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| » May 03, 2007 |
Toyota Canada breaks ground for dealership as part of innovative
community
Toyota Canada Inc. and Rowntree Enterprises broke
ground yesterday for Lexus on the Park and Toyota on the
Park
in Toronto, the first step in a multi-phase project that
will combine the two automobile dealerships with shops,
services and an adult lifestyle retirement residence. The
project is located on the site of the former Inn on the
Park Hotel in Don Mills, Toronto's first planned community.
The development will renovate a number of existing structures
on the site to bring them to current building code and
environmental best practices, while new buildings and other
features will incorporate stylistic elements and materials
from the originals to pay tribute to the Inn on the Park
design, which was built in 1963. "Rowntree Enterprises
has been serving Toronto as a member of the Toyota family
since 1979, and when Toyota introduced its luxury brand
to Canada in 1990, we were one of the first Lexus dealers
in the country," says Bryan Rowntree, company president
and CEO. "I'm therefore proud that our company, with
Toyota Canada's support, is creating a new model for the
urban automotive dealership. Lexus on the Park and Toyota
on the Park establish a new benchmark for design, environmental
responsibility and integration into the existing community." The
dealerships are expected to open by the end of 2007, and
will feature the sharp lines, horizontal banding and cantilevered
designs of the original hotel, as well as incorporate fieldstone
from the original structure. Work will begin this year
on the exterior of a 24-story tower that will be remodelled
as a 126-suite retirement residence, and next year, work
will commence on a new complex attached to the residence,
featuring a health club, spa and flexible retail space
with coffee shops and clothing stores.
Snap-on Tools to build 1957 Chevrolet online
Snap-on Tools
has announced a new Web site that will follow the construction
of a customized 1957 Chevrolet
Nomad station wagon that will be unveiled at the Specialty
Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas
later this year. The actual construction will take place
in Ashville, North Carolina, under the direction of motorcycle
and street rod customizer Dr. Neon. The site, at AintStreetLegal.com,
will unfold in real time with Webcams capturing the daily
activity, along with video summaries and discussion groups,
who will be asked for their input on design and construction.
Visitors will also be invited to post stories of their
own projects and pictures of their cars, and will be
able to talk to the crew doing the car
Shelby Autos and Ford Racing to build street-legal "Super
Snakes"
Las Vegas, Nevada - Shelby Automobiles
has announced it will use newly-developed Ford Racing GT500
performance
packs to transform a limited number of 2007 and 2008
Ford Shelby GT500s into "Super Snake" coupes.
The coupes will feature enhancements to handling, styling
and power, and will include tuning options from 600 hp
to over 725 hp. Working together at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
and in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford Racing and Team Shelby
developed the aggressive suspension and engine package
specifically for the car. The Super Snake name dates
from 1967, when Shelby American built a single 427-powered
GT500 for Mel Burns Ford; Carroll Shelby drove it at
the Goodyear test track for tire promotion film production.
Other features on the Super Snake package will include
a six-speed manual transmission, performance exhaust
system, Baer six-piston brakes with front cooling ducts,
carbon composite hood and signature-embroidered interior
trim. While the full Super Snake package will be available
exclusively through Shelby Automobiles, many of the components
in the package will be available from Shelby Automobiles
and Ford Racing, starting in June.
New Arizona dealership actually looks like a car!
Luxurious
facilities also environmentally friendly. Car Dealer Insider
has always respected Arizona’s John
Lund for his willingness to think and operate outside of
the conventional strictures of auto retailing. So we were
naturally curious about his new dealership facilities.
According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the twin
Lund Cadillac Hummer Saab dealerships now under construction
could make customers think of luxury cars before they even
go inside. The store in north Scottsdale will resemble
a vehicle itself, and vertical red lights will call to
mind Cadillac's distinctive taillights. Entering the dealership
will feel like walking through an enormous grille.
John Lund, along with city officials and dealership employees,
broke ground April 27 on the long-planned, high-profile
project. "The plans he (Lund) has here will put this
in a league of its own," Cadillac General Manager
Jim Taylor said. "It will be by far the nicest facility
in the world."
Lund Cadillac is a big business as dealerships go. The
new operation will cover 16 acres, with an additional four
acres to be used for storing vehicles. The building will
total 100,000 square feet, including a showroom and 52
service bays. The business will employ more than 300 people.
The Lund Organization also broke ground on another dealership
in Glendale that will replace an existing store in Phoenix.
Both facilities will showcase some of the most environmentally
friendly features in the construction industry.
