and the Government machinations throughout the years that in many ways led to the downfall of the British motor industry. Tony and I (Rudy S.) hope you will find it interesting reading. “I should start in 1922 when I joined with
a partner in Blackpool to make Swallow sidecars for motorcycles. We started with three men and a boy – the latter, incidentally,
is still with Jaguar in a senior position. We started with an overdraft of £1,000 provided by guarantees of £500 each by our respective
fathers. I am afraid it proved very inadequate but, by repeated appeals for help to the manager of the bank, which I visited every
Saturday morning for the wages, I managed to keep paying the mounting accounts. I will always appreciate the confidence of the bank manager in allowing the overdraft to exceed the guarantee by a considerable margin.It proved to be a successful business within
the limits of the potential markets, and it was these limitations which, in 1927, turned my thoughts to building a body on the Austin Seven chassis, which Sir Herbert Austin had brought out.
The conception of this car had a very strong appeal, except that the body was a very stark affair. I believed it would also appeal to a lot of people if it had a more luxurious and attractive body.
The First Decade – the 70s
With Ross Jensen’s strong interest in motor sport he gave the early support of Ross Jensen Motors to Rodger Anderson’s new model 1969 BMW 2002 Ti Alpina. Such was his outstanding success in the BMW 2002 Ti Alpina throughout the 1969/70 summer season that Rodger won first place in the 1001cc-
4200cc NZ Touring Car class and became the overall winner of the New Zealand National Touring Car series. Rodger was joined in 1970 national saloon races by fellow BMW 2002 racers Dr Dick (Doc) Langley and Paul Adams. Rodger Anderson – 1969 BMW 2002 Ti Alpina Paul Adams was well known for his rally driving skills as well as his circuit racing in his BMW 2002.With co-driver Don Fenwick, Paul won New Zealand’s premier rally event, the 1970 Silver Fern Rally driving his BMW 2002 Ti Alpina. Also entered in that rally was Jock Freemantle driving the very first BMW 2002 to be brought to New Zealand in late 1968.
Grant Clegg in the ex Paul Adams 1971 BMW 2002 Alpina Ti – Hampton Downs 2010
Ground-sky photo
PORSCHE
Porsche has always set milestones.
In 2008, we will set another.
Delugan Meissl Studio from Vienna is designing the new Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen. With its
bold design, this Austrian Studio prevailed against 170 competing architectural studios.
The museum will be a dynamically formed monolithic structure that appears to hover above the ground
and the ground floor level.
VOLKSWAGEN
Talk about a ”Volkswagen“ began in Germany in 1904.Engineers were already of the opinion that the future of the automobile industry lay in the mass production of inexpensive small cars. Pioneering developments in America, where a mass market for automobiles was gradually developing, were observed with astonishment. Nevertheless, the debate concerning a ”people‘s car“ provoked by the American model was accompanied by sceptical undertones because passenger cars were then seen wholly as highly taxed luxury items. In addition, the troublesome technical aspects of the current automobiles that required much maintenance
spoke against the popularization of the automobile The first ”people’s cars“ were produced on the other side
of the Atlantic starting in 1908, where mass purchasing power and the means of production made the motorization of American society possible. The Ford Motor Company, founded by Henry Ford, produced the Model-T on an assembly line, which was soon viewed by European manufacturers as the prototype of rationalized mass production. By the time the last one was built in 1927, 15,007,033 ”Tin Lizzys“ had left the Ford plant in Detroit. Through Henry Ford‘s inf luence, the idea of a Volkswagen became the leitmotif of automotive publications during the Weimar The Volkswagen: from Dream to Reality 1904 – 1945
Republic, inspiring the fantasy of designers. Late fame was gained by the 18-year old Hungarian technology student Béla Barény, who submitted a ”Fahrgestell-Entwurf für einen Volkswagen“ (chassis design for a Volkswagen) in 1925 and – along with August Horch, Ettore Bugatti, Ferdinand Porsche and Heinrich Nordhoff – came to be included in the ”Automotive Hall of Fame“. Although the motorcycle was the front-runner in the motorization of Germany during the 1920s, automobile manufacturers were making obvious advances. Because of high vehicle taxes and fuel prices, they pushed forward with the development
of small engined, economically feasible vehicles. The Volkswagen was the main attraction of the international
automobile show in Berlin in the early 1930s, not as a brand name, but as a classification. BMW, Mercedes,
Opel, Ford, Adler and Hanomag, all presented cheap-torun models suitable for mass production in 1934 that were marketed to the public as Volkswagens. The technical requirements were already available and the Volkswagen was on everybody‘s mind by the time the Nazi dictatorship came to power
BUGATTI
Ettore Bugatti born in 1881 in Italy designed Bugatti. His father was an artist as well as a famous sculptor. Due to his fine carpentry work, he earned reputation in Italy and other countries. Ettore Bugatti cleared his education in 1897 and joined an arts academy. There he participated in bicycle manufacture and repair processes. While in the academy, he gained valuable skills, which helped him, progress in the motor industry. At the age of 17, he designed a tricycle and fixed it with a motor. DeDion motors powered the tricycle. Prior to the century ending, Ettore Bugatti participated in motor race using the earliest Bugatti model. In 1901,
Ettore Bugatti improved the appearance of the automobile with help of the Gulinelli brothers. This occurred before they presented the automobile in an international automobile exhibition held in Milan. During the exhibition, the automobile scooped the T2 prize offered by the French Automobile Club. This popularized the automobile model all around the world.
