Colorado takes Chevy to new midsize pickup level
After a lot of years of road-testing new cars and writing about everything thatÂ’s new and coming in the industry, I thought I was too calloused for any new surprises. When sport-utility vehicles, and then trucks, took over the market domination in recent years, even outselling cars, I thought there was nothing more that could catch me unaware.
The level of competition shown by truck-builders has been a surprise, and so is the new-for-2004 Chevrolet Colorado. This is the mid-size pickup truck that replaces the long-running and durable S-10, and it is designed to face the competition from the aging Ford Ranger, the Dodge Dakota, the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. For good measure, Dodge just introduced a Dakota replacement for 2005, and Nissan also is coming up with a new Frontier for 2005 that resembles the hot, new Titan full-size truck.
These trucks are all getting bigger and better, following up the full-size pickups from Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Nissan and Toyota have grown and advanced to carry the large load of the truck takeover.
In case you doubt that itÂ’s a takeover, Ford sold more than twice as many total trucks as cars in 2003, almost three times as many. General Motors also sold well over twice as many trucks as cars. Toyota sold almost as many trucks as cars for the last model year, when Toyota sold more cars than either Chevrolet or Ford branded cars.
Truck buyers are a loyal lot, which is what forced the Japanese challengers to build truly exceptional vehicles in order to penetrate the Chevy guys, the Ford folks, or the Dodge devotees. That, in turn, forced the U.S. companies to improve their lot in an attempt to hold the truck market share that is so vital to their profit-making.
Flash back a couple of years, to when I first drove the Toyota Tundra just after its introduction. I was extolling its virtues to a friend and truck owner, when he asked me how much it was. I told him it cost just over $31,000, and he blew up, saying that was why Ford or Chevy types would never buy the Toyota, it was far too expensive. I told him that I had driven eight or ten new full-sized pickups the previous year, and all of them were over $30,000, except one stripped-down truck, stickered at $29,000-plus.
My friend was astounded, but then he hadnÂ’t bought a new full-size pickup for about four years, which was the amount of time it took for pickups to take the cue from SUVs and boost sticker prices up to somewhere over the rainbow.
Now, flash-forward to last week, when I got a chance to drive the new Chevy Colorado. I had driven one very briefly at an all-model GM introduction in Texas last fall, and General Motors put a lot of work into revising this truck, which has a sister ship in the GMC Canyon. The frame is more than twice as stiff as the old one, which is partly due to new technology and partly explained by how many years itÂ’s been since Chevy redid the S-10.
The test Colorado was the LS Crew Cab, which means four full doors and a full rear seat that can house more than small children in bolt-upright posture. It has typical GM interior amenities, which means everything works fine, with a good audio system and comfortable enough seats, with lumbar support on the front buckets.
I particularly like the styling, which is contemporary and a definite step up from what we shall call “old-square†pickup styling to a modernized look with smoothly rounded corners, and a front end that copies from the full-size Chevy Silverado’s horizontally split grille and angular headlights.
As any parent knows, your kids can offer you a perspective that often contrasts with your findings. It’s that way with my older son, Jack, a car purveyor since birth by familiarity if not by choice. He rode with me and drove the Colorado a bit and was less impressed than I was, although he later warmed up to the Colorado. “At first,†he said, “I thought it was a little Cavalier-like.†By that he meant less than rock-solid. Chevrolet’s ad campaign continues to insist its big trucks are (cue Bob Seger’s music) “Like a Rock,†but Jack figured the Colorado was not exactly a chip off the old rock.
On the other hand, I thought it handled well, if not spectacular, and I like the new in-line five-cylinder engine, a powerplant that might shock some purists. Chevrolet built an in-line six a few years ago, to power the then-new TrailBlazer. An engineer I asked explained that they chose an in-line six instead of a V6 because of building cost – it takes two heads to be machined for a V-anything, and only one for an in-line. That engine has exceptional power, and has all the high-tech goodies, such as dual overhead camshafts, multiple valves and variable valve-timing, that the older conventional V8s lack.
