Comments on: GM, Chrysler Defend Slashing Dealerships

Execs Tell Congress They Have No Alternative As They Fight To Overcome Bankruptcy

[hologram5]

Chrysler has already cut a huge number of dealerships nationwide. There was an article on one guy that was making money, owns the property and all the stock outright but was still told he could not be a dealer anymore. what a crock! Crooks the lot of them. I mean the Fed Gov...

[vietnamwar]

Now Obama is spending time and all focused on running the failed auto companies when they were elected to solve problems like social security, illegal aliens, unemployment, healthcare, crime, security, the war, the economy etc. Sounds like procrastination and a distraction.... if you believe in capitalism, which the US is historically founded on and supposed to be, then you let the rules of capitalism run your economy.... when you interfere, you change the basis of your countries beliefs.......

[vietnamwar]

Obama has put people out of work....again...

[vietnamwar]

And now GM moves to China
Posted by grabandgo

GM recently invest over 4 Billions in China with our tax money bailout from Obama...and he promise to create job here in the US....heheh heh

[oftencensord]

Decreasing the sales staff, and make it harder to purchase GM by decreasing the number of locations, and make it more difficult to get your GM serviced......
YES that does sound like a plan for success !

[vietnamwar]

And now GM moves to China
Posted by grabandgo

Obama promise to keep jobs here in the US.....heh heh heh heh

[Henri_Rochard]

Let me see if I understand this...

My local GM dealer, in my city of 80,000, is going to close and the closest remaining GM dealer is FORTY MILES away in a town of 5,000 ??

THAT'S going to help sales for sure !!!

BTW, Chrysler and Ford will continue to have dealerships in my city. Does anyone want to bet that Ford and Chrysler will gain market share from GM ???

[tmittelstaed]

"...Cutting dealers is just plain stupid, dumb, and every other adjective you want to use! Why on earth would GM & Chrysler corporate want to cut off the hands of the very businesses that SELL their products?..."---Posted by govtguy

A lot of people have tried to analyze the cut lists and figure out the logic behind the dealership closures, but what most of them are overlooking is that there are multiple
reasons for the cutting, that's why it's so hard to analyze. But, if you have been around the car biz for a while, you will know most of them. Here for your perusal are some of the big reasons:

1) Dealers that sell competing brands (for example: a dealer owner who deals in both Toyota and GM)

2) Dealers with very low customer service scores

3) Dealers who make the vast majority of their profit from service, rather than from car sales

4) Dealers who haven't invested in all of the latest shop tools and diagnostic computers

5) Dealers who don't pay to send all their techs to the factory training seminars

6) Dealers who have high callbacks (ie: multiple and repeated repairs on the same vehicle)

7) Dealers who have large used car sales operations rather than disposing of most of their used vehicle trade-ins through auctions (sucks off potential new car sales prospects)

8) Dealers who sell mostly the cheaper loss-leader vehicles rather than the profitable vehicles (ie: dealers who don't upsell much)

9) Dealers who have had consistent declines in sales over the years.

10) Dealers who sell a large number of vehicles over the Internet to customers not in their designated territory.

Also, in large markets with multiple dealers, the factory is making the decision to cut the smaller and weaker dealers so as to feed more sales to the larger and stronger dealers, to keep them alive. They would rather have 1 dealer dead and 1 dealer alive, than 2 dealers so weakened that neither survives over the long run.

And the factory is also making the decision to simply write-off some of the smaller markets, as they see sales dropping below that needed to sustain the dealership, thus they know those dealers will eventually be driven to a competitor (ie: toyota, etc.) better off to cut them now.

You have to understand how profitable a dealer designation can be. A guy can maybe clear a bit under 6 figures a year in personal salary just running a used car lot. But, if he gets a name brand dealer designation, even if he only sells 10 new cars a year, when he hangs the name-brand sign on his used car lot, he can add another zero to that yearly salary of his.

