Google has appointed Bonita Stewart as director of the automotive vertical at Google. Stewart is responsible for leading a national team that develops and manages Google’s relationships with automotive marketers.

Stewart joins Google from DaimlerChrysler where she was director of Chrysler Group Interactive Communications.

“I’m excited to bring my interactive experience with a major auto brand to Google,” said Bonita Stewart in a statement.

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Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world’s most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.

Podcastday 2006, the first international podcast conference in Germany, takes place in Cologne on 24 May. One of the lead organizers is Nicole Simon so expect some pre-event podcasts.

Wearing my For Immediate Release hat, I’ll be part of a panel addressing the topic of “corporate communication: new ways with podcasts and blogs.” My fellow panelists are Sven Drrenbcher from DaimlerChrysler, Philippe Borremans from IBM, and J. Regenthal-Patzak from Audioetage. The moderator is Prof. Thomas Pleil from FH Darmstadt.

This terrific event is part of medienforum.nrw, one of the most prominent media conventions in Europe. It is organized by Landesanstalt fr Medien and supported by funds from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In September, I’ll be speaking at Morgondagens Webbplatser (“Websites of Tomorrow”), a 2-day conference in Stockholm, Sweden, organized by IBC Euroforum. On the first day of the event, 5 September, I’ll be delivering a keynote address (in English) on “How to prepare for the communication of the future.”

On 4 September, the day before the Stockholm conference, I’ll be leading How to Produce and Use a Podcast, a half-day pre-conference workshop designed to show participants how they can use podcasting as part of their own communication strategies.

Thanks to colleague and fellow business blogger Fredrik Wacka for the introduction to IBC. Fredrik writes CorporateBlogging.Info which is taking a back seat at the moment as he focuses on his home market with his Swedish-language blog. A very nice implementation of WordPress!

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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Once again, a nod to B.L. Ochman for this story idea. She does have a great blog. Anyway, most people who follow blogs know they can be a facetious lot that don’t require much prodding and Chrysler just prodded them pretty good. It seems this blog is reserved for “legitimate media” only and one must actually fill out information to get in. At the time of this writing, no response had come back yet.

This particular PR move is a bit of a blunder on the part of DaimlerChrysler. Most companies use blogs to communicate information and ideas and sometimes solicit feedback but they rarely if ever eliminate large swaths of people based on something like that. Most communications people know that communication must be two-way. The only possible explanation is this blog won’t be much more than press releases.

The other issue is that there is no hard, fast definition for a blog in many cases. Many sights, considered legitimate news sites with high levels of traffic also qualify as a blog. How about the “Drudge Report” or “Huff Post?” Most would argue those sites are blogs but many also see them as news sources with some editorials thrown in but they are certainly legitimate. Search Engine Watch might just fall into the blog category, but there are few places on the web with such insightful coverage on the search engine world.

In the end, it goes to show not only the power of the blog as a medium but also the corporate world’s misunderstand of that medium. Some realize and utilize the power of it but until some companies make changes, they will be lagging and lacking in their complete media package.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Out of these 44 years, Schrempp spent 17 of them in a row in chairmanship positions at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) and Daimler-Benz AG, which became DaimlerChrysler.

Schrempp’s replacement will be the current head of Chrysler group, Dr. Zetsche. He will take on the position as of January 1, 2006. He will remain in the position for five years.

Replacing Dr. Zetsche in the position of Chrysler Group head will be Tom LaSorda, who is currently the group’s Chief Operating Officer. He will also take on his new position on January 1. He has also become a full member of DaimlerChrysler’s Board of Management.

Taking LaSorda’s place as Chief Operating Officer starting January 1, will be Eric Ridenour. He will also become a member of the Board of Management. He will remain in the position for three years.

“The Supervisory Board and Prof. Schrempp are in full agreement that the end of the year 2005 is the optimal time for a change in the leadership of the company,” said Hilmar Kopper, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler. “The decisions of the Supervisory Board have been made unanimously after a thorough process.”

DaimlerChrysler claims that its financial results for the second quarter are an indication of positive development for the company, with the Chrysler and Mercedes groups both showing improvement.

“The balance sheet is sound and cash-flow development is stable. The 2005 profit forecast for the DaimlerChrysler group remains unchanged, and significant earnings improvements are to be expected as of the year 2006″, added Kopper.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Juergen Schrempp, the executive who orchestrated the 1998 merger of automobile firms Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corporation, will leave his post before the start of 2006. Current US Chrysler Group head Dieter Zetsche will get the CEO post, according to AP.

Dr. Zetsche’s position will go to his number 2 executive, Thomas LaSorda. Investors seem to favor the decision, with the company’s stock trading at nearly a 10 percent increase on the Frankfort Stock Exchange (FWB).

Since the takeover, the company has not become the automaking powerhouse Mr. Schrempp envisioned. Japanese companies like Toyota have ascended instead, while sales of Mercedes group vehicles have fallen along with earnings.

Chrysler has seen a bit of a resurgence in the US, a turnaround credited to Dr. Zetsche. New models introduced during Mr. Schrempp’s tenure like the PT Cruiser have sold well in the American market.