So for the Colorado, Chevy lopped the end piston off the in-line six and made an in-line five, while for a base four-cylinder it lopped off the end two cylinders. The five measures a large 3.5 liters, and develops 220 horsepower with 225 foot-pounds of torque. ThatÂ’s more than enough to let you launch and sail the truck on its appointed tasks, or to pull fairly large things along behind.
After Jack came around to be more impressed with the Colorado, he said as much, and then he asked me how much it was. Since I often donÂ’t dig out the sticker price until IÂ’m writing about a vehicle, I scavenged around for the statistical sheet and said: “ItÂ’s $29,820.Ââ€
ThatÂ’s where the surprise hit. IÂ’m not sure which of us was more startled by the number, but we both recoiled. Say it slowly: Twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred and 20 dollars. Chevrolet can boast that the Canyon is “under†$30,000, but itÂ’s only a couple tankfuls of gas away from $30,000. Base price for the Colorado in 4×4 fashion is $24,080, and the test truck added $1,000 for the neat engine, $1,095 for a four-speed automatic transmission, and $1,495 for a package that included heated leather seats with power adjusters, and $695 for OnStar navigation and mobile valet service, plus $325 for XM Satellite radio.
Standard equipment has a four-cylinder engine and a five-speed manual transmission. I would like to test the system to see if you could get the neat five-cylinder with a stick. Front disc brakes and rear drums are standard, and, apparently the only brakes available. Dual-stage airbags, antilock brakes, a locking two-position tailgate, air conditioning, a driver information center, six-speaker audio with CD player, cruise control, and a 60-40 rear seat for inside hauling, also are all standard. The vehicle also has standard suspension and side curtain airbags.
So all in all, it is a pretty complete and competent truck. It undoubtedly will impress Chevy zealots for its significant improvements and features, and its good looks and new name might acquire some new customers.
And IÂ’m not saying the price is unconscionable. Maybe it shouldnÂ’t even be shocking. ItÂ’s just that I hadnÂ’t driven a midsize truck for over a year, and for some reason, even though SUVs and full-size pickups has risen in price to $30,000, $40,000 and beyond, I simply hadnÂ’t realized that midsize trucks had crept up to fill the void left behind by the old $30,000 full-size trucks.
The Colorado undoubtedly will do a noble job of carrying on where the S-10 left off. It is good looking, strong, filled with features, and provides adequate comfort and utility, particularly in crew cab form. But if you go shopping for trucks because you remember when midsize pickups cost only about half as much as cars, forget it.
{John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns and can be contacted at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Gophers turn on playoff magic to overcome UMD 7-4
SAINT PAUL, MN. — ItÂ’s all in the timing. Minnesota met arch-rival Minnesota-Duluth four times during the WCHA season, and for the first time since UMD joined the WCHA, the Bulldogs won all four times. But that was against the “Regular Season†Gophers. Friday, the “Playoff Gophers†showed up at Xcel Energy Center and whipped the Bulldogs 7-4 in the second semifinal of the WCHA Final Five playoffs.
Just like that, the sting of being swept twice by the Bulldogs was left in the rear-view mirror. The Gophers, who seemed to be in neutral all season in the afterglow of two straight NCAA national championships, advanced to Saturday nightÂ’s playoff final with a 25-13-3 record to face No. 1 ranked North Dakota. UMD, meanwhile, must pick up the pieces of a disheartening loss and take a 25-12-4 record into the third-place game against Alaska-Anchorage.
By those records, UMD seems to have an edge on the Gophers, by the slimmest of margins. By league standing, the Bulldogs had a clear edge, finishing second to MinnesotaÂ’s tie for fourth and No. 5 seed in the league playoffs. But the timing of the victory boosts the Gophers ahead of UMD and into fourth place in the country in the strange computerized world of NCAA ranking criteria.
