NAPPANEE -- McCormick Motors partners with Elkhart County Safe Kids Coalition; expands its commercial services.
02/04/2005
For over fifty years McCormick Motors has served the Nappanee community with quality products and the very best in customer service. A seven time winner of the Mark of Excellence Award the dealership has consistently been ranked as one of the top GM dealerships in Indiana. Over the past five years the dealership has undergone a transformation with upgrades to facilities and equipment to meet the changing requirements of the automotive industry. The latest upgrade was the remodeling of the showroom which was completed late last year.
Cobalt and Uplander are the new arrivals to the Chevy line.
The latest models in the Chevrolet line up arrived at McCormick Motors in January—Cobalt and Uplander. Cobalt, the replacement for the Chevrolet Cavalier, is a completely redesigned compact car packed with the latest in performance, safety, and styling. Uplander is a sport van that replaces the Venture combining the styling of an SUV with the versatility of a van. It is a completely new product that incorporates notable safety features, versatile seating, exceptional performance and thoughtful refinements. Coming later this year will be the redesigned Impala and Monte Carlo along with the introduction of the HHR, a variant of the SSR roadster. These model introductions are in line with the Chevrolet American Revolution to introduce a new vehicle every three months.
General Motors also announced a major initiative to make previously optional safety features standard on all GM cars and trucks. OnStar and the Stabiltrak control system will become standard features on GM products in 2007 and 2010 respectively. OnStar, which uses global positioning system and cell phone technology to pinpoint a vehicle location and monitor vehicle systems, responds to nearly 10,000 air bag deployments, 5,000 stolen vehicle tracking requests, and 450,000 door unlock requests annually. Stablitrak is a handling control system that helps prevent vehicle roll overs. The system is designed to constantly monitor the vehicle’s directional control. If the vehicle is not responding adequately to steering input, Stablitrak applies a quick, precise force to the appropriate brake to bring the vehicle back on track.
In addition to the focus on safety, Chevrolet announced their commitment to the Safe Kids Buckle up program. The kick off for the program is this month in conjunction with Child Passenger Safety Week. Because of their long term commitment to the safety seat program, McCormick Motors is one of two dealerships in Indiana, and one of 200 nationally, selected as an advanced Chevrolet relationship dealership. McCormick’s will host an inspection program from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 19th and again on Saturday, April 16th. The inspection program is open to the public.
Fleet and Commercial
Over the past year McCormick Motors has continued to expand the products and service offered to the commercial buyer. McCormick’s has established partnerships with a number of companies to provide the region with product offerings that were previously not available. The addition of two mobile service vehicles gives the dealership the capability to provide selected on site repairs or vehicle modifications over a wide geographic area.
Three new product offerings—Link air ride suspension systems, Detroit Steel Stabil-Ride suspension performance system and the recently introduced Real Power mobile power station were added to give local businesses and manufacturers flexibility in fulfilling their vehicle upfit needs. McCormick Motors was certified as an installer for the Link air ride suspension system on both GM and Ford trucks in April 2004. Since the introduction of the product at the dealership, some fifty systems have been installed. The Detroit Steel Stabil-Ride system is an exclusive suspension performance package used on the Kodiak C4500 and C5500 trucks. The system is designed primarily for those trucks used in the recreational vehicle market and significantly reduces vehicle roll. In 2004, the dealership installed over 800 systems on Kodiak C5500’s. The Real Power mobile power station is a vehicle mounted generator running off of the power take off of the transmission. The generator provides up to 12 kilowatts of continuous, clean AC power. The dealership has a Real Power system installed on a Chevrolet Silverado to provide back up power in the event of a local power outage. Several municipalities and local county agencies have expressed interest in the system for use in powering equipment at remote sites.
In addition to products already in the market, McCormick Motors is working with four manufacturers that are introducing new performance suspension systems or suspension upgrades. The dealership is working on prototype air ride suspension systems with Detroit Steel in Morristown, Indiana and Tuthill Transport Technologies in Brookstone, Indiana. These prototypes have been mounted on two of the dealership’s Kodiak C5500’s for evaluation. McCormick’s is also working on the development of a liquid spring suspension system developed by Liquid Spring LLC in West Lafayette, Indiana. Installation of the prototype liquid spring system will take place at the dealership in early March. The dealership is also working with Hadley Control System in Grandville, Michigan the manufacturer of an electronic control system for air ride suspension systems. Hadley is completing their first prototypes and McCormick Motors technicians will undergo a training program in late February to become certified to install the systems.
The dealership has also added a significant capability to the body shop operation with their certification as a DuPont Commercial Paint Refinisher. As one of the only commercial paint facilities in the region they have the capability to refinish and paint a range of products including medium duty trucks, commercial service vehicles, airplanes and boats.
In other news, McCormick Motors was recognized as one of the top five Medium Duty truck dealerships by General Motors in the most recent issue of Truck News Magazine and was also ranked as the top GM Commercial dealership in Indiana. GM also announced that it will be producing a new 14,050 GVW recreational vehicle which providing a nearly a one ton increase in load capacity. This vehicle will afford the recreational vehicle manufacturers more options to build on and comes off the assembly line in February with availability in significant numbers by early summer.
McCormick Motors is showcasing it’s commitment to the commercial truck market at it’s Eighth Annual Commercial Truck Show being held Thursday, March 17th and Friday, March 18th. Since it’s inception in 1998, the show has grown to more than twenty partners showcasing their products. Highlights of the show this year will be the prototyped air and liquid suspension systems and alternative fuel conversion systems from DRV Energy located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The display will include service trucks, utility body trucks, cargo trucks, and step vans. In addition to body applications, there will also be a range of truck accessory equipment such as snowplows, bin inserts and lift gates all designed to make the commercial truck a more efficient work platform. The latest features in the medium duty truck line will be introduced with features such as the new 4-wheel drive and crew cab options. Additional new product lines for 2005 are vocational Allison transmissions for work applications, accessory options from ABC Marketing and Indiana Auto & Accessories, a NAPA tool display, and Real Powertm, the world’s first fully integrated AC power generation system, from Contour Hardening, Inc. This cooperative effort allows owners and operators of commercial truck equipment the opportunity to see all the options available in the commercial market under one roof.
The doors for the Commercial Truck Show open at 7:00 am and close at 6:00 pm on Thursday, March 17th and on Friday, March 18th. McCormick Motors is located on US 6 West in Nappanee across from Amish Acres. For more information call McCormick Motors toll free at 877-773-3134 or visit their web site at www.mccormickmotors.com.