If I was a Chrysler or GM dealer caught up in the recent dealership closure announcements I’d be damned curious as to what type of criteria they used in making their decision. Rush Limbaugh is already bitching that Republican dealers are being targeted, but that is patently ridiculous. I mean, how may Democrat car dealers are there out there? Like four?
Now I realize that a drastic reduction in the amount of Chrysler and GM dealerships was necessary; too many dealers, too little sales. Someone has to go. But how do you make the decision as to who goes and who stays? If you need to get rid of 25% of your dealers, wouldn’t it be logical that you just get rid of the lowest 25% performers?
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be that way. From what I gather it appears that many successful dealerships that are making money each month have inexplicably received cancellation letters while other less successful dealers have been spared. What’s that all about?
Chrysler and GM might be using this opportunity to extract a little revenge on renegade dealerships. You know, the type of dealer with an independent mind that doesn’t like to play ball with the factory all the time. Maybe they demurred when they were asked to order an extra load of Durangos during the height of the gas crisis. They’ve got a good business; they know how to sell cars (something the factory is notoriously ignorant about), yet they are going away.
I certainly hope that political correctness hasn’t entered the process. Over the last three decades the manufactures have strived to have an “inclusive” dealer body. This means they wanted more than just white males as car dealers. Minorities were actively recruited, a lofty ideal that I wholeheartedly agree with. There are certainly some great minority men and women out there that have become successful dealers because they were given a chance.
But there were also some recruits who didn’t know their asses from a hole in the ground. I know this sounds harsh, but if you’ve been around this business for any length of time you have either worked for or heard of a dealer who got his franchise for reasons other than being a potentially great Car Man. So what about these inept goofs? Have some of them been saved at the expense of a hard working stiff who was dumped because he has the misfortune of having blue eyes?
Since I don’t work for anybody in the media, I can sound off on this. Since you don’t know exactly where I live, I don’t expect any Molotov cocktails to be thrown at my front window any time soon. I’m not a racist. I just call them as I see them. In my opinion a dealer’s franchise should only be canceled because of their proven lack of merit, not because of sex, race or any other factor.
Hey, you lawyers out there! Can you smell a class-action lawsuit in the air?
One more thought before I go out and hawk for an up. A friend of mine who works at a Dodge dealership that was given the ax told me they had received a couple of taunting calls from another dealership that had escaped their fate. Make me emperor of this country for a week, and I’ll line those bastards up against a wall and have them shot.
Never forget that we are all in this together. We don’t have to like each other, but we should all recognize the simple fact that everyone has a right to make a living, and we should all have a little empathy for all our collective fates. What happens to your automotive brother might happen to you some day, so have some compassion!
Talk to you later,
David
2 comments:
David- Many dealers fail to recognize the reality that being told GOODBYE by the factory ain't necessarily a negative! Outsourcing began with many of the factory workers at Domestic plants buying Foreign cars and trucks for their own personal use! Now, they're losing their jobs because so many folks are buying Foreign cars... and the outsourcing which is always OK with everyone until it impacts THEIR paycheck has grown to the point where even GM is talking about importing small cars from its China unit. What is really wrong with our country is that we have lost our position as a BUILDER of goods and become a CONSUMER of goods made elsewhere. If you're not producing products that the world wants, you are going to see your economy TANK, because your balance of trade will be so out of whack. Smart dealers that got launched by domestic factories are scrambling to get foreign nameplate franchises. What is wrong with that picture?
As far as one group of salesmen being happy about the closure of a competitor, that's nothing new. Been around since Caesar invented his famous salad bar!
We all need to sit up and tell the big corporations to stop outsourcing. The thought that Uncle Sam now owns 33% of GMAC is enough to put the fear of God into any car man. Can you imagine President Obama on the buy desk at GMAC? I can't.
All of this rescue and bailout is just a band-aid. What's wrong with GM, Ford and Chrysler isn't going to get fixed in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years. It's a perception issue. As long as the domestics are perceived as less "green" than their foreign competition, it's dark days ahead.
At some point, banks may refuse to finance domestic vehicles. The value of the car (new or used) is related to how it is perceived in the marketplace? Remember how 'soft' KIAS used to be? Remember when banks refused to finance Hyundais?
Wouldn't it be weird to see that happen with Fords, Chryslers or Chevys?
It's a scary time to be in the car biz, when sales have tanked from 16 million new units a year to just 10. Those 6 million lost sales represent a helluva lot of U.S. JOBS, not just at the dealership level.
If we don't start building things that sell well overseas, we'll all be looking for an underpass to call home.
Name withheld.
Being told by the factory isn't a negative? How many extra franchises do you think are out there?
The fact is is that most of the effected dealers are going bye-bye and there is nothing they can do about unless they concentrate on selling used cars and tent trailers in the summer.
Like it or not the economy and the government is going to make sure that the automotive buying habits of the American public are going to change. We are all going to be driving versions of the Prius or the Smart Car like it or not.
As for our pick ups and SUVs--they are going to make sure that purchasing one of those suckers is going to be painful. So painful that only the wealthy will be able to afford the traditional all American pick-up.
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