That means that regardless of what happens on the final day of the league playoffs, top-rated North Dakota and Minnesota both will be among the nationÂ’s four top seeds, each assigned to a different regional, along with Maine and Boston College. The loss means UMD will become a No. 2 seed, to be assigned wherever the NCAA selection committee chooses to send them on Sunday.
All of those things were riding on FridayÂ’s game, which drew a WCHA record crowd of 19,208 to Xcel Energy Center. More disturbing than even the loss was how it came about, in a complete unraveling that has to leave coach Scott Sandelin wondering what happened.
The Bulldogs opened in complete command, outshooting the Gophers 19-8 in a dominating first period, which produced a 3-1 lead. Luke Stauffacher slammed in a goal at 2:08, Evan Schwabe got his first of two when he cruised in from the right side and shot high, glancing his shot into the short side off the arm goalie Kellen Briggs at 9:06.
Minnesota countered when Troy Riddle scored his 22nd goal on a power play at 14:03, but that barely slowed down the speeding Bulldogs, who went up 3-1 just 18 seconds later when Schwabe skated up the left side, faked a shot then stepped to his left to score beyond Briggs, who had dropped to the ice.
ThatÂ’s the way the Bulldogs had done it all year, countering quickly to put down opposing rallies. But in the final minute of the period, the Bulldogs turned the puck over when a careless pass in the neutral zone left a clear chance for Gino Guyer, who rushed up the left side but shot off the left base of the net. Guyer, however, got to the end boards first and threw the puck back out front, where Danny Irmen cashed in against goalie Isaac Reichmuth, just 35 seconds before intermission.
The Gophers still trailed 3-2, but the goal was pivotal. “The goal at the end of the first period was big,†said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “That typifies Danny Irmen, too. We’ve got some guys who don’t want to get their noses dirty, but at this time of year, guys who are willing to get their noses dirty seem to score the goals.
“We thought this game was very important, but we came out in the first period and we werenÂ’t playing at the level we needed against a great team like Duluth. And they are a great team – as good as any weÂ’ve played. Up front, I thought only Riddle and Irmen were competing for us in the first period. After the period, there were a few blankety-blanks said, and I thought we played much better the last two periods. We were able to put some pressure on their ‘D.Â’ Ââ€
It didnÂ’t seem like pressure, so much as the entire UMD team seemed to become infected with a strange tendency to throw the puck away. A team that had played virtually flawless hockey to beat Minnesota 4-3 in overtime and 4-2 at Mariucci Arena in October, and 6-1 and 4-1 in Duluth five weeks ago, embarked on a series of defensive lapses that became contagious.
Irman broke loose while killing a penalty, gathered in Keith BallardÂ’s long pass, and sailed in to score on a crease-crossing move at 4:51 of the middle period, and the shorthanded goal lifted the Gophers to a 3-3 tie. Ten minutes later, the Bulldogs had the puck in complete possession in their own corner, but a mishandled pass squirted out to the slot, resembling a perfect feed to Gopher Ryan Potulny, who immediately drilled his sixth goal in only four games since coming back from a season-long injury.
“We had a good first period, then they got that goal at the end of the first,†said Schwabe. “That was a downer, and from then on, we lost the game at both blue lines. We got outskated, outhit, out-everythinged.Ââ€
After outshooting Minnesota 19-8 in the first period, UMD was outshot 32-13 thereafter, for a 41-31 Gopher edge for the game.
Trailing only 4-3 when the third period started, the Bulldogs got renewed life when Justin Williams scored at 0:41 to tie it 4-4. But the occasional UMD offensive rushes were overwhelmed by the BulldogsÂ’ inability to clear their zone. They failed to get the puck out of the zone at 3:45, and a couple of passes later, Minnesota took advantage when Thomas Vanek scored his 23rd goal to break the 4-4 tie.