By 1911, Ettore Bugatti had developed a couple of Bugatti models used in the racing sports.Many sports drivers preferred Bugatti automobile because it had high speed. It also consumed fuel sparingly thus was economical. In the period of 1914 1918, Ettore Bugatti developed airplane engines used in the First World War. The engines had concepts used by both French as well as Americans in the construction of airplanes. Using this blend, he came up with cost effective engines. His industry expanded and employed hundreds of workers. As time passed by, he developed new Bugatti models, which had new body as well as engine designs.
In 1927, Ettore Bugatti thought of a luxurious model after introduction of Royale luxury model in 1926. Royale model was very expensive and only the affluent afforded it. It had eight cylinder engine as well as 12.7 liter capacity. Its engine had a 300 horse power. Introduction of Royale in the market was wrongly timed because at that time, the world experienced the Great Depression. Many economies had collapsed therefore only very few people had ability of purchasing this automobile. Since a lot of capital was invested in development of Royale Bugatti model, the company faced heavy losses due to poor sales margin associated with Great Depression.
In 1932, the Bugatti Company stood again after being given a contract to build train engines by the French government. These engines were meant for high speed trains. Using the same technology, Ettore Bugatti developed new Bugatti models used as railcars. In the twentieth century, more models have cropped up due to an advance in automobile technology. There are several Bugatti models available today. They include racing cars and luxurious cars.
Many motorists, due to its economical fuel consumption prefer Bugatti. Today, Volkswagen AG owns the brand name. Following astute management displayed by this company, many models have been developed. These models have also performed exceptionally in international automobile exhibitions. Bugatti automobile has a long history in vehicle production. This has created a strong foundation for development. Proper management and hard work has also contributed in its success.
ROLLS-ROYCE
Rolls-Royce 200EX
200EX is the latest experimental car from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It explores a design direction for a dynamic, modern, four-door Rolls-Royce engineered for the 21st century.
PHILOSOPHY
Experimental models have always played a significant role in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, from the first – 1EX, built in 1919 – to the most recent – 101EX,built in 2006. Unlike a concept car, the experimental models developed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars have always been fully functioning vehicles, residing in a tangible world of wood, leather and metals rather than clay and foam. EX cars offer designers and engineers the opportunity for real-world innovation and have been used to showcase new components and engineering techniques as well as exterior and interior designs. “Modern automotive engineering is a balance of creativity,innovation and application. 200EX is an opportunity to assess these new ideas,”
explains Helmut Riedl, Director of Engineering.
100EX was the first experimental car unveiled after Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was relaunched under BMW Group ownership in 2003. Revealed at the Geneva motor show in 2004, the two-door, four-seat convertible was built to mark 100 years of Rolls-Royce motor car design and engineering. Just two years later, 101EX was presented, which explored modern coupé design. Both of these cars inspired production models that not only closely resemble their EX progenitors but have also redefined luxury motoring in the modern age. Following on from this success, the same group of designers and engineers has created 200EX, itself pointing the way to RR4, a new Rolls-Royce model scheduled for production in 2010. The brief for 200EX? To create a modern, lithe and dynamic Rolls-Royce that bears all the hallmarks of the great cars.
