Auto dealer Rick Warner has had a lot of practice opening dealerships in recent years, and when he cut the ribbon for the new Rick Warner "Super Ford Store" Tuesday morning - the final link in Warner's ambitious Auto Plaza that spans a two-block area at 700 South and West Temple - he had a couple of surprises for well-wishers on hand for the formal grand opening.
The first was the appearance of Donald E. Petersen, the former chairman and chief executive of Ford Motor Co., who retired last month from Ford's top spot. The second was Warner's announcement from the podium that a sales agreement has been negotiated, in which his son and general manager of the Ford store has taken over the franchise and is now the president and dealer for Rick Warner Ford, which will retain the senior Warner's name.Bart Warner took the stand and told those gathered in the new showroom that a friend had told him, "Only in America can someone as young as I am accumulate so much debt." The line brought a laugh, but Warner added that his 300 employees "give me a lot of confidence we can pay the debt back."
Bart said he has had some preview looks at the products Ford will be bringing out in the 1990s and said he knew he "had to have a dealership that would do them justice." He said Ford had so much faith in the new and expanded Rick Warner facility - moved from the old site on 600 South - that the company provided the permanent financing for the five-acre complex.
"Naturally, I'm pleased when Ford dealers do so well that they find themselves needing larger facilities to better serve their customers," said Petersen, but he told the crowd that he came to Salt Lake City not simply to celebrate the success of another Ford dealer, but to honor a good friend, Rick Warner, with whom he has worked for decades on Ford committees and advisory councils.
"The length and breadth of his involvement and his commitment to the factory/dealer relationship is something that has always impressed me," he said of Warner.
At his retirement last month, the normally low-key Petersen surprised reporters with some harsh words for Japan and its automakers, saying he is "uncomfortable" with Japan's growing industrial might in the United States. He said he is more comfortable with the presence of European companies in this country over Asian ones - a surprising statement considering Ford's close ties with Japan's Mazda and Nissan.
Petersen had told reporters the Japanese practice "adversarial trade" around the world in which their goal is not to share a market with competitors but eliminate them.
Petersen said Tuesday he hadn't meant to sound harsh but only to express his concern with "the intensity with which Japan approaches international trade" and the negative effect that intensity has had on the United States' trade deficit.
Last week, General Motors' chief economist George Eads made an even more shocking admission, saying publicly that Japanese automakers make better cars in the United States than their American counterparts - a direct contradiction to Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca's current campaign to convince buyers that American-made cars are superior.
Asked if he concurred with Eads' assessment, Petersen said he couldn't agree with it as a blanket statement covering the Japanese auto industry overall, but indicated it might be true regarding specific companies. "I think Toyota is the finest company as measured by results. I used them as a rabbit to chase," he said of his years at the helm of Ford.