The Gophers got a huge goal at 14:41 when Jon Waibel fired a pass from deep on the right that found Andy Sertich alone at the left edge of the crease, and he shoveled it in before the beleaguered Reichmuth could respond to make it 6-4. The Bulldogs struggled to get back in the game over the last five minutes, but by then they could scarcely complete a coherent pass, and the Gophers – who outshot UMD 20-6 in the final period – finished the victory with Barry Tallackson’s empty-net goal with 36 seconds remaining.
For a team that had played so consistently through the entire season, such a collapse seemed out of character. Coach Scott Sandelin was asked if he had ever seen such a turnabout this season. “Yeah,†he said. “Last Sunday. We were up 5-0 on Mankato in the first 11 minutes, and we were lucky to win 6-5. ThatÂ’s two games now where we didnÂ’t play very well defensively. ThatÂ’s the most disappointing thing for me. YouÂ’re not going to win playing defensively like that.Ââ€
Compact X3 proves less can be more in BMW World
As the automobile business expands to overflow every possible niche in the marketplace, there are hundreds of impressive vehicles out there. But it seems that the more there are, the more evident it becomes that weÂ’re living in a “BMW World.Ââ€
Any time any company wants to build an all-new vehicle, it selects certain vehicles to use as benchmarks. Invariably, competitors go to the BMW 3-Series for near-perfect handling, or to the sportier M3 if seeking all-out performance handling. If itÂ’s a larger sedan, then competitors might choose the larger BMW 5-Series, and for roomy luxury, the benchmark becomes the BMW 7-Series. It even spills over to sport-utility vehicles, where so many worthy vehicles already live, but the BMW X5 is held in the highest regard for style and performance.
So how does BMW compete with itself? Good question. And a question that crossed my mind when I heard BMW was coming out with a new X3 – a more compact SUV than the X5. I was unable to attend the introduction of the X3, and since that time I’ve read several reviews and criticisms of the X3. But I recently got my hands on one for a week-long test drive, and I fail to see what the critics found to criticize.
From my viewpoint, BMW has expanded its empire again, and anyone designing or redesigning a compact SUV has a new benchmark.
This “Baby Beemer†is built on the 3-Series sedan platform, making it a crossover by the strictest definition of the term – a truck-like vehicle built on a lower, car-based chassis. It is ludicrous to call the X3 a truck, but it does cross over from being a sedan-like vehicle built higher to afford more ground clearance and taller for more interior headroom. Or, think of it as a rugged off-road vehicle refined enough to bring you back in from the Baja in late afternoon, where you could hose it off and draw raves when you pull up that night at a country club function.
You can probably get the base 2.5 X3 for close to $30,000, although the test vehicle was the 3.0 version, which means it came armed with the fantastic BMW 3.0-liter in-line six. Nothing wrong with the 2.5, but the 3.0 is a fabulous engine, smooth as silk with power available at any rev-level, through BMWÂ’s Double-VANOS variable valve timing. The horsepower peak is 225 with a torque-peak of 214 foot-pounds, up from 184 and 175 with the smaller engine. The base price of the X3 with the 3.0 is $36,300, and the test vehicle had enough options to boost it to $42,170. Some of the options could be deleted, but donÂ’t ask me to pick one that doesnÂ’t enhance the driving experience. And, as usual, there are two truisms about BMW products: 1. They are expensive; and 2. They are worth every penny.
The test vehicle also was equipped with BMWÂ’s smooth six-speed manual transmission, which was cheating, really, because it made the X3 come to life with a fun-to-drive quotient that rivals the top 3-Series sedans. You sit high enough to never forget youÂ’re in an SUV, but an SUV that performs like a completely stable sports sedan.
If there is a compromise, it is that the suspension is definitely firm, which I like, and which amplifies the assets of the very supportive bucket seats. Some may find it too firm, bordering on harshness on potholed roads, but itÂ’s a compromise I accept for the flat and stable cornering attitude.
