OUR CLIENTS AVERAGE A PVR LESS THAN 200 PER COPY! WOULD YOU LIKE THAT TO BE YOU? CALL AND FIND OUT HOW! 8 AUGUST 20, 2018 Cox goal: Form one cohesive brand Boss gives company B-minus on integrating acquisitions Hannah Lutz hlutz@crain.com Automotive News at VinWorx, a conference here centered on Cox’s VinSolutions customer rela- tionship management product. “It’s still a struggle for us because diff erent peo- ple at dealerships make diff erent decisions,” Schwartz said. “It will be an ongoing way of us fi g- uring out how do we work better?” KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If a dealership’s parking lot has 10 visitor spots, on some days, Cox Auto- motive takes six of them.
Bringing together companies with separate technology systems and offi ce cultures, Schwartz said, has been among the most signifi cant chal- lenges of his career. T at example may be an exaggeration, Presi- dent Sandy Schwartz said, but the company wants to take up fewer spots in the future as it combines services under one cohesive Cox Auto- motive umbrella. “I love the fact that we’re bigger; it allows us to do a lot of things,” he said.
At the same time, he added, “I hate the fact that we’re bigger because a lot of days it’s hard to turn the ship, and that’s my job to turn the ship.” T is month, amid news that Cox would launch a mobility division, the company also said it would combine its retail and media teams into a Retail Solutions Group. T e reorganization will shift operations internally but the outside world will see little change, Schwartz said. T e need to get products to market faster propelled the move.
“It’s easy for us to just go across the aisle to work on products, to work on solutions, but why don’t we just get rid of the aisle?” First, Cox had to tackle knitting together legacy technology platforms, which Schwartz admits is taking a while, instead of designing the platforms from scratch to create a more eff ortless workfl ow. Sandy Schwartz, president, Cox Automotive Dealers already “look at us as one,” Schwartz said. “It’s easy for us to just go across the aisle to work on products, to work on solutions, but why don’t we just get rid of the aisle?” T e company must prioritize helping dealerships with combined solutions, he said.
T at has been part of Cox’s strategy for fi ve years but became es- pecially important after the $4.5 billion acquisi- tion of Dealertrack three years ago, Schwartz told “It’s been tough because the seamless integra- tion is harder to get to than I thought it would be,” Schwartz said. “But we’ve made great strides.” T e core values of each Cox brand have always So far, Schwartz grades the company’s integra- tion of more than a dozen brands as a B-minus. see COX , Page 36 Ford expects nearly $500 million net outlay for Detroit tech campus OVER 2,000 CREATIVE CAMPAIGNS Incentive request totals $250 million for project AT YOUR FINGERTIPS! Top:
A rendering shows Ford’s 1.2-million-square-foot project, which will include offi ces as well as retail areas, restaurants and residential space. Below: The 104-year-old Michigan Central Station will be renovated and will be the centerpiece of the project, as outlined by Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Kirk Pinho kpinho@crain.com D STARTING AT 495 / MO . ETROIT — Ford Motor Co. expects to spend $740 million turning an aban- doned train depot and several neigh- boring properties here into an urban technology campus, but it’s seeking tax breaks and other incentives to cover at least a third of that cost, the automaker said last week.
CALL US TODAY FOR A PICK-N-CLICK DEMONSTRATION It’s the fi rst public disclosure of how much Ford will invest in the 1.2-million-square-foot project spread across fi ve buildings in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, including the run- down Michigan Central Station, which is to an- chor the campus dedicated to work on auton- omous and electric vehicle technology. Ford is asking for local, state and federal tax incentives totaling about $250 million over 34 years, a company representative said.
Ford said its investment in the campus, in- cluding buying the train station and developing 45 acres of vacant land, will not require money beyond what it had earmarked in 2016 to over- haul its product campus and headquarters in nearby Dearborn. T e estimated cost “takes in- to account the requirements of restoring a his- toric building such as the train station,” a 13-story landmark that closed in 1988, Ford said in a statement.
A Full Service Agency “Relentlessly pursue the clients goal but never rest in the glory” Richard Bardelli, program manager for Ford Land Development Co., the automaker’s real-estate arm, said during a community meet- ing last week that the project will involve an overhaul of the 104-year-old train depot and a former Detroit Public Schools book depository across the street. In addition, a dilapidated for- mer brass factory several blocks away will be demolished to make way for a 290,000-square- foot, four-story building.
– JZ Free Digital Analysis • Free Business/ Marketing Analysis Call Steve Gall Two parking decks are expected to be con- structed as part of the project, which is antici- pated to be complete within four years. moved about 200 employees into a renovated former hosiery factory next door in late 2017. Or Dan Kissell 1-888-878-ZADV Major construction work on the train station is expected to begin early next year, with a year be- ing spent stabilizing the building and another two years spent restoring it. Major work on the book depository is expected to begin early next year. ( 9 2 3 8 ) visit us:
Zautodigital.com T e depot is expected to be turned into about 313,000 square feet of offi ce space, about 42,000 square feet of residential space spread across 40 or so units, 43,000 square feet of commercial space and 60,000 square feet of event space. or: zadv.com T e former brass factory is to be leveled start- ing this year and replaced by a building with of- fi ces and labs as well as commercial space. Ford By the time Ford completes the project, it’s slat- ed to employ about 2,500 Ford workers and an- other 2,500 workers from partner companies. a