GM Dealers Feel The Pinch

(CBS)  Russ Shelton loves his job. Selling cars, he says, is his passion.

"There's never any more fun than selling a car. We've enjoyed a good 50 years."

He is the president and CEO of Shelton Pontiac-Buick-GMC in Rochester Hills, Mich., a dealership his father started in 1958. Soon though, it could become Shelton Buick-GMC.

In the restructuring plan GM submitted to Congress earlier this week, the company announced that it would be downsizing the Pontiac label in order to cut costs. GM will turn it into a "specialty brand with reduced product offerings," according to their report.

Shelton explains that Pontiac will likely become, "a model within a model like Corvette is to Chevrolet."

Pontiac sales account for about 50 percent of his business and losing or downsizing the brand would be devastating. "As we always say, if you don't sell, you don't eat.

"Being in business 50 years, I think we've pretty much been through everything. But this is totally different than anything I can remember," he said.

Just 10 miles down the road from Shelton's dealership, the Orion GM assembly plant produces hundreds of Pontiac G6's daily - Shelton's best-selling car.

A reduction in the brand spells job cuts at the plant. "[Pontiacs are] 40 percent of our build," says Sherri Ferrier, an assembly line employee at the factory. "So if that shuts a shift down, there's more job loss." The plant operates three shifts, 24 hours a day. The Pontiac G6 accounts for about half of the plant's production.

Says Steve Thomson, a quality network representative at the GM plant, "Before the crunch, we couldn't build G6s fast enough. There was only a three-day supply out there."

How times have changed.

[hello_fr_pi]

before we the people bail them out let''s see them make some sacrifices to keep afloat or won''t the unions accept that? maybe they could get a loan from the UAW? work without health care, i''ve done it. let the employees sacrifice to save the companies and the ceo type tap their personal resources. i grew up in MI and have always wondered why the "leaders" in the industry would ignore the future technologies. it was only a matter of time.

[whatchange-2009]

Just traded a Suburban with about 200k for a Dodge pick up (all I ever put on the Chevy was a fuel pump and tires).Posted by drputt45 at 01:35 PM : Dec 05, 2008 ************************ You dump a vehicle that gave you that kind of service for another brand because it was prettier? I''ve got some ocean front property in Arizona I want to sell you as well. I own 4 Suburban(K2500''s)and they all work like that. I''ll give them up when they bury me. At what price are you willing to sell your personal safety to Toyota or Honda? We''re not even going to talk about American jobs lost.---------Signed: Horse Rancher in Florida

[ramos937]

A suggestion only....If you do have to buy a recent car, consider the car rental companies. The last two cars I have bought came from Enterprise Rent A Car and I have been very happy with both. Warranties are still in effect. Plus, the price is roughly 1/3 off.

[ksjeff-2009]

I would estimate that 70 - 80% of Americans are fu**ing morons based on the comments I read here today.

[bud28dy]

My wife has a 1996 Pontiac Bonneville and loves it. I drive a 1997 Chevy S-10. The vehicles are 12 and 13 years old and run well, but I''''d buy a replacement tomorrow except I live in California and no matter where I buy the car according to California my sales tax goes to the town I live in, and the town just voted in a Cop tax to put more idiots on the street who think it''''s necessary to take my picture when I ride a bike down the street, put a decoy car in my path when I take a walk, spy on me when I walk laps around the park (moving and hiding elsewhere when I walk in their direction), and when they can''''t find anything to charge me with dropping a bag labelled medical perfectly centered on my driveway 5 ft. out in the street and then making the mistake of parking a block upwind where the stench from the pig sty emanating from the vehicle wafts toward the package giving away their location. Retired Nuclear Engineer and 13 gallon blood donor.

Posted by ludvig1
----------------------------------------
Dude the only vehicle you should be in isn''t an Oldsmobile but a padded ambulance going to the nearest mental hospital. Seriously.

[wl7bzh]

love the trick where you''re at the car dealers office signing the paper work and do the favor of taking the car off the lot to "wash it for you"-Little suggestion-compare the odometer reading of the car you agreed to buy with the one brought back from the "courtesy car wash"

[ramos937]

I live in a small city in South Texas. We have a main drag that has almost all of the city''s dealers. I was curious today as to how many new car dealers there was along this strip (I am retired) so I took an unscientific census. There are about 20 to 25 dealers. All sell a mixture of domestic brands and "foreign" brands ("foreign" is not really appropriate since these cars come from San Antonio, TN, WV, etc.). For example, in the same block, I saw Champion Chevrolet, Champion Toyota, Champion Honda, Champion GMC. This means that if this dealer is selling less domestic brands, the foreign brands pick up the slack.

Those dealers that did not see this coming just simply were not paying attention. It is a fundamental law of business that you have to think ahead. If you do not, then you do not survive.

[ludvig1-2009]

My wife has a 1996 Pontiac Bonneville and loves it. I drive a 1997 Chevy S-10. The vehicles are 12 and 13 years old and run well, but I''d buy a replacement tomorrow except I live in California and no matter where I buy the car according to California my sales tax goes to the town I live in, and the town just voted in a Cop tax to put more idiots on the street who think it''s necessary to take my picture when I ride a bike down the street, put a decoy car in my path when I take a walk, spy on me when I walk laps around the park (moving and hiding elsewhere when I walk in their direction), and when they can''t find anything to charge me with dropping a bag labelled medical perfectly centered on my driveway 5 ft. out in the street and then making the mistake of parking a block upwind where the stench from the pig sty emanating from the vehicle wafts toward the package giving away their location. Retired Nuclear Engineer and 13 gallon blood donor.

[liberate40]

Sell Pontiac to the Chinese or to the Indians. They are flush with cash from all the junk goods we buy from them. We Americans are broke and living on debt that our great-grandchildren will have to repay.

[ocasanas]

Here is an idea: reduce Pontiack Buick GMC to nothing. Reduding a brand doesn''t solve any problems. Switch to the Yugo brand as in there yu go ...