IÂ’ve always admired the X5 design, with a grille that looks just like the sedans used to, but I think the X3 might be even neater, with a more individualized, if more compact, look. The rear also has a sleeker, more refined look, I think, and the way the roofline tapers down at the rear while the lower body line under the side windows kicks up at the rear, gives the X3 a nicely packaged appearance.
Other features of that stellar drivetrain include BMW’s new “xDrive†all-wheel drive system, which divides power with a 60-percent bias toward the rear, but slippage can be countered by the system’s shift of anything up to 100 percent torque to either the front or rear. The system is so sophisticated that it doesn’t just read tire slippage, but also evaluates steering wheel force, gear selection, gas pedal and road conditions before providing the percentage of power most beneficial to getting you around a corner or through a blizzard.
Four-wheel disc brakes, Dynamic Stability Control keeps you going straight and Hill Descent Control can allow the X3 to creep down a steep grade with engine-control stealth while you don’t even touch a pedal. Adaptive brakelights, which come on at the touch of the pedal, but come on with extra intensity in a panic stop – to offer welcome warning to trailing vehicles – are other safety touches. Airbag systems front, rear and side also are standard, as are rain-sensing windshield wipers. Foglights and brushed aluminum finish to interior trim also are standard.
The option list was tilted by the Premium Package, which includes a panorama glass moonroof, which is so long that it serves both the front buckets and the second-row seat, plus leather upholstery, an automatic-dim rearview mirror, upgraded interior touches, and improved lumbar support control – which the BMW sticker price sheet calls “lumber support,†presumably having more to do with the translation from German to English than to the vehicle’s capability of hauling boards. A navigation system, privacy glass and the titanium silver metallic paint are other options.
The interesting thing about the X3 is that I never thought the X5 was too big, because it certainly lacks the bulk and heft of larger SUVs. The X3 measures 600 pounds less than the X5, and about four inches shorter, which isnÂ’t a huge difference, but it pretty well equates with the difference between the exceptional 5-Series sedan and the exceptional 3-Series sedan.
Like hot-fudge sundaes and filet mignon steaks, there is no such thing as a bad BMW. The X3 just means weÂ’ve discovered a new continent in BMWÂ’s World.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns and can be contacted at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Gophers turn Golden as playoffs arrive
ItÂ’s not what youÂ’ve done, itÂ’s what you have done lately that counts when it comes to WCHA playoff time. For the University of Minnesota, it seems that a season of sputtering stops and starts and a fifth-place finish has long since passed, because the tournament-savvy Gophers are on what has become an annual post-season ascent.
A record of 15-12-1 left the Gophers only the fifth seed in the WCHA playoff picture, and in need of a season-ending sweep of St. Cloud State to hang onto that final home-ice berth behind North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Wisconsin and Denver.
Typically, Minnesota got past St. Cloud State in a first-round playoff series, erupting for a dominant two-game triumph. It seemed the Gophers were primed and ready for a new challenge. After all, two years ago Denver was the WCHA champion, but when the Pioneers faltered in the NCAA playoffs, the Gophers went on to win the NCAA title for the first time in 23 years. And last year, after Colorado College won the WCHA title, the Tigers, also, faltered in the NCAA regionals, and again the Gophers stormed on to win their second straight NCAA title.
This year, the challenge would be that the Gophers – already set on an NCAA berth because of a strong nonconference showing – would have to advance through the WCHA Final Five by winning the dreaded play-in game between fourth and fifth, then beating league champ North Dakota, and then the winner between second and third seeds UMD and Wisconsin.
But wait! The Playoff Gods have smiled early on the Gophers this time around. Denver, fresh from sweeping a season-ending pair from Colorado College, lost two straight to CC in the opening playoff round and will stay home from this weekÂ’s Final Five. And Wisconsin, at home in spacious Kohl Center, were beaten by eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage two out of three times and also will be at home when the five survivors convene at Saint PaulÂ’s Xcel Energy Center.