Recently, Chrysler reintroduced the Dodge Charger, with the option of a HEMI V-8 340 horsepower engine, as baby boomer demand for “muscle cars” has increased.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

During his years with the company, Schrempp spent 17 consecutive years in chairmanship positions at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) and Daimler-Benz AG, which became DaimlerChrysler.

His replacement will be Dr. Zetsche, the head of the Chrysler group. He will take on the position as of January 1, 2006. He will remain in the position for five years.

Replacing Dr. Zetsche in the position of Chrysler Group head will be Tom LaSorda, who is currently the group’s Chief Operating Officer. He will also take on his new position on January 1. He has also become a full member of DaimlerChrysler’s Board of Management.

Taking LaSorda’s place as Chief Operating Officer starting January 1, will be Eric Ridenour. He will also become a member of the Board of Management. He will remain in the position for three years.

“The Supervisory Board and Prof. Schrempp are in full agreement that the end of the year 2005 is the optimal time for a change in the leadership of the company,” said Hilmar Kopper, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler. “The decisions of the Supervisory Board have been made unanimously after a thorough process.”

DaimlerChrysler claims that its financial results for the second quarter are an indication of positive development for the company, with the Chrysler and Mercedes groups both showing improvement.

“The balance sheet is sound and cash-flow development is stable. The 2005 profit forecast for the DaimlerChrysler group remains unchanged, and significant earnings improvements are to be expected as of the year 2006″, added Kopper.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

For US auto buyers, the GM Employee Discount for Everyone promotion was a huge success. Sales increased dramatically for the month of June, giving GM its best sales month in 18 years.

The one month promotion worked so well, GM has extended it to the beginning of August. Ford and the Chrysler unit of Daimler Chrysler will begin similar promotions on July 6.

GM sold 558,092 vehicles in June, the highest monthly figure not seen since September 1986. It was 47 percent more than June 2004 sales for the Detroit automaker. GM saw its plummeting market share increase seven percent from May to 33 percent of the market.

That kind of success doesn’t get ignored for long in the highly competitive auto marketplace.

“It was inevitable that the others followed,” said Maryann Keller, an auto analyst with Maryann Keller & Associates in a Bloomberg report. “This was a very successful and compelling promotion on GM’s part. GM was able to garner a huge market share in June.”

Meanwhile, one Japanese competitor has moved in the other direction with prices. A Toyota spokesman said his company had no plans to match the promotions. “We just had a price increase,” said Xavier Domenicis. Camrys will go up $150 USD in 2006, while the RAV4 and Prius will each go up $300.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

April was the 13th month in a row that the Chrysler Group had year-over-year sales increases. Ford, on the other hand, had a 2% decline in U.S. sales for April.

DaimlerChrysler has not had it easy as Fool.com explains:

“For the first quarter the company reported operating profit of $814 million. That’s down an enormous 59% compared to the $2 billion operating profit it reported in the first quarter of 2004. However, excluding charges from its Smart car product line, operating profits totaled $1.85 billion. That’s still a decrease, but it’s a much more manageable 7.7% decrease.

Net income was negatively impacted by $664 million as a result of Smart, to end at $374 million, or $0.36 per share, compared to $534 million, or $0.53 per share in the first quarter of 2004.”

The Chrysler Group launched nine new models in 2004, and will be launching more this year, such as the 2006 Jeep Commander.

Mercedes-Benz USA had its best April ever, selling 2% more units than April of last year.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

The casino mogul sued the company more than four years ago for fraud over the 1998 merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler.

In response to the verdict, Terry Christensen, attorney for Tracinda Corporation, said, “While we are clearly disappointed in today’s judgment, we are pleased that other DaimlerChrysler shareholders who followed Tracinda’s lead and filed lawsuits based on our exact claims and key discovery were successful in reaching a settlement with DaimlerChrysler for $300 million. DaimlerChrysler admitted that they did not want a jury to hear those claims. It is obvious that as an individual shareholder, Tracinda was held to a different standard.

The message delivered by this result is unfortunate for all shareholders. Tracinda believed what Daimler said to the shareholders of Chrysler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the employees of Chrysler. When the statements were later admitted to be psychological ploys, it did not matter.”

Kirk Kerkorian, Chairman of Tracinda Corporation, added,”The Americans were laughed at in the German Board meetings for having agreed to become a German corporation. Daimler management marveled at the success of their project Blitz and the takeover of an American icon.”

Tracinda is considering all of its options.

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All sales figures in this release are on an unadjusted basis unless otherwise noted.

Chrysler Group, which consists of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands, posted sales of 212,978 vehicles in the U.S., an increase of eight percent. Adjusted for one extra selling day in March 2005 compared to March 2004, sales rose four percent. March represents the 12th consecutive month of year-over- year sales increases for Chrysler Group, and for 17 of the past 18 months.

After launching a record nine new models in 2004, the Chrysler Group is launching several new models in 2005, including the all-new 2006 Jeep Commander, which was introduced in March at the New York Auto Show.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) posted sales of 18,162 units in March, a two percent increase compared to the same month last year and finishing the first quarter with an upward trend in sales volume. With the introduction of new products in the light truck and sports touring segments, the company expects it will finish the year setting an all-time sales record.

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Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.