Motown Giants Are Ready for a Comeback.(automobile services)

Byline: Dutch Mandel

With respect to His Coolness Johnny Cash, I hear the train a comin', It's rolling round the bend and let me tell you somethin', It's headed this way...

Without sounding like "a homer'' when it comes to the Detroit manufacturers, the slumbering giants are stirring. There's a newfound swagger in Motown.

GM chairman Rick Wagoner came out of his corner-some say coma-to get the lease on his corporate life re-upped. (Don't know if it's a 12-, 24-, 36-month or an open-end lease, but the residual seems to be holding.) The corporate board extended to him a vote of confidence, but more important, big-time dealers said they have Rick's back. And they are the ones who count. They are at sales Ground Zero. If Rick is their guy, believe 'em.

GM has things to smile about. Whether it's the new GMT 900 trucks that are being well received in the market, a revived Saturn fleet, cutting 30,000 jobs, shuttering inefficient plants, lopping healthcare costs by $1 billion, much has been done by GM in the last six months. Wall Street is noticing. Europe is noticing. Even the guys in California have noticed GM is not standing still.

Maybe, just maybe, The General has turned the corner.

Ford-the company and the men-seem to be less focused, though their renaissance appears (quietly, very quietly) to be gaining traction. Bill ...