Those results knock out third-seed Wisconsin and fourth-seed Denver, and because the WCHA recalibrates the five survivors, Minnesota moves up from fifth to third – avoiding the play-in game, which now will be between Colorado College and Alaska-Anchorage on Thursday night. That winner will advance to play North Dakota Friday afternoon, while Minnesota faces UMD in the Friday night semifinal.
Facing the runner-up Bulldogs is no treat for Minnesota, because the Bulldogs won all four games against Minnesota during the season, including 6-1 and 4-1 romps a month ago in Duluth. Ah, but those were the “regular-season†Gophers, who bear little resemblance to the Gophers in playoff mode.
One of the keys for Minnesota is a pivotal decision made by the Potulny family, which produced Grant Potulny – the captain, the game-winning overtime goal-scorer to give Minnesota its NCAA title victory against Maine two years ago, and the team’s unequivocal leader. The same family also contributed Ryan Potulny, last year’s USHL junior league scoring champion, as a Minnesota freshman this season.
Ryan Potulny was injured in the eighth game of the season, and while that was part of one game beyond the point where medical redshirt years are granted, it was a cinch he could get the redshirt year on appeal. Going into the last weekend of the regular season, however, coach Don Lucia surprised everybody by announcing the rehabilitated Ryan Potulny would rejoin the lineup for the remainder of the season, however far the Gophers go.
Lucia isnÂ’t foolish enough to exchange a full season for a handful of games, no matter how important, and regardless of the fact that the Gophers finished with a listless four losses in six games stretch. But he discussed it with the Potulny family, because RyanÂ’s skill level is such that heÂ’s more likely to be lured by a pro contract before four years are up than he is to stay through four full years and a fifth, redshirt season.
“It was their call,†said Lucia. “The only question was whether the family thought that Ryan would be here for a fifth year. If heÂ’s not planning to be here for a fifth year, then why redshirt and waste the rest of this season. He adds a lot.Ââ€
After Minnesota beat St. Cloud 7-4 in the season-ending series, Ryan Potulny stepped in and scored a goal at 3:34 of the second period. He followed a rush by Thomas Vanek, and when goaltender Ryan Coole poke-checked the puck away from Vanek, the younger Potulny put it in. Minnesota finished the sweep with a 4-2 victory, and Ryan PotulnyÂ’s goal was the game-winner.
Assistant coach Bob Motzko, who manned the bench while Lucia sat up in the press box with a padded collar easing the aftermath of some surgery on his upper vertebra, wasnÂ’t surprised by the impressive return. “ItÂ’s going to take Ryan a while to get everything back together, but heÂ’s something special. WeÂ’ve just got to extend our season a few weeks to give him time.Ââ€
Was there any doubt? The Gophers whipped the faltering Huskies 6-1 and 7-3, and Ryan Potulny scored four more goals in the sweep, giving him five goals in three games.
As if they needed any more incentive against UMD, the Gophers have their hot hand going against a Bulldog outfit that narrowly escaped Minnesota State-Mankato. UMD lost 4-3 in overtime in a Friday shocker at the DECC, then came back to win 6-2 on Saturday. In SundayÂ’s deciding game, UMD flew off to an insurmountable lead with five goals in the in the opening minutes, then found out the lead was surmountable, after all, and had to hang on for a 6-5 escape.
For UMD, a strong post-season will wash away all sorts of post-season blues. Last year, the Bulldogs were the hottest team in the WCHA at the end of the season, and finished third in the Final Five with an impressive run, but their lack of nonconference success killed their pairwise computer rating and left them out of the 12-team NCAA field.
This year, their strong pairwise assures the Bulldogs of a slot in the expanded 16-team NCAA, but the close call against ninth-place Mankato, coupled with MinnesotaÂ’s sudden resurgence, reduces the effect UMDÂ’s regular-season four-games-to-none record may have had against the Gophers.
