Wednesday, August 18, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C5 W inner o f President's Award 5 Tim es Running THE HYUNDAI ELEVENTH ftfG % HYUNDAI ACCOLADES WOlv WITH dJ% f l a n c i m , 1999 CLEAR-OUT "Thud. Could that Mercedes- The Accent remains at the "Tiburon. This is one car like sound be a Hyundai door top in comfort, safety and closing? It is." Robert English, reliability, as well as its The Financial Post affordability." Toronto Sun meant to be driven with enthusiasm over the twistiest of roads." Ted Laturnus, The Globe and Mail This Viper coupe is waiting to be shipped from the special production facility in Warren, Michigan. The plant is home to both Viper and Prowler. Emphasis on quality control at Michigan's Viper Plant By Vincent Robinet SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER If you've ever wondered what automotive heaven might look like, there's a pretty good incling in War ren, Michigan. Chrysler recently invited a group of Canadian journalists to visit the home of its lead ing-edge sports car the Dodge Viper, and since 1997, the pro duction facility for America's only factory produced street rod, the Plymouth Prowler. Both vehicles are used to test new materials and produc tion techniques that may some day find their way into Chrysler's mass-produced cars. Team Viper was formed in 1988 to produce a concept car that could accelerate from 0- 100 mph and back to 0 again in less than 15 seconds. Within a year a one-of-a-kind Viper RT/10 show car was displayed at the North American auto show in Detroit on January 4, 1989. Public reaction to the concept car was overwhelm ing. Team Viper then prepared plans for a production car within three years. From the beginning, the Viper team was unlike any other group within Chrysler. Team Viper set off in its own direction to break away from the usual production methods, and form its own supplier base. The home of the Viper and Prowler is found on Conner Road in Detroit. With only 200 hourly work ers, 20 skilled trades people, 30 salaried managers, and 10 resident engineers it must sure ly qualify as the smallest auto mobile production plant in North America. The hourly workers are members of the United Autoworkers union, but they have the special designation of "Craftsperson". This places their hourly wage slightly above other Chrysler produc tion workers, but because there is no overtime at the plant, they make less money annual ly. The plant only operates during the day, Monday to Fri day, so employees have their evenings and weekends off to spend with their families. •Many employees also take advantage of this time to take night school courses. Because the plant is small, it has no robots, and the tradi tional moving assembly line is replaced by workstations. The cars spend 20 minutes per sta tion on the Prowler line, or 30 minutes per station on the Viper line while the teams per form a number of operations, and then review their work with a computerized checklist. When the work is completed at a given station, a button is pressed, and a green light above the station is lit. When all of the stations are showing a green light, the cars advance to the next stations. The emphasis here is on quality-control. Each Viper chassis is tested on a dynamometer and run through the gears. For every 10 cars driven off the line one is taken for a thorough going over to make sure that the fit and fin ish as well as other standards of production remain high. Plant manager John Hinkley -- himself a Ferrari owner -- invited a friend from the Fer rari plant to take a tour of the Viper production line. What impressed the Ferrari man most was a computerized device used to align all four wheels with the suspension in compression, bounce and jounce states. It's the only device that can align wheels in all of those modes. Viper owners are told that unless they hit a curb they shouldn't let anyone touch their alignment, because no alignment shop can be as accu rate. With a production capacity of 13 Vipers and 20 Prowlers a day, the plant has a capacity to produce 3,120 Vipers, and 4,800 Prowlers a year, but actual production numbers are lower. They expect to build 1,200 Vipers this year, 100 of those will be sent to Europe, and between 130 to 150 will come to Canada. Eventually they hope to produce enough cars to satisfy the demands of every deal er. But for now only dealers that meet the requirements of Chrysler's Five Star program qualify as Viper and Prowler deal ers. Canadian content is present in both cars, but the Prowler seems to have the largest number of parts from this coun try. Its fuel tank is made by Solvay, springs and shocks come from Merritor, Siemens provides air induction parts, seats, facias, and bumpers are made by divisions of Magna Corp., and Duralcan supplies mate rial for aluminum brake rotors. The shipping facility is unlike any other in the North American auto industry. If you should choose to have your car delivered to a dealer, it's loaded onto an enclosed a tractor- trailer inside of the building and doesn't see the light of day until it arrives at the dealership. Daimler Chrysler views customer involvement as a large part o f the Viper experi ence. They're currently the only North Ameri can plant that allows buyers to pick up their new cars from the fac tory. Customers arrive in the morning, are given breakfast, and a tour of the production line, then they are taken to the shipping facilities at the back of the plant where they can load their car onto a trailer or drive it away. There are Viper owner clubs across the United States, three in Canada, one in Switzer land, one in Japan as well as nine in other