CHEVROLET
History has proven that former Chevrolet General Manager Jim Perkins was a prophet. On Sept. 14,1993, Perkins announced the conclusion of Chevrolet’s first Indy car engine program – a six-year undertaking that produced 86 victories,80 poles, six Indianapolis 500 trophies and five series championships. Addressing a group of journalists at the announcement, Perkins asked rhetorically, "Are we out of Indy car racing forever? No way." "The pendulum always swing back," Perkins promised. "And when it does, I can assure you that there will be a red Bowtie in the winner’s circle." Fast forward to June 5, 2001. The speaker is Chevrolet general manager Kurt Ritter: "Beginning next year, Chevrolet will return to open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500."
Chevrolet Camaro - one of the models of cars manufactured by Chevrolet. Chevrolet Camaro received any good reviews of car owners for their consumer qualities. On this page we present you the most successful hoto gallery of Chevrolet Camaro and wish you a pleasant viewing experience."GM Racing developed the new Chevy Indy V8 racing engine for 2002 based on GM Powertrain's Premium V engine platform and on the series’ current technical requirements," said Joe Negri, GM Racing IRL/Road Racing Group manager. "The Chevrolet IRL engine is significantly different from the Oldsmobile engine, with improved efficiency and higher output. This project is accelerating our development program as we make the transition to the new IRL engine rules that will take effect in 2003."
Chevrolet’s return to Indy-style racing is a key element in Chevy’s wide-ranging motorsports marketing program. The red Chevrolet Bowtie has long been a symbol of success in American motorsports. No other car or truck manufacturer can match the number of NASCAR, NHRA, road racing and off-road championships that Chevrolet has won.
AUDI
Audi AG traces its history to 1909 when August Horch left his
own company, A. Horch & Cie, to form a new firm called August Horch
Automobilwerke GmbH. By 1914, the plant, in Ingolstadt, Germany, was
manufacturing a range of models. In 1925, total production climbed to 1,116
vehicles. From 1912 through 1928, Audi was also involved in the production of
military vehicles for the German army.
In 1932, because of the depression, Audi merged with Horch,
Zschopauer Maschinenfabrik J. S. Rasmussen (DKW) and the car division of
Wanderer Werke to form the Auto Union AG, with Daimler-Benz holding the
majority of shares. Total production of the new company quickly rose to
approximately 62,100 cars and 63,500 motorcycles.
Another year of transition was 1969, when Volkswagenwerk AG
purchased Auto Union’s stock from Daimler-Benz and merged the firm with the
Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinenfabrik (NSU). This action brought together a
conglomeration of expertise in the manufacturing of bicycles, motorcycles,
typewriters, automobiles, aircraft, and submarine parts. The newly formed Audi
NSU Auto Union AG experienced an explosive rate of expansion throughout the
1970s.*
Throughout the history of the company, Audi cars were known for
their performance, durability, and quality. Awards won by Audi cars include the
U.S. Sports Car Club of America PRO Rally Manufacturers’ Championship and the
championships in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Entry in the United States
Auto Union GmbH had exported to the United States as early as
1940. From 1949 through 1960, Auto Union exported to the United States a total
of 5,801 vehicles. Exports climbed slowly, and by the end of 1970, the newly
formed Audi sold just under 7,770 cars through 138 dealers in the United
States. A wholly owned subsidiary, Audi of America Inc. was established on
September 1, 1985, and assumed from the American subsidiary of Volkswagen AG
the functions of sales, service, advertising. merchandising, and public
relations for Audi operations. By 1985, Audi of America’s sales reached 74,061,
capturing over 35 percent of Volkswagen of America’s total sales in the United
States. Vice President Peter Fischer of Audi of America estimated in 1985 that
Audi’s “5000 series will be the ‘backbone’ of Audi’s lineup and will represent
64 percent of Audi’s U.S. sales in 1986.”
Adverse Media Coverage
In March 1986, the Center for Auto Safety submitted a petition
to Audi of America, requesting the recall of all 1978 through 1986 Audi 5000
models because of repeated cases of dangerous malfunction. At the beginning of
November 1986, New York’s attorney general Robert Abrams publicly asked Audi of
America to stop selling Audi 5000 automobiles with automatic transmissions.
Both parties claimed that hundreds of accidents had been caused by the improper
acceleration of Audi 5000s. Then, on the evening of November 23, 1986, CBS broadcast a 60 Minutes episode with the Audi 5000
featured as one of its segments.