After all, UMD is breaking new ground this year by coming into the Final Five as a semifinalist. For Minnesota, it’s same-old ground, revisited. At least this year, UMD can share in Minnesota’s “home-ice†advantage, where the Xcel Center’s contract calls for the Gophers to play the night game in the tournament to assure a big crowd. Last year, UMD won the play-in game, then lost a close battle to top-seeded Colorado College, before coming back to win the third-place game.
This year, the Dogs knew theyÂ’d be in the semifinals, and they anticipated facing a Wisconsin team they had just beaten in a season-ending sweep in Madison. Instead, they get the Gophers, who suddenly look like theyÂ’re on a mission. Again.
Volvo’s humanitarianism goes beyond cars
When the Volvo XC-90 won the 2003 International Truck of the Year award, Volvo’s first venture into the realm of sport-utility vehicles was heralded worldwide for being one of the safest – if not the safest – of the world’s vehicles.
Having the opportunity recently to road-test both the XC-90 and the lower-slung, more conventional Volvo XC-70 Cross Country station wagon, the similarities and differences of the two vehicles makes them worthy alternatives for those seeking people-haulers and/or utility vehicles. The XC-70 is low and lean and agile, while the XC-90 is taller, roomier, if less-lean and less-sleek.
However, the overriding theme when driving either of them, or any Volvo, for that matter, is how the Swedish company has continued to follow its own path of seeming to genuinely care about people – far beyond the simple matter of profit-making and exploitation that can usually be associated with automakers. Call it comprehensive conscientiousness.
Volvo insists that its cars will always care about people and families and their safety first and foremost, and the incredible safety characteristics such as: the strength of steel used to surround the passenger compartment; the purposeful seats that are both the most comfortable and supportive in the industry and the safest when put to the stress of accident tests; the safety testing that goes far beyond frontal, front corner and side impact to also include rollover survivability; the emergence of vehicles that are not only the safest in a rollover but the least likely to roll over.
But Volvo has now gone well beyond the call of duty, or commerce. The cars are fantastic, but the humanitarian reach of Volvo is truly remarkable. A fellow named Soren Johansson, one of a number of public relations people at Volvo who go beyond the call of being friendly, helpful, courteous and all those other things that sound a lot like the Boy Scout creed, came up with something called Volvo for Life Awards. It was an idea that would identify otherwise unidentifiable “hometown heroes,†who committed various acts of kindness simply for the sake of helping people.
Johansson suggested it to Volvo executives, and they told him to go for it. So Johansson veered away from the promotion and marketing of the latest and most impressive fleet of Volvo cars to develop a concept that would allow people to nominate everyday people, living normal, everyday lives, but who happen to have made outstanding and unselfish attempts to help their fellow-humans. ItÂ’s a national event, and anyone can nominate anyone for the award. The winner wonÂ’t get rich, but gets a charitable donation from funds raised by Volvo and other major corporations to the foundation of his or her choice.
The program was launched in 2001, timed with the 75th anniversary of Volvo as an automotive company, and over 5,000 of such true-to-life heroes have been identified so far. The only thing that connects Volvo cars to the plan is that there had to be some reasonable way to gather the nominations and evaluate them. Anyone can get on the website volvoforlifeawards.com.
But Johansson wasnÂ’t satisfied. He also thought it would make sense to regionalize the awards, and Matt Malfitano, Volvo of AmericaÂ’s vice president, volunteered to take it on, and selected Minnesota as the site for a first attempt at a state award. Then he took the handoff from Johansson and bolted for the end zone. The football analogy works, because Johansson, since coming to the U.S. from Sweden, has become a diehard Green Bay Packer fanatic, stopping just short of wearing a cheddar wedge on his thoughtful brow.
To nominate a state hero, Minnesotans could get on their own website, www.mn-volvoforlifeawards.com.