What the factorys want are for the customer to have only a single dealer for their brand in any given area. That prevents the customer from playing different dealers against each other for pricing on the same make and model of car. You would think they don't care since they make the same money on the car whether it goes through 1 dealer or the other. But they do care because when this happens on the scale it happens today, all of their dealers are weakened, and to make up for the loss on new cars, the dealers engage in many questionable business practices - everything from diverting potential new car customers to their used car lots (where margins are far, far higher), to not paying their mechanics enough (and thereby losing the best mechanics) to doing extra warranty work (replacing stuff under warranty that isn't really broken) to shifting new customers to competing brands with higher margins.

[andylance1]

Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, suggested both GM and Chrysler were abandoning customers and dealers, some of whose families have been in the business for decades.

"I don't believe that companies should be allowed to take taxpayer funds for a bailout and then leave local dealers and their customers to fend for themselves with no real plan, no real notice and no real help," Rockefeller told the automakers. "That is just plain wrong."

Too bad Senator Rockefeller didn't inherit any business sense from his grandfather. Instead he was born with millions in the bank - sometimes called a silver spoon.

Too many auto dealers will sink the reorganized car companies. Keep Congress away from messing with these new companies or our billions will go down the drain.

[CB_Brooklyn]

The reality of free energy goes mainstream. On April 19, 2009 CBS' 60 Minutes broadcasted a segment on Cold Fusion. Not only do they speak optimistically, they also state the Pentagon verified the free energy claims! The MUST SEE CBS video and article are linked below:

Cold Fusion Is Hot Again
60 Minutes: Once Considered Junk Science, Cold Fusion Gets A Second Look By Researchers
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/17/60minutes/main4952167.shtml



Why was this technology suppressed for 20 years? Why does Obama still suppress the technology? See here for answers:

The 9/11 Truth Movement, Free Energy Suppression, and the Global Elite?s Agenda
http://www.checktheevidence.co.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=60

OR here:
http://tinyurl.com/69ud7b

[grabandgo]

And now GM moves to China

[formrusmcsgt]

The chiefs of General Motors and Chrysler told Congress on Wednesday they have too many dealers to support their slimmed down operations and sacrifices must be shared as they fight to overcome bankruptcy and survive.
---
I hope all the morons who, for weeks, have been claiming the dealerships were being closed by Obama read the above.

[govtguy]

Cutting product line (ie loss leader vehicles) makes sense. Cutting dealers is just plain stupid, dumb, and every other adjective you want to use! Why on earth would GM & Chrysler corporate want to cut off the hands of the very businesses that SELL their products? You might notice that there are few, if any, corporate exec's giving up their bonus's and perc's, and certainly few to none that have voluntarily reduced their wages. Maybe the Big Three needs to be replaced by foreign name plates until they can prove they have what it takes to actually be "The Big Three". Close 'em!

[vietnamwar]

OBAMA BASHERS

Posted by troutfishyman

hey what about Bush bashers....heh heh heh

[troutfishyman]

OBAMA BASHERS

Chrysler had a 5 year plan to reduce dealerships, a plan that was in place and in process BEFORE any of this happened. But they were forced to do this through attrition and buyouts because of contracts in place. Bankruptcy allowed them to go full speed on dealership elimination - how do you think they were able to come up with the closure list so quickly?

I understand there are many who will hate Obama no matter what. But PLEASE try to use your logic skills to understand what is going on here.

[specialty8]

Obama sure has a way of saving jobs. He can save the rich bankers and the ones that gave him big money, but I guess the dealers just did not give enough to matter.

[blog_fever2]

This is what you get when you vote in a Marxist dictator like Obama.
Posted by -----One--American----- at 1:43 PM : Jun 3, 2009
***************************************************************
So are you suggesting that over a century of poor management and inferior vehicles is President Obama's fault? Please elaborate on that one.

[blog_fever2]

"He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he who gives to the rich will surely come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16

Anyone in here been taken advantage of by a dealership?

[grabandgo]

Will the CEO's and execs be taking huge salry cuts?

[randomlybanned]

Come on lefties, hurry! Rush out and buy yourselves some of that Obama Motors. They got that new Marxist smell. Make your president proud!!