Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
47944 messages, Last post on Nov 28, 2009 at 1:15 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
|
|
|---|---|
|
Replying to: richard64 (Dec 02, 2008 8:18 am) Cerebus (Chrysler) made no concessions at all that I can tell. No wonder they're in as bad a shape as they are. UAW agreed to cuts. Ford/GM salaried folks....no bonus, no merit increases (don't know how they could justify them to begin with). Ford is selling all of their corporate jets. All in all, better (at least from a symbolic point of view). But, I still haven't heard how they plan to make their business sustainable over the long haul. And, how they play to pay us back, if they do indeed need to tap into the federal funds (our money). I haven't heard GM say that they have overcapacity. I still haven't heard them say that they plan on cutting some brands. Same goes for Ford. Who the hell knows what Cerebus is planning for Chrysler. All I can see them doing is saying "give us money". No concrete plans at all, as best I can tell. |
|
|
|
|
I just heard on the radio that a Ford dealer in Michigan is offering 10 shares of Ford stock to anyone who test-drives his cars. Very clever. At current prices that's about $28. I wonder if joel would give me a few shares to drive a Mustang? Also heard a rumor that the UAW will agree to get rid of the "job bank" which pays workers who have been laid off their full salary to do nothing. |
|
|
Replying to: richard64 (Nov 26, 2008 8:35 pm) 
|
|
|
Replying to: richard64 (Dec 02, 2008 8:18 am) Dang you sound just like the Media, lumping us all together. You left the part out where ford said "We don't really need the money" If we accept it we will use it in case of emergency in the next two years and Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he'll work for $1 per year if the company has to take any government loan money.
|
|
|
Replying to: joel0622 (Dec 02, 2008 9:24 am) Ford tells Congress profit may be restored in 2011 Amy Wilson Automotive News | December 2, 2008 - 10:25 am EST DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co., the first of the Detroit 3 to submit its plan to qualify for federal aid, says it doesn’t expect to make money until at least 2011. That’s when Ford expects global and North American auto businesses to reach break-even or be profitable on a pretax basis, according to a news release summarizing its plan to Congress. In May, Ford abandoned a previous pledge to post a profit in 2009. The automaker has lost money every year since 2005. Ford also said it is asking Congress for access to as much as $9 billion in federal loans. The company stressed that management hopes to complete its turnaround without accessing the loans. “For Ford, government loans would serve as a critical backstop or safeguard against worsening conditions as we drive transformational change in our company,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in the release. Selling the jets Mulally said he would work for a salary of $1 a year if Ford draws money from a potential federal loan pool. Ford also said today that it would sell its five jets. Those moves are responses to widespread criticism of the Detroit 3 after Congressional hearings in November on federal bailout money for the automakers. The CEOs of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler LLC were lambasted for traveling to the hearings in separate corporate jets. Mulally plans to make the nine-hour drive to Washington in a Ford Escape Hybrid for another round of Congressional hearings this week. The high pay packages of the Detroit 3 CEOs also came under scrutiny during the hearings. At that time, Mulally declined to work for less than his $2 million salary, saying “I think I’m OK where I am.” Mulally’s total compensation package was $21.7 million in 2007. Ford reiterated that it would continue the turnaround plan Mulally implemented after arriving from Boeing in September 2006. A key tenet of that plan is to accelerate the development of new products that customers want. As part of that, Ford has said it will introduce several small European-developed cars in the United States beginning in early 2010. Technology spending Today, Ford said it would spend $14 billion in the United States on advanced technologies and products to improve fuel efficiency during the next seven years. That includes a plan to make available for sale a family of new hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles by 2012. Ford said it will partner with suppliers to deliver a full battery electric van for commercial fleet use in 2010 and an electric sedan in 2011. Ford also said it is discussing with the UAW ways to further reduce costs and eliminate the remaining labor cost gap existing between Ford and import-brand automakers. Ford said it doesn’t anticipate a liquidity crisis in 2009 barring a bankruptcy by General Motors or Chrysler LLC -- or a more severe