As a cynic who has come by cynicism honestly, over 35 years of closely scrutinizing the automotive world – as well as the wide world of sports – I must say that I listened to the idea, and I nodded in agreement that yes, it sounds great. It sounded like a good promotion, maybe better than anything I’d heard from any auto company, but a sales promotion, nonetheless, where a guy with a sales form might be lurking nearby.
On Wednesday night, however, my cynicism was washed away. Fred Haberman, who owns a small, Minneapolis-based public relations firm that does some work with Volvo, worked with Johansson, Malfitano and obviously numerous others and pulled together a fantastic dinner at the Le Meridien hotel in Minneapolis, newly built across First Avenue from Target Center. They brought in the top 10 candidates for Hometown Heroes of Minnesota, and then they named the final three from a surprisingly large list of nominees. “We expected maybe a few dozen, and we got nearly 200,†said Johansson.
The nominees for the Minnesota Volvo for life Awards are automatically included in the national program, which has 2,768 candidates nationwide. A national winner will be chosen at Times Square Studios in New York on April 7.
The three finalists selected all were impressive, and all were women. There was Sy Vang Mouacheupau of St. Paul, a Hmong refugee who had defied Hmong tradition to start Asian Women United House of Peace, a shelter for Asian women suffering from domestic violence and other problems. She was presented with an award for a $10,000 donation. “All my life, IÂ’ve been told Japanese cars are the best,†Sy Vang said. “But now I know Volvos must be up there, too.Ââ€
Linda Jemison, also from St. Paul, was once a homeless person living from shelter to shelter, and once she got her life together, she started the Ethel Gordon Community Care Center, named after her late mother, and aimed at helping women straighten out their lives, a place, she said, “not where you come to live, but a place you come to change.†She was first runner-up, and received a $15,000 charitable award.
The winner was Margaret Yeboah, 48, whose story cries out for someone to turn into a screenplay. She came to Minneapolis from a small village in Ghana, where she grew up without schools, running water, toilets, or any conveniences of the modern world. An elementary physical education teacher at Lucy Craft Laney at Cleveland Park Community School in Minneapolis, Yeboah has been known to buy clothes and shoes for her students, and offer them financial incentives to help them go on to college. She is the single mother of two, now grown, and she has adopted three more. A Minnesotan for 22 years, Yeboah started several years ago sending money home to Amponsakrom, Ghana, an African village near her hometown of Swedru.
Yeboah has refinanced her home three times, taken out loans and sought donations, and the her donations have led to the building of 20 classrooms, three school buses, a medical clinic and a vocational school, as well as the acquisition of books, uniforms, six generators, a well to replace the disease-ridden surface water the village had been using, as well as money for school lunches. She also had helped in the purchase of over 200 acres of land, on which people can learn to farm and become self-sufficient. That doesnÂ’t count the purchase of 1,000 pairs of reading glasses, clothes and medicine.
In her spare time, Yeboah writes gymnastic routines, dances and plays for her Minneapolis students, and she has taken them to sing, dance and perform at nursing homes.
“My mother used to tell me that when you cook something good and eat it, people might say, ‘That was good,Â’ †said Yeboah. “And you feel like a fool if they didnÂ’t have anything to eat. But if you share what you have, and then they say, ‘That was good,Â’ then it means something. If there is any way to help people, I will spend my last penny. I had faith that someone, somewhere, would help with this project. I just didnÂ’t know when. This is America.Ââ€
When she realized she had won a $25,000 donation, Yeboah said: “This is shocking. What Volvo is doing is like seed planting. You put the seed in, it gets bigger, and everyone can eat. Just like Johnny Appletree. God bless Volvo.Ââ€
So here we have a Swedish car company finding and giving credit to an amazing and heroic Minnesota woman who is almost singlehandedly changing the lives of hundreds of people in her native Ghana. When you read the next story about corporate greed, or a sports figure getting millions of dollars a year to hit a ball or pass a football or shoot a puck or basketball, pause a moment and put things in perspective. There is more to life when it comes to selecting a hero.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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