Jun 03
2009GM, Chrysler defend slashing dealerships
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Gary on 03-06-2009
that there are too many dealers and the networks date from the 1940s and 1950s when motorists lived farther apart and Detroit automakers led the world in sales.
“These are tough times for everyone in the GM family. And, as part of the GM family, our dealers are also being asked to bear some of the sacrifice in order to build a stronger, more viable GM.”
“there’s not enough business for the number of dealers Chrysler has today, given that we have less than two-thirds of our former sales volume,”
“Poor performing dealers cost us customers. It’s true that dealers are our customers, but it works both ways. If they don’t sell cars, we don’t either.”
I’m honestly trying to figure out how poor performing dealers are costing them customers. If someone doesn’t like one Chevrolet dealer and goes to the enxt one, GM is still getting that person’s money.
And considering the manufacturers get paid by the dealers and the dealers get paid by customers I’m having difficulty seeing how less dealers is good for either GM or Chrysler.
The ones being hurt are the dealers who paid the franchise fee and now are told to hit the road and the customers who won’t be able to use one dealer against another to get the best price. But in the end, the remaining dealers will be the ones helped since they are most likely going to pay GM and Chrysler the same amount they pay now.
So how exactly is this helping the manufactuers. The only ones that look good are the dealers that will be left. They make more profit…
But it seems to me a dealership ought to be the ones deciding if they will remain in business.