History of Ford Motor Company:
Ford Motor Company was established by a visionary and revolutionary entrepreneur named Henry Ford in 1903. The initial operation of Ford was in Dearborn,Michigan, USA. Henry Ford is popular for his practices that were unique in those days as he believed in revolutionary ideas and building revolutionary leadership.
He practiced worker friendly policies, innovative methods of large scale car manufacturing and management of huge workforces. He designed a unique mechanism of flexible assembly lines with interchangeable parts that ensured that same parts can be fitted in multiple models of the products. In 1911, the first production unit outside the USA was established in the UK by Henry Ford by converting a tram works at Trafford Park south of Manchester.
In the UK itself the famous Dagenham facility was established in 1920 that formed the base for launch of Ford Motor Company Limited (UK) in 1929. The Ford Motor Company Limited, UK served as the hub of the European Ford organization. This organization later developed into Ford Motor Company Europe in 1967.
The Dagenham facility of Ford Motor Company UK served as one of the most productive assembly plants in entire Europe. This plant was closed in 2001 amidst some local damaging factors that reduced the competitive advantages of Ford manufacturing in Britain against Germany and other parts of Europe given that Germany and parts of Europe offered much more peaceful and strike free industrialization proposition.
Miel van Blitterswijk & Rosen Karadzhov
18
The primary reasons for closure of Ford Dagenham Manufacturing was the insurgence of shop-floor militants that developed vandalizing power center disrupting production by launching Guerrilla war against Ford management that resulted in a financial loss of about 5.45 billion dollars in 2001. [Wright, Natisha and Frailing, Kyle et al. 2005; www.ford.co.uk]
In 1971 Ford consolidated the operations in entire North America by combining the operations of United States, Canadian and Mexican operations together. Ford has been known for their world famous “Model T” and the innovation of interchangeable parts in moving assembly lines that makes it possible to use same parts in multiple models while assembling cars thus resulting in low cost and high reliability manufacturing.
Ford has been aggressively globalizing by rapidly entering into new markets following the marketing strategy of studying the local requirements and demands of the customers thus focusing on localization of cars with customized features suitable for the choice and affordability of the local customers of a country.
Ford did not attempt to push the models popular in the markets prevailing at USA, UK and Europe. Ford owned the Lincoln, Volvo, Mercury, Mazda and Aston-Martin brands in the US and the world famous British motor brands Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK.
[http://www.duttondirect.com/history/view/make:ford; Owen, Geoffrey Sir. 2002]
The most controversial leader of Ford was Lord Alex Trotman who took over as Chairman and Chief Executive of Ford in 1993, an year after the company made a record loss of $7 billion. He could revive the company to reach $7 billion of profits five years later when the share price of Ford Motor Company on Wall Street rose from $11.45 to $32.25 per share. But he believed in absolute centralization in the globalization strategies of Ford’s business.
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Lord Trotman established the Ford 2000 initiative to centralize power from several regional groups – North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, etc. This centralized system did achieve cost cutting in many ways but narrowed down the focus of Ford to the US and European markets that already were in the process of stagnation.
Some of the Ford’s niche excellence like exchanging parts in multiple models kept them ticking. Ford 2000 initiative of Lord Trotman was blamed to result in poor executions in the global markets and an almost collapsed car business by year 2002 and the share prices slumping to less than $10 per share.
Lord Trotman had to finally step down and Jacques Nasser took over as Chairman in 1998 with a mission to revive the reducing revenues and repairing the damage caused by the gross failure of Ford 2000 initiative by Lord Trotman.
Jacques Nasser focused on new business models and carried out critical reviews of the manufacturing plants. He was forced to take many drastic steps and made changes to cut costs and reduce excess capacities like the controversial shutting down of the Dagenham plant that was evaluated to be taking 30% more time and resources in producing a car compared to any other European plants. This plant was retained later to develop engines for the global markets.
The axe didn’t fall only on the Dagenham plant given that two more unproductive plants were closed in Poland and Belarus. Jacques Nasser established primary strategies to achieve spreading costs across all models of Ford Motor Company (modularization), building of better supplier relationships and establishing new business partnerships. He didn’t get into repeating the same blunder of absolute centralization at the global platter.
