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GM to eliminate 2,600 dealerships over the course of this year....WTF

7K views 147 replies 44 participants last post by  Rexone 
#1 ·
G
#4 ·
Look at it this way, all the foreign car lovers (or American car haters) finally got their wish. Now they can cheer on.

Sad that our generation is partially (or more) responsible for the demise of an American legend(s). Our ancestors are probably rolling in their graves.

Hopefully GM will make it through this, somehow.
 
#10 ·
:mad::mad: so are we all gonna be laughing when America is owned by foreign countries, dependant on foreign companies for everything !!!, gee, once upon a time in America "WE" were the worlds standard !!!!!, and shit we even used to make things in this country !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad:, we even had people who had mechanical skills.........the now generation, I can text, I can twitter, I can play xbox, and I think I have a brain, oh, better sit back on the couch someone else will take care of me attitude, I pity the future of America..............................
 
#11 ·
The auto companies can partially put the blame on themselves. I went out last week to buy a new Silverado. I have an 03 and am happy with it. I know how much a month I pay and how much was owed. Also know what the interest rate was and my credit score. Checked the NADA and Edmunds trade in value and what the new ones are going for. Now to the dealer. I tell them what I want and how much I'm willing to pay. A little low, but maybe they will bite? They come back with a trade in for ALOT less than what was shone, and a monthly payment of 3X what Im paying now! Frocking crazy!!! And they wondered why I walked out. The truck wasn't that much nicer than what I have now.
Checked at a Dodge dealer for a truck. Went in twice and never did see a salesperson. Guess they don't want to sell either?
 
#12 ·
Used to be you only had a choice of a few dealers to go and look. Nowadays there is a dealer of every brand in every city. No wonder they are downsizing, maybe the cost of a vehicle will come down to affordable before long too.
 
#13 ·
GM has way too many dealers per car sale. It is much their own fault this is necessary imo. They have numerous other problems to solve as well, related to over compensation etc.
 
#17 ·
Nobody faults the UAW? They've had a gun to the heads of the big three for well over half a century making ludicrous demands while holding them hostage and nobody thinks they need to be kicked to the curb? I'd prefer them filing bankruptcy and kissing the UAW good-by then starting their entire line of cars back up into production with $16. per hour workers - with the promise of being paid more for better performance levels.

In other words, doing like their foreign counterparts have been doing overseas for 30 years now. Makes competitive sense.
 
#18 ·
That's what I was referring to with my overcompensation comment. I just didn't want to start yet another anti-union thread. :D
 
#21 ·
Look at it this way, all the foreign car lovers (or American car haters) finally got their wish. Now they can cheer on.

Sad that our generation is partially (or more) responsible for the demise of an American legend(s). Our ancestors are probably rolling in their graves.

Hopefully GM will make it through this, somehow.
In order for the American car companies to survive the unions and still try to sell cars and try to make a profit then something had to give. It was quality.

Please explain to me why I would take my hard earned money and buy less quality so they can give into the unions who will always demand more?

It amazes me when people bitch about jobs leaving this country. Have you ever asked yourself why? Oh yea it's the greedy corporations. The corporations have to make money for the share holders and they will / have to do what ever they can to do that.
 
#27 ·
Boeing has been doing it for years. Boeing sent tons of work out of Long Beach and Seattle to focking RUSSIA.



It amazes me when people bitch about jobs leaving this country. Have you ever asked yourself why? Oh yea it's the greedy corporations. The corporations have to make money for the share holders and they will / have to do what ever they can to do that.
 
#22 ·
before everyone gets all shitty and blames this on the dealers, keep in mind those dealers that have been in biz for decades will be told to shut their doors without compensation. that means that the owners and alllll his employees are now without income and at the unemployment office standing in line together. when you're told to close, gm doesn't do shit for ya;) we've already had our conference call with gm and we're stayin open , at least for the next 2yrs:)devil they renewed our franchise contract tues:D but i have alot of tech buddies that will be outta a job soon.
 
#24 ·
Next door neighbor just received the pink slip. Nineteen years with Jaguar.

Seems to be affecting everyone.
 
#26 ·
Can someone explain why they are closing the dealerships? Aren't the dealerships owned privately? If they are, what good would closing them do? If the guy who owns the dealership isn't selling cars that he's paying to floor, how does this effect GM?


This is really a f-d up deal, and I made a comment about Ford earlier, but I've had a lot of great GM cars and trucks over the years and I'm very sad to see this happen.
 
#36 ·
Can someone explain why they are closing the dealerships? Aren't the dealerships owned privately? If they are, what good would closing them do? If the guy who owns the dealership isn't selling cars that he's paying to floor, how does this effect GM?


This is really a f-d up deal, and I made a comment about Ford earlier, but I've had a lot of great GM cars and trucks over the years and I'm very sad to see this happen.
GM is not going to renew the contract with the dealer, so hence the dealer will have to close, becasue GM will no longer sell cars to that dealer.
 
#33 ·
Your the new CEO of XYZ corporation. You have stockholders all over the map, includng large institutional investors, public utilities and several different retirement funds.

You have a nice compesation package, but the golden egg is the stock options which will alow you to cash in if you can raise the stock price.

