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Automotive News & Views Dude, where did all the dealerships go?
654 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 7:56 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: fintail (May 28, 2009 8:29 am) I agree that to make the case, you need to know who the surviving dealers supported with their donations. Smart businesses support both parties. Also as pointed out by a previous poster and quoted in an article on Autonews, Jim Press did make that threat to the Chrysler dealerships who did not order new cars in February. I suspected that the closing of the dealerships would not be based on profit, sales, customer satisfaction, or some other objective measurement. Right now, nothing would surprise me. |
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Replying to: dtownfb (May 28, 2009 11:14 am) But those ones listed must have been at least somewhat profitable for their proprietors to be pissing away money on political causes.
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Replying to: fintail (May 28, 2009 12:49 pm) But those ones listed must have been at least somewhat profitable for their proprietors to be pissing away money on political causes. Even dealerships losing money somehow find ways to donate in their community. I think folks within Chrysler had an axe to grind with some of these dealers. I think some of these are legitimate, strategic closures. The big question is after all these deep discounts are done over the next 2-3 weeks, can Fiat/Chrysler sell cars? Right now Chrysler is moving cars because of the big rebates and dealerships slashing prices. I don't know if Americans are ready to buy an Italian/POS American car for regular price. I don't see this merger working well. I have been wrong before........ |
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Furor grows over partisan car dealer closings By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 05/27/09 3:37 PM EDT Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008? Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan learned from a House colleague that his Venice, Florida, dealership is on the hit list. Buchanan also has a Nissan franchise paired with the Chrysler facility in Venice. "It's an outrage. It's not about me. I'm going to be fine," said Buchanan, the dealership's majority owner. "You're talking over 100,000 jobs. We're supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs," Buchanan told News 10, a local Florida television station. Buchanan, who succeeded former Rep. Katharine Harris in 2006, reportedly learned of his dealership's termination from Rep.Candace Miller, R-MI. Buchanan owns a total of 23 dealerships in Florida and North Carolina. Also fueling the controversy is the fact the RLJ-McCarty-Landers chain of Arkansas and Missouri dealerships aren't being closed, but many of their local competitors are being eliminated. Go here for a detailed look at this situation. McClarty is the former Clinton senior aide. The "J" is Robert Johnson, founder of the Black Entertainment Television, a heavy Democratic contributor. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Furor-grows- -over-partisan-car-dealer-closings-46261447.html http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/05/shock-big-dem-donor-group-gets-to-keep- .html
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Replying to: gagrice (May 28, 2009 3:08 pm) Plan to ax dealers not Chrysler's decision -lawyer * Dealers call termination plan 'unconstitutional' By Nick Zieminski NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters) - A lawyer for Chrysler dealers facing closure as part of the automaker's bankruptcy reorganization said on Tuesday he believes Chrysler executives do not support a plan to eliminate a quarter of its retail outlets. Lawyer Leonard Bellavia, of Bellavia Gentile & Associates, who represents some of the terminated dealers, said he deposed Chrysler President Jim Press on Tuesday and came away with the impression that Press did not support the plan. "It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers," Bellavia said. "It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force." He added the government task force, which he criticized for having no members with retail experience was, in effect, attacking U.S. entrepreneurs. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN2632731920090- 526 Dealers failing by natural attrition seems so much more logical to me.