Among them:
• Rainwater stored underneath the 81,000-square-foot building
will be used for landscaping irrigation.
• High-efficiency glass will provide insulation, reducing
the need to run heaters.
• The building's lighting system will utilize daylight harvesting,
in which sensors detect daylight levels and adjust the
level of electric lighting. Lights also will shut off if
no one is occupying a room.
As John Lund says, "Luxury does not have to be small,
cramped, shoddy or tight. The future of luxury will be
environmentally conscious and still roomy and comfortable."
Dealership salesman arrested in identity theft scheme
It’s true. Crime doesn’t
pay. Salesman sits in slammer with nothing to show for his
part in scam.
There was just one problem with the bonus that a young
used-car salesman won for being productive. The salesman
sold two Chevy Silverado pickups to a customer using a
stolen identity – and, according to police investigating
the case, the salesman knew the identity was a fake, reports
the Marysville (CA) Appeal-Democrat. Oh, yeah. The salesman
also used a phony name himself. He is being held on $50,000
bail in the local jail. The customer was arrested and released
pending a hearing. Police estimated the dealership’s
loss at more than $87,000. The salesman, who was fired
from the dealership, was arrested at another local dealership
where he was able to find a job as a salesman. The conspiracy
came to light when an Oklahoma City man found out about
loans taken out his name. The California Highway Patrol
then classified the Silverados as stolen. The investigation
is not over and may uncover other fraudulent sales, she
said. To preserve its reputation, the dealership has paid
lenders who made loans for the trucks. Insurance will cover
only $25,000 of the company’s loss, said the dealer/principal.
The salesman’s only known gain from the conspiracy
was his commission and a $2,000 sales bonus from the dealership
for being runner-up in a sales contest.
Toyota, Subaru Swap Engineers
Toyota Motor Corp. and Fuji
Heavy Industries Ltd. have swapped more than 100 engineers
in order to explore possible
synergies between the two auto makers, a Subaru of America
Inc. official says. “Toyota sent about 100-150 over
to Subaru and vice versa,” David Sullivan, product
car line manager for SOA, tells Ward’s at a media
event here.
“
That exchange started a couple months after the agreement
was reached for Toyota to invest in 8.7% of our parent
(Fuji),” he says. “So there’s some intermingling
going on right now, and in a year or two I think you’ll
see that bear some fruit for both companies.” Toyota
purchased a stake in Fuji about 18 months ago, largely
to gain capacity for Camry production at Subaru of Indiana
Automotive Inc.’s plant in Lafayette, IN. But the
alliance also has opened doors for other opportunities,
such as technology swapping, Sullivan says. One scenario
sees Subaru adapting Toyota’s hybrid technology for
use in one of its vehicles, he says. “The development
(of hybrid-electric vehicles) is half the battle,” Sullivan
says. “And I think that’s what we’re
kind of hoping to get from the alliance; the expertise
behind making it a seamless powertrain alternative over
the long-term. It’s something our senior leadership
has said is one of the reasons we wanted the alliance.” Toyota
also could choose to tap into Subaru’s engineering
know-how, possibly borrowing some of the auto maker’s
signature all-wheel-drive technology.
“
I suspect (Toyota is) fascinated with our AWD technology,” says
Timothy Mahoney, senior vice president and chief marketing
officer at SOA.
1918 : GM buys Chevy
The General Motors Corporation (GM) acquired the Chevrolet
Motor Company of Delaware. The deal was effectively a merger
engineered by William Durant. The original founder of GM,
Durant had been forced out of the company by stockholders
who had disapproved of Durant's increasingly reckless expansionist
policies a few years earlier. Durant started Chevrolet
with Swiss racer Louis Chevrolet and managed to make the
company a successful competitor in the economy-car market
in a relatively short period of time. Still the owner of
a considerable portion of GM stock, Durant began to purchase
more stock in GM as his profits from Chevrolet allowed.
In a final move to regain control of the company he founded,
Durant offered GM stockholders five shares of Chevrolet
stock for every one share of GM stock. Though GM stock
prices were exorbitantly high, the market interest in Chevrolet
made the five-for-one trade irresistible to GM shareholders.
With the sale, Durant regained control of GM.
YOU MEAN SAMUEL ‘ C U M M I N S ’ ?
“ Cummins is the Mark Twain of the engine business. Their
demise has been predicted by everyone in the last 20
years.”
— Diesel Progress magazine publisher Mike Osega John Henke
on diesel engine maker Cummins Inc., which is investing
$25 million to spiff up a plant and hiring 600 workers
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