You have the opportunity to move production overseas and the savings are huge! Labor is 1/10 of the US. Tax breaks will drive up bottom line cash with the foreign corporation and environmental restrictions are nill. With those savings, it's predicted by Wall Street that your stock could double!

So what do you do Mr CEO??? :)coffee
 
G
#34 ·
You're pledged to the stockholders, they own your ass. You do what you gotta do as long as it's moral, ethical, and legal. And there is a ton of grey in all 3 of those.

Until we practice a little protectionism, nothing will change.
 
#37 ·
They need to weed out the underperforming dealerships and there are plenty. They kept alot of them around due to the fact most of the older slower dealers overhead was so low that it wasn't much a financial drain on GM, but when even those dealers start needing cars floored, parts floored etc than GM says see ya. In my area of Upland we have, Mtn View, Mark Chris(same owners), Hibbard, M.K.Smith, Glendora, and Rotolo Chevrolet all w/in 10-15 miles of each other and I'm probably leaving out a few. IMO too many. GM is probably hoping for less competition which will help prices sustain on cars, service and parts.

I've often wondered how many cars the Chevy dealer in Needles can possibly move per month, can't be that many and I'm sure their overhead is manageable, but there is also dealers in BHC and Havasu as well.
 
#46 ·
this sucks. But its business.

Read the Wall Street Journal today. if you want to understand the problem.

sales are down on average 45%... time to start getting rid of unused fixed costs and distribution networks to "right size" the company (downward). Also get variable costs (i.e. labor) under control.

Too many dealers in the distribution channel will cause price competition among dealers for the fewer customers left out there. Not good for the company profits.

Until this is done the company will continue hemorrhaging $$$$....

The reason Ford is doing OK because to some extent they have already done this....
 
#47 ·
Business

Change constantly or risk death.

This deep recession made the inevitable judgment day come up much faster than they expected.

It's amazinag how a major chapter in the US economy closed in a matter of 6 months. We'll be telling our kids what it was like to have so many cars made in America and how dealerships were in every small town just like the Good Humor man.
 
#67 ·
DING DING DING !!! WE HAVE A WINNER..:D Also to the comment about Warranty work costing GM money.. GM bakes a fixed cost into the purchase price of the vehicle even before it bought or drove off the lot.I know on a Chevy Colorado/Canyon $3500.00 of the sicker price is for warranty issues.
 
#56 ·
I wish the Americans built a motorcycle that rode/ran like my 900RR and Banshee's.

Other than that, I have never owned cookie cutter foreign cars and can't imagine it either.

I shudder to think my next motorhome won't be a Dodge. I was actually thinking of having mine re-bodied. haha

I don't believe I have ever bought a foreign product based on price.

Brian
 
#69 ·
Do I need to point out the Obama and the WH is the proxy CEO of GM right now..............and all the stimulus money that was supposed to save jobs right now.........Hope/Change I can believe in........................NOT!



Please insert the I hate Obama comments below this post. Thanks:)sphss
 
#74 ·
Do I need to point out the Obama and the WH is the proxy CEO of GM right now..............and all the stimulus money that was supposed to save jobs right now.........Hope/Change I can believe in........................NOT!
Exactly.... I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned the $31B spent to prop these car makers up, so they could slowly fall apart. Remember the cartoon that showed the CEO's telling Congress that if the first $17B worked they be back in the spring to ask for another $17B? So far so good. I wonder how much they'll ask for this summer...

The rich keep getting richer while the little guy pays for it. What a crock of shit!
 
#80 ·
The reason GM (and Ford and Chrysler) have so many more dealers than necessary is legacy. 30 years ago and back, the Big 3 WERE the auto industry in this country. Our wide open borders and biggest auto market in the world guarantees anyone making a decent car is gonna come here to sell them. So needless to say, every time a new entrant comes in there is going to be a decrease in market share.

I'm so sick of all this talk of "market share loss" and equating it to Big 3's mistakes alone. Think if the industry as a pie. You have 3 people enjoying a pie, when then 15 uninvited guests show up. Pie doesnt' get bigger, everyone's piece gets smaller.

So, the market share has decreased and the need for dealers along with it, but the franchise laws made it impossible to be rid of all them. These days, the dealers know they won't be getting anything so most won't even fight this.
 
#81 ·
Only the strong and profitable survive. Maybe it is time for them to go down. Nothing lasts forever. I know if I ran a company into the ground I wouldnt get bail out money I would be in bankruptsy court. Did the Big 3 think that the mortgage driven economy would never collapse just like millions of homeowners. Plenty of people getting kicked to the curb because of bad or uninformed financial decisions. I personnaly dont think even with all the loans that the auto industry can survive. We the people sustain the auto industry and we got so beat up the last few years that paying 20 to 40k for new auto is probably the last thing on most peoples list. Theres millions of decent used cars out there far cheaper than new this might put the real hurt on a big 3 comeback anytime soon. I was in the auto biz for 20 years and I feel for all the commision employees slowly starving to death. I have a close friend still in the biz getting paid 100% commision and barely getting by. So the dealership he's loyaly been working for the past ten years tells all the employees that they are soley responsible for there health care benefits talk about a kick in the junk. Now your treated like a day laborer at home depot. That whole biz turned into shit.
 
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