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Automotive News & Views Dude, where did all the dealerships go?
653 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 6:23 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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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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Replying to: steve_ (May 29, 2009 4:54 pm) With a pink carnation and a pickup truck, But I knew I was out of luck The day the music died. I started singin', "bye-bye, miss american pie." Drove my chevy to the levee, But the levee was dry. Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye And singin', "this 'll be the day that I die. "this 'll be the day that I die." - Don McLean
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Replying to: oregonboy (May 29, 2009 9:38 pm) With a pink carnation and a pickup truck, That would be Napoleon Dynamite. Makes me glad I voted for Pedro.  It's a different flippin' world these days.... |
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But I believe part of the problem is that the manufacturers and dealers hardly ever listen to the consumers. Sure they made cars the consumers bought but did ever seriously consider how the consumer reacted to low cost daily transportation? The Koreans gained market share by offering low cost entry level transportation. Shoot even the Yugo sold a few cars because of cost alone. But the big boys didn’t care and things slowed down and even the Korean cars started creeping up in price. Now the economy is in shambles and it doesn’t look like it will recover anytime real soon and the dealers somehow expect people to come in and plunk down 15 to 20k on a car? The old days may be over and we may be about to enter a new era where the dealerships are no longer the service centers and salesmen are just clerks. Then again things could go back to what we once had and nothing will have changed. Nothing will have changed but the customers who will have learned from the rest of the retail industry that the old prices were too high and everything can be had at the sale price. Still if the dealerships all went out of business and we got a new model would the consumer care?
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Replying to: gagrice (May 28, 2009 8:16 pm) We are closer than you think in our way of thinking. All we can hope for now is to get out of the auto industry as quick as possible.
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Replying to: dtownfb (May 31, 2009 6:08 pm) 
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