[The Economist, 2005; Strategic Direction, 2003; Donelly, Tom and Morris, David. 2003]
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2.2 - Strategic Framework of Ford Motor Company:
Ford consolidated their global risk management practices in year 2000 under one single large framework in order to get an integrated view into their global threats and resulting risks such that mitigation strategies can be worked out.
They consolidated their global risks pertaining to market risks, hazard risks, operational risks, counterparty risks, etc. that enabled them to establish their global risk management strategies in a collaborative analytics and learning mode and arrive at strategies that enabled them to fulfill their vision of becoming a globally accepted brand. Freeman Wood, director of Global Risk Management in year 2000, selected “Risk Metrics” to serve as the Global Risk Management system. This system comprised of a global Data Warehouse populated with global risks and mitigation information that presents risk reports in graphical formats to execute trend analytics which in turn can predict future risks based on knowledge of past risks using probabilistic analysis. [Bedell, Denise, 2001]
The innovative concept of “world window of risks” and the corresponding mitigation process and applying the same to enhance global competencies enabled Ford to successfully launch their operations in various countries by carefully selecting franchisees and suppliers. However, experts feel that their supply chain strategies were not industry standard and comprised of huge pitfalls.
Veloso and Kumar (2002) presented a strategy paper about the automotive supply chain strategies of major motor manufacturers and commented that Ford’s strategy of mono-supplier strategy comprised of high risks.
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Ford chose single vendor strategy to supply large modules of parts and also chose to push the vendors to own the tools in manufacturing them. This resulted in suppliers getting concerned about their amortization schedule getting impacted due to fluctuating volumes and hence quoted higher prices. Also, Ford suffered loss of power over the supply chain by making suppliers like Lear & Magna more powerful and knowledgeable about the supply chain industry although Ford saw clear benefits in terms of cost and quality competitiveness.
It is emphasized that Ford chose such a strategy to realize their dream of “global car” that can be accepted in all the markets of this world. Way back in 1996, Rayport and Sviokla presented Ford’s vision of establishing “virtual value chain” in addition to “physical value chain” to realize their dream of the “global car”.
Ford developed their “Contour Sedan” in North America that later on was enhanced into the “global car” by assigning best professionals across the world and integrating them through video conferencing and collaborative CAD/CAM.
Veloso and Kumar argue that their concept of single supplier manufacturing large chunks of parts of particular models to be supplied globally is a part of this strategy. Not stating affirmatively, but failure of such aggressive strategies of Ford may have caused the downfall that they witnessed in the past decade and this decade.
JAGUAR
Following our successful Jaguar 75 Drive it Day on 5 September,
organised without any support from the local Jaguar organisations, it is interesting to read what Jaguar’s Head Office in the UK
did. They invited 75 owners of SS and Jaguar cars – one from each year since 1935 - on a 75th anniversary tour from Coventry to the
Goodwood Revival Festival, during which an overnight stop in London included a black tie dinner at the Mayfair Hotel to re-enact the moment when S.S. Cars presented the first true Jaguar model in exactly the same room. Tony Brown considered it fitting not to offer anything written by his hand this month, but instead present to you something written by a far greater authority on Jaguar and the history thereof, none other than Sir William Lyons himself.
This was the 1969 Lord Wakefield Gold Medal Paper, which was presented to the assembled audience of the Institute of the
Motor Industry in 1969. It contains much that you may not and
may never have known, such as the origin of the name Jaguar, the acquisition of various companies, the history of the move from
Blackpool to Coventry and the Government machinations throughout the years that in many ways led to the downfall of the British motor industry. Tony and I (Rudy S.) hope you will find it interesting reading. “I should start in 1922 when I joined with
a partner in Blackpool to make Swallow sidecars for motorcycles. We started with three men and a boy – the latter, incidentally,
is still with Jaguar in a senior position. We started with an overdraft of £1,000 provided by guarantees of £500 each by our respective
fathers. I am afraid it proved very inadequate but, by repeated appeals for help to the manager of the bank, which I visited every
Saturday morning for the wages, I managed to keep paying the mounting accounts. I will always appreciate the confidence of the bank manager in allowing the overdraft to exceed the guarantee by a considerable margin.It proved to be a successful business within
the limits of the potential markets, and it was these limitations which, in 1927, turned my thoughts to building a body on the Austin Seven chassis, which Sir Herbert Austin had brought out.
The conception of this car had a very strong appeal, except that the body was a very stark affair. I believed it would also appeal to a lot of people if it had a more luxurious and attractive body.
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