AN_060220_suppl_4&5.qxd 14.02.2006 13:50 Uhr Page 4 ◆ 4 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE FEBRUARY 20, 2006 ◆ 1996 – 2005: A decade dominated by mega 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Michelin IINN OOUTUT Suppliers North react with America caution to CEO online Carlos purchasing Ghosn portal (later named Covisint) formed joins by Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler. Renault as an Photo: AP executive Daimler-Benz Chairman Jürgen DaimlerChrysler is born. vice Schrempp ousts Mercedes Chairman BMW sells Rover president. Helmut Werner. BMW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder to Phoenix (middle) resigns. BMW product Venture development chief Wolfgang Reitzle Holdings for (right) resigns after he is passed over £10. VW purchasing chief Jose Ignacio for Pischetsrieder’s old job. Joachim Lopez resigns November 29. GM, Toyota Milberg is named BMW CEO. his former employer, takes him to picks court Valenciennes, claiming France, for its he stole second crucial assembly documents plant in Europe. and took The plant opens in 2001. VW outbids BMW for Rolls-Royce, them to but BMW gets Rolls-Royce name. VW. GM BMW head Bernd Pischetsrieder and VW (left) and VW group boss Ferdinand strike a Piëch (right) decide BMW will keep deal to Rolls and VW will keep Bentley. settle the dispute in Vickers puts VW’s Ferdinand Piëch hires Bernd 1997. Rolls-Royce Pischetsrieder, who becomes the VW and Bentley board member in charge of quality Ford beats GM up for sale. control and chairman of Seat. to acquire Land Rover from BMW; Pischetsrieder succeeds Piëch as Land Rover becomes part of PAG. Fiat launches group chairman in 2002. the Palio world car. Ford buys Volvo Car; combines it with Jaguar and Aston Martin into a Smart microcar brand launched by luxury division it calls Premier DaimlerChrysler, which also takes Automotive Group (PAG). full control of Smart, buying Ford names its Swatch-maker SMH Group’s partsmaking remaining 19%. Former BMW operations No. 2 Visteon; Wolfgang GM acquires 20% stake in Fiat. spins off the Reitzle unit in 2000. becomes head of PAG. PAG France’s Valeo buys US supplier ITT Automotive’s electrical business 2000 to anchor its North American growth drive. GM spins off Delphi. Magna International of Canada buys Ford introduces the Ka, the first assembler Steyr-Daimler-Puch of car to feature its new-edge design. PSA Graz, Austria. Steyr-Daimler-Puch’s name is changed to Magna Steyr 1999 PSA CEO Jacques Calvet (left) in 2001. announces he will retire. Jean-Martin Folz (right) will be his successor. Mercedes A class DAIMLER rolls over during CHRYSLER a test drive by a journalist in Sweden. DaimlerChrysler takes controlling Problem is 1998 stake in Mitsubishi and 10% stake solved by addition in Hyundai. of Bosch’s Electronic Stability Control. Similar anti-rollover technologies soon grow in popularity. Automotive News Europe Automakers adopt voluntary publishes its first issue on CO2 emission targets. February 5, 1996. 1997 Renault CEO Louis Schweitzer New-car diesel sales account for (left) watches Nissan CEO 33% of the market in 2000, up from Yoshikazu Hanawa sign a deal that 30% the previous year because of the gives Renault a controlling share of introduction of common-rail diesels. the Japanese carmaker. Renault Diesels account for half of all sends Carlos Ghosn to Tokyo to new-car sales by the end of 2005. 1996 rescue Nissan. Renault buys 51% stake in Dacia. Renault raises stake to 99% in 2003. 1999 2000 AN_060220_suppl_4&5.qxd 13.02.2006 17:48 Uhr Page 5 ◆ FEBRUARY 20, 2006 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE 5 ◆ mergers, powerful personalities and big surprises 2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 Chevrolet name is in, Daewoo name Bosch passes Delphi to become out in eastern Europe. No. 1 supplier in sales. Switch is made in Bosch passes Visteon to become western Europe No. 2 supplier in sales. in 2005. Shanghai Automotive backs out of deal with MG Rover, Jaguar X-Type (above) flops because causing British buyers think it looks too much like carmaker to the Ford Mondeo. 2003 collapse. Nanjing Wolfgang Bernhard (center) is named Automobile wins to succeed Mercedes Car Group CEO the right to buy Jürgen Hubbert but Bernhard is the powertrain dismissed before he officially starts division from the administrators because he loses a boardroom battle who oversee MG Rover’s with his boss, DaimlerChrysler bankruptcy proceedings. Chairman Jürgen Schrempp (left). Bernhard is hired by VW after company head Bernd Pischetsrieder offers him control of the VW, Skoda, Porsche Former BMW executive Carl-Peter 2002 Bentley and Bugatti brands. becomes Forster is named chairman of the VW GM’s German subsidiary Opel. group’s In 2006, he is promoted to the Suzuki says it will triple the size of largest top job at GM Europe. Mark Fields its Ezstergom, Hungary, plant to single replaces 270,000 by 2006 to build cars for shareholder. Wolfgang Reitzle itself and Fiat Auto including the as chairman of Fiat Sedici SUV (above). PAG. He is DaimlerChrysler announces Chrysler named executive CEO Dieter Zetsche vice president of will replace Jürgen 2001 Ford of Europe Schrempp as in 2004. In 2005, DaimlerChrysler he moves to MG Rover and Shanghai Automotive chairman on January Ford’s US Industry Corp. say they will form a 1, 2006. This causes headquarters in Dearborn as joint venture that gives the Chinese Mercedes Car Group executive vice president of automaker control and gives the CEO Eckhard Ford Motor and president of the British carmaker much needed cash. Cordes to resign. automaker’s Americas business unit. Audi won’t replace the all-aluminum SAIC buys the intellectual property Zetsche takes on Cordes’ job. A2 at the end of its life cycle in 2005. rights to the Rover 25 and Rover 75 It is a sign that automaker sedans plus several MG Rover enthusiasm for aluminum cars PSA engine families. Carlos Ghosn is is waning. named CEO of Renault. He remains CEO of Renault alliance PSA and Toyota announce plans to partner Nissan. open a joint-venture assembly plant in central Europe. Plant opens in Kolin, Czech Republic, in 2005. DAIMLER CHRYSLER Helmut Panke replaces Joachim Milberg as BMW CEO. DaimlerChrysler reduces stake London begins collecting a in Mitsubishi and sells stake congestion charge from cars in Hyundai. entering the city center. General Motors pays Fiat Ford plans to base Volvo and Mazda 2003 E1.55 billion to end their alliance. models on its C1 architecture that also is used for the Ford Focus (above). DaimlerChrysler introduces the Maybach (above) to compete with BMW’s Rolls-Royce. Maybach becomes part of the Mercedes Car Group, which also includes Mercedes-Benz and Smart. DAIMLER Toyota passes Ford for No. 2 in DaimlerChrysler PSA reveals it will build another CHRYSLER global sales. sells its remaining plant in central Europe after it stake in Mitsubishi. finishes its joint-venture plant with Toyota. PSA will choose Trnava, Slovakia. The plant is due to open in 2006. Sales of upper-medium sedans slump, Hyundai announces it will build a hurt by the growth of medium plant in central Europe; Czech minivans such as the Renault Scenic Republic is top candidate. and Opel Zafira (above). Hyundai subsidiary Kia announces it will build an assembly plant in 2005 Zilina, Slovakia. The plant is due to open in 2006. For a printer-friendly PDF version go to: 2001 2002 http://www.autonews.com/anetimeline 2004 Graphic: Tom Freiwah.