countries. The demo graphics of ownerships are largely male-domi nated with 95 per cent men and only 5.0 per cent women. Earlier this year Daimler Chrysler spon sored the fifth Viper owners Invitational in Las Vegas. On April 22 800 Vipers showed up for the four-day event, and a quarter of the 5,000 rooms at the MGM Grand Hotel were booked. Opening festivi ties were hosted by Jay Leno. Owners had a chance to have fun, bond with engineers and executives and express their opinions on what changes should be made to future Vipers. One thing they heard over and over was 'Don't turned it into a Corvette'. In other words keep it a muscle car pure and simple, don't add a digital dash board, and other frills that take away from the original concept. One thing I kept hearing from people working at the plant that day was "I have the best job in the car business". When you consider that they are responsible for building a V10 sports car with 450 horse power and America's only pro duction street rod, it's easy to understand their enthusiasm. 1999 ACCENT L 3-DOOR M S R P F R O M $ 1 1 ,5 9 5 HIDOWN PAYMENT SECURITY DEPOSIT.FREIGHT & P.D.S., INCL. 1999 ELANTRA SEDAN HDDOWN PAYMENT SECURITY DEPOSIT.FREIGHT & P.D.S., INCL. 1999 TIBURON COUPE D i m M S R P F R O M $ 1 7 ,8 9 5 $1,500 DOWN PAYMENT FREIGHT & P.D.S. INCL. (SECURITY DEPOStT EXTRA) THE ALL-NEW 1999 SONATA H i m M S R P F R O M $ 1 9 ,4 9 5 $1,950 DOWN PAYMENT (FREIGHT & P.D.S. extra SECURITY DEPOSIT EXTRA) ■ Leasing program available from Hyundai Financial Services. Limited time offer. Leasing program based on new 1999 Accent L 3 -d r M SR P from $ 1 1 ,5 6 5 ,1 9 9 9 Elantra GL Sedan M SRP from $ 1 4 ,5 9 5 ,1 9 9 9 Tiburon Base M SRP from $ 1 7 ,8 9 5 ,1 9 9 9 Sanata GL M SR P from $1 9 ,4 9 5 . $ 1 6 9 /$ 2 2 9 /$ 2 1 8 /$ 2 9 9 per month fora 48 month walkaway lease for all models. Total lease obligation of $ 8 ,1 2 2 /$ 1 0 ,9 9 2 /$ 1 0 ,4 6 4 /$ 1 0 ,9 9 2 O.A.C. Down payment of $0 /$0 /$1 ,500/$1 .950 plus first monthly payment required. Security deposit ($ 0 for Accent/Elantra, $ 2 1 8 for Tiburon, $ 2 2 9 for Sanata), freight and PDS for Accent/Elantra/Tiburon included, freight and PDS lor Sonata extra. Taxes and license and $350 administration fee extra. 20,000 km mileage allowance per year applies. Additional km charge of $0.10. J1/.8% financing available on 1999 Accent 4-dr., Elantra, Tiburon and Sonata models OA.C. for 2 4 ,3 6 o f 48 month terms. " All MSRP prices exclude freight, license, POS and taxes. Financing example: $10,000 at 1.8% per annum equals $216.08 per month for 48 months. C.O.B. is $371.84 for a total obligation of $10,371.84. Offer ends August 3 1 ,1 9 9 9 . See Oakville Hyundai for details. H Y U N D A I O F O A K V I L L E T O R O N T O H Y U N D A I 1071 S P F .F .R S R O A D (J u s t W is t o f 4 th L in e ) 240,1 D I F F E R IN ' S T R F F T 905-845-7791 416-787-9789 F O R D F A C T O R Y A U T H O R I Z E D S E L L - O F F 0/ 48 I /O MONTH PURCHASE F IN A N C IN G ON NEW IN -S T O C K U EH IC LES. NOUI EXTENDED ON ALL IN-STOCK NEW '99 F-150 PLUS. FINANCE VOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE. INCLUDING TAKES AND PAY HO INTEREST ON ALL THESE UEHICLES AS WELL. '99 TAURUS OR SABLE ■99 CONTOUR OR MYSTIQUE '99 EXPLORER '99 WINDSTAR '99 ESCORT OR ZX2 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 1999 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are the on ly cars in their class to earn five stars - the h ighest possible U.S. Government crash test rating - for both the driver and front passenger.' ^ 7 The 1999 W in d s ta r is the o n ly m in iv a n to g e t a F ive S t a r Sa fe ty R a tin g , f iv e y e a rs in a row .' REmEMBER THE SUM M ER SELL-OFF CAN ONLY LAST AS LONG AS THE SELECTION DOES. SO HURRY IN. O N T A R I O F O R DV isit our website at: www.ford.ca/offers/ L I N C O L NMercury qpFORD TRUCKS D E A L E R S WISE BUYERS READ THE LEGAL COPY: *0% purchase financing on in-stock new 1999 Ford Escort/ZX2/Contour/Taurus/Windstar/Explorer/F-150 under 8500 lbs GVW & Mercury Mystique/Sable for a maximum of 48 months on approved credit to qualified customers. E g. S25.000 financed at 0% annual percentage rate for 48 months, monthly payment $520.83, cost o f borrowing SO and total to be repaid is $25,000 with $0 down payment This is a sample calculation only. Down payment or equivalent trade may be required. Financing offer does not apply to licence and insurance fees. Dealer may sell for less. Offer may change without notice Limited time offer Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Some conditions may apply to the Graduate Cash Back Program See dealer for details. ' The highest frontal impact rating for both the driver and front passenger in U.S Government National Highway Traffic Safety Administration testing for vehicles within 227 kg (500 lbs) ' The highest frontal impact rating for both the driver and front passenger in U.S Government National Highway Traffic Safety Administration testing for vehicles within 227 kg (500 lbs) and with a base MSRP under $30,000 Ontario FMDA, P.O. Box 2000, Oakville, Ontario L6J 5E4 http://www.ford.ca/offers/ Winner of President's Award 5 Times Running ELEVENTH WOlv WITH dJ% By Vincent Robinet HI DOWN PAYMENT SECURITY DEPOSIT. 1999 ELANTRA SEDAN HD DOWN PAYMENT SECURITY DEPOSIT. 1999 TIBURON COUPE THE ALL-NEW 1999 SONATA HYUNDAI OF OAKVILLE TORONTO HYUNDAI 905-845-7791 416-787-9789 SELL-OFF 0/ 48 PLUS. FINANCE VOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE. INCLUDING TAKES AND PAY HO INTEREST ON ALL THESE UEHICLES AS WELL. REmEMBER THE SUMMER SELL-OFF CAN ONLY LAST AS LONG AS THE SELECTION DOES. SO HURRY IN. ONTARIO FORD DEALERS