economic downturn that further hurts auto sales. It expects U.S. industry sales of 12.5 million vehicles in 2009, bouncing back to 14.5 million vehicles in 2010 and 15.5 vehicles in 2011. Ford finished the third quarter of 2008 with $18.9 billion of cash and another $10.7 billion in available credit lines. The automaker burned through $7.7 billion in cash during the third quarter, a rate of $2.57 billion a month. ‘Home improvement loan’ Ford wants to convince Congress and U.S. taxpayers that it should be seen as “different” from GM and Chrysler. To that effort, Ford today launched a new web site, www.thefordstory.com. It includes a youtube.com video of CEO Alan Mulally talking about Ford’s turnaround vision. In the video, Mulally said Ford is asking for access to federal loans in part because the failure of GM or Chrysler could have a “domino effect” on Ford. “I like our position today, as tough as it is,” Mulally says in the video. He talks about the $23 billion “home improvement” loan Ford took out two years ago to finance its turnaround and the development of new products. “Now we have in the pipeline what arguably everybody believes is the best product lineup we’ve ever had at Ford,” he said. “I’m just so glad that we all pulled together early so that we are ready to take on the worst of times. And we’ll get through this and we’ll come out the other end as a turbo machine.” |
|
|
|
|
Replying to: joel0622 (Dec 02, 2008 9:24 am) Hate to sound so pessimistic, but these guys have been jerking around Congress and the American public for months, now. Know what? I want the UAWs and exec management's skin in this game for the bailout. That includes privately held Cerebus. They took a bad situation courtesy of Daimler and made it worse at Chrysler. Personally, I think Congress should tell Cerebus to plead their case with Daimler. They're both to blame, anyway. Wagoner has been sitting fat, dumb and happy for years at GM. UAW has been just as arrogant as the big 3 management. They've got to throw into the pot, too. Let's take Mullaly at face value. He doesn't need the money? He doesn't get the money.
|
|
|
Replying to: graphicguy (Dec 02, 2008 10:25 am)
|
|
|
Replying to: graphicguy (Dec 02, 2008 10:25 am) It is money. The more in the bank, the merrier!!! If somebody was willing to give me a million bucks, I would take it right now. It is another story that I don't know what to do with it 
|
|
|
|
|
It's a 2006 400h with 39,000 miles and we are selling it for $31,991. The customer didn't know that it was a hybrid. Of course, when he dismissed me with his hand gesture I wasn't about to go chase him down and reveal that information to him. He was one of those guys that you are better off letting go. Doesn't seem that unreasonable based on a quick search of my area; certainly not a "hand gesture" sort of price. You really see how the retail world is evolving. They demand the best but they don't want to pay for it. "Everybody wants to make big bucks -- nobody wants to pay 'em" ---my uncle's quote We overprice our vehicles by 3-4K on EVERY SINGLE UNIT. Of course, when no one cracks the door on our vehicle for 45 days we reduce the hell out of it but that's beside the point... Then we see if we can rope some dope into buying it at that price. It's up to the customer to try and get a price that makes sense. We nail some people on the sticker prices, especially if it's a CPO and we can justify it with the warranty. But the point is that the prices on the windows are for the people who come in blind and want to buy now. We even print out these corny Kelly Blue Books from the 90210 area code to present a false market price that is more in line with what we want to get for the car.  I hope you are not using your real name as your user id. It might get nasty if your boss or competitors can put two and two together. I just can't believe that there are that many people with "hot pants" who run out and buy a car without any research. Thinking back over the last hundred or so car conversations I've overheard over the past few years, I don't recall anyone ever mentioning the word "Edmunds" in any of them. I am usually amazed at what I hear. Most folks seem to think if they got a wad off of sticker, they've done good. $2000 off of sticker might be a steal or it might be a fleecing -- they don't seem to really know. Ignorance is bliss. Edmunds regulars know the skinny. I wouldn't have any idea what a used John Deere is worth, nor what a good price on a Dolce&Gabbana pocketbook would be.... |
|
|
Replying to: golic (Dec 02, 2008 8:33 am) Have you ever seen the interior seating room in a Highlander? Unless you're carrying a cargo of anorexic midget wrestlers, there will not be enough room to seat 7. The 3rd row back seat is very very small, with poor access. I'd go for the Enclave. Very nice... pretty good rebates on them as well.
|
|
You are here:
Forums
Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
