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Dude, where did all the dealerships go?

720 messages,  Last post on Apr 19, 2013 at 9:32 PM

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Messages Page 70 of 73

#687 of 720 Ellis Brooks Chevy in SF by nippononly

Mar 28, 2011 (7:46 am)

died in the recession after being there for almost 100 years, thereby ending GM's presence in San Francisco for good.
 
In the news today is that Nissan/Infiniti, which also didn't have a presence in the City, will be taking over that old dealership. Good news for Nissan, and for Penske Automotive, which will be the owner.
 
I am surprised that didn't happen in more of the abandoned dealerships in the area.

#688 of 720 biggest dealership decline since the 50s by nippononly

Apr 18, 2011 (8:30 am)

As brands disappear, dealership count takes a historic dive
 
More than 20 percent of U.S. car dealerships disappeared between Jan. 1, 2006, and Jan. 1, 2011, according to the Automotive News Data Center. In fact, the past half-decade has seen a greater proportion of the dealer body fall away than any whole decade since the 1950s, when the dealer count fell by 22 percent.
 
In both eras, a rash of brand failures contributed to the sharp decline.
 
In the 1950s, the Allstate, Crosley, Frazer, Henry J, Hudson, Kaiser, Nash, Willys-Overland and Packard brands disappeared. Since 2006, Isuzu, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Mercury have vanished from the U.S. market.
 
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110411/RETAIL07/304119974/-- 1
 
I wonder which contributed more to dealerships closing - the termination of those 5 brands, or the MASSIVE shrinkage of the remaining brands at the Detroit Big 3.

#689 of 720 Re: biggest dealership decline since the 50s [nippononly] by fezo

Jun 02, 2011 (10:41 am)

Replying to: nippononly (Apr 18, 2011 8:30 am)
Out with the old and in with the new. That Chevy dealership that took forever to die is now gone. In its place is "Now Open - Manahawkin Kia!" We'll see.
 
I notice that all the brand new Hyundais that were on the back of the lot are no longer there. I have to figure the Hyundai dealer found someplace else for his excess inventory.

#690 of 720 Calling all dealers! by carthell

Jun 20, 2011 (11:45 pm)

I'm considering the effects of Carmageddon 2008 on a possible vehicle purchase next year. How many dealers can I go to? The city I live in and its suburbs host just over a million residents, but there's only one new car dealership in the city. Purchasing won't be as much as a problem as service (perhaps I'll post my experience here one day).
 
Here are the counts of dealers where I could go to purchase vehicles, roughly in the order of descending product desirability, in or near my metropolitan area:
 
Mazda: 4 (two owned by the same chain)
Hyundai: 5
VW: 5 (two owned by the same chain)
Subaru: 4
Ford: 7*
Nissan: 6
Toyota/Scion: 5
Chevrolet: 7** (two owned by the same chain)
Mitsubishi: 3
Acura, Cadillac: (2, 5)***
Chrysler: 6****
Bentley: 1*****
 
* Would have been #1 if Ford brought over the Focus wagon.
** If the HHR is still around next year.
*** 401k? Wuzzat?
**** Emergency funds have three purposes: to sustain you through
unemployment, pay for major repairs, and to get Chrysler 300s.
Ask your dad about that, he knows!
***** Just Because. Besides, Bugatti wasn't close enough.
 
In general, the picks get slimmer at the top of the list.
 
Although more long-time brands are near the top of my list than previously, circumstances have changed. Mazda might dry up and blow away in two years. Suzuki's former growth stats are now inherited by Hyundai; high growth doesn't necessarily mean anything if I can't find a critical part in the 7th or 8th year of owning a vehicle.
 
There's a lot to consider between now and next year.

#691 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [carthell] by fezo

Jun 29, 2011 (12:52 pm)

Replying to: carthell (Jun 20, 2011 11:45 pm)
That's an interesting list. I like the way you think. Especially the footnotes.
 
Well, the big town in our county that lost its Chevy dealership late 08 or early 09 now has one back. The rapidly growing mega-dealer that brought Dodge, Chrysler, Keep and Mazda back to town now adds Chevy to its stable.
 
We still have a lot of empty places waiting for a new owner but slowly they are filling back in.

#692 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [fezo] by michaell

Jun 30, 2011 (6:52 am)

Replying to: fezo (Jun 29, 2011 12:52 pm)
The local Dodge / Jeep / Chrysler dealership closed several years ago when Chrysler was forced to slash the number of dealerships.
 
However, they just reopened a week or two ago in the building that used to house the Hummer dealer here in town.
 
So, now our town has the following makes available - all from the same dealership group:
 
Ford
Lincoln
Suzuki
Chevrolet
Buick
GMC
Dodge
Chrysler
Jeep
Ram

#693 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [michaell] by fintail

Jun 30, 2011 (7:53 am)

Replying to: michaell (Jun 30, 2011 6:52 am)
Sounds kind of like the smallish town where my mother lives - Ford, Lincoln, Chevy, Buick, GMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Toyota - all under one group. Honda is the only independent. No Nissan and no Euros there, population is too small and not very affluent.
 
In my boomburb, just about every make can be found - Ford/Lincoln, Chevy and Mopar all on the same block, Volvo, Caddy, Lexus there too, Nissan not far away, then Audi, Acura, MB, BMW, Porsche, Bentley, Aston, Saab within a few minutes drive, Toyota, VW, Subaru, and Honda on the other side of town.

#694 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [fintail] by fezo

Jun 30, 2011 (8:05 am)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 30, 2011 7:53 am)
Let's see.... our local "family of dealerships" has Ford, Lincoln, Nissan, Honda. They used to have Jeep and Suzuki but those got pulled. A couple of years after that happened the Dodge-Chrysler dealer across the street got the Jeep dealership. They replaced the Suzuki part of the dealership with what they call their "luxury imports" - used car lot with nice overpriced cars.
 
We have a Buick - GMC dealer and the just opened Kia dealership as well as a Hyundai that opened maybe 2 years ago.

#695 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [fezo] by fintail

Jun 30, 2011 (8:23 am)

Replying to: fezo (Jun 30, 2011 8:05 am)
No Korean makes technically in my town, but I know there's a Hyundai dealer about 5 miles away, and I think a Kia dealer in the same area.
 
The Nissan dealer here has the same kind of thing, a "luxury import" lot - it even masquerades as an independent dealership, but in the free car rags found at grocery stores sometimes units on the used car lot are advertised by the Nissan dealer, and the used car lot sometimes stores surplus Nissans. Quite a few higher end used car dealers in the area too.

#696 of 720 Re: Calling all dealers! [fintail] by robr2

Jun 30, 2011 (12:21 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 30, 2011 8:23 am)
New England has lots of small and mid size towns so to list what dealers are in your town is not a real sampling.
 
In my town of 23,000 (which swells to about 100,000 during the day due to office parks) has a Honda dealer, a Kia dealer and a Porsche/Audi dealer - all owned by the same company. The Kia went into the old Porsch/Audi showroom after they built a new palace for Porsche/Audi down the road.
 
Within a 10 mile radius though, we have:
 
Toyota/Scion/Jaguar store
Chevrolet
Toyota
Nissan x2
Ford X2
Saab/Volvo store
Mazda
Hyundai
VW.
Mitsubishi

Messages Page 70 of 73

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