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Replying to: gagrice (May 28, 2009 3:13 pm) "It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers," Bellavia said. "It really wasn't Chrysler's decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President's automotive task force." Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Chrysler was actively consolidating their dealerships. I personally know of one situation where Chrysler blocked the sale of a dealership to an individual and eventually closed the dealership. They did conpensate the owner. In my own town, they did "encourage" consolidating two dealerships. Ford is also doing this as well as GM. The reduction of dealerships was in each of their plans because they knew that many buyers were playing local dealers against each other to lower the price of the car. Maybe it was not the way Chrysler wanted to reduce the number of dealers but then again, when you go begging to the government for money saying you can't survive with out help, this is what you get. Chrysler and GM thought they would get a blank check from the government with the bailout loans similar to the way Paulson did with the first $350B. Instead you have an administration who is telling these two mismanaged companies that their turnaround plan were unacceptable and forcing them to do what they should have done themselves.....and I think we all agreed that both Chrysler and GM plans were pathetic at best. Quite honestly, without the government's help with this bankruptcy, Chrysler would have to liquidate. You may be OK with this living in CA and me in PA but the folks in the middle of the country where unemployment is already in double digits might think otherwise. I don't agree with everything the government is doing including forcing the closure of the dealerships. It would have been nice to let Chrysler and the dealerships handle this but Chrysler had/has neither the time or money to accomplish this. The big question is where is Cerberus in all of this mess????? BTW, ask Jim Press what his plan was to get Chrysler out of trouble....threaten these very same dealers to buy cars from the factory that they can't sell? Believe it or not I agree with you regarding smaller government but everyone seems to forget the financial situation we are in. The financial markets (NY, SF, Chicago, London, Toyko, etc.) got us in this mess with over leveraging and greed. Guess what? The financial capital of the world will be Washington DC for the next few years until we can recover from this mess. Unlike you I am not angry with our current president (or past president) with the government spending. I'm pissed off at all the greedy bastards who took advantage of people through the housing markets; invested people's retirement money in worthless and risky stocks and bonds; and put our entire banking system on the backs of the housing market (UN  #$##$BELIEVABLE). We were not practicing capitalism the last several years. It was greed and corruption. You cna continue to blame President Obama but none of actions has caused any of these problems. (And please don't try to predict the future because no one knows how this spending will affect us.) GM and Chrysler were past fixing before Jan. 20th. He is not the one who approved and gave out $350B to the banks with no strings attached. You may not like what is going on but before you make statement like calling President Obama an idiot, think about how we got into this financial mess and who truly is to blame. If you have an answer on how to fix this mess, Let's hear it! Doing nothing, like you are suggesting with GM and Chrysler, is not an option that the President of the United States has. Many of us on Edmunds claimed that a governement backed bankruptcy is the only chance of survival for GM and Chrysler. Now that it is happening, people don't like what is going on! We got what we asked for. Now Chrysler is going to survive and get the partner they need. heck, the tax payers will likely get their money back from Chrysler evn if they are force to sell a few years down the road. I would not have approved any of this. I would have put the burden on Cerberus to fix Chrysler but jobs will be saved. I can live with being wrong in this one. I won't buy a Chrysler but they don't sell anything I like anyway.
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Replying to: dtownfb (May 28, 2009 6:54 pm) It would be crazy to blame Obama for the mess in the Domestic auto industry. What I don't like is his philosophy of more government control of the private sector. What started this latest round is taking Chrysler franchises from one dealer to benefit another. This smells of Chicago politics. You know the place where you can buy a Senate seat if you have enough cash. I think Obama is running the country with the same kind of underhanded politics that he was trained on. Unlike you I am not angry with our current president (or past president) with the government spending. I'm pissed off at all the greedy bastards who took advantage of people through the housing markets; invested people's retirement money in worthless and risky stocks and bonds; and put our entire banking system on the backs of the housing market (UN#$##$BELIEVABLE). We were not practicing capitalism the last several years. It was greed and corruption. There are too many thieves in that nest to name them all. And I fully agree with you. I have said before if Obama is able to crack down on offshore banking to avoid taxes he will go a long ways toward changing my mind about him. I think he has bit off way more than he is capable of handling with the auto industry bankruptcies.
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Replying to: dtownfb (May 28, 2009 11:14 am) In the effort to save General Motors Corp., the U.S. field general is a little-known 37-year-old named Harry J. Wilson. The team does much of the analytical research that underpins the task force's policy decisions, conducting interviews, touring auto plants and poring over financial records. That research has given Mr. Wilson a unique perch from which to influence decisions that are pushing the U.S. into its greatest, and most costly, peacetime industrial intervention." Mr. Wilson has "a blue-chip resume -- undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard University -- with a blue-collar history. Mr. Wilson's father had been a bartender, his mother a factory worker who had been laid off three times from dying textile mills in Johnstown, N.Y." Oh yeah, Wilson is a former hedge-fund star and lifelong Republican, and was president of the Harvard Republican Club in 1991. Who better to analyze campaign contributions? Young Hedge-Fund Executive Helps Steer Obama Auto Team (WSJ - may be a registration link). |
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Replying to: steve_ (May 29, 2009 4:54 pm) brand preference is lower on their list of priorities and they are being alienated by losing that connection.
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Replying to: explorerx4 (May 29, 2009 5:11 pm) I personally think the cuts are a big mistake. Attrition is a much better judge of which dealers should go out of business. |
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Automotive News & Views Dude, where did all the dealerships go?
