Closing auto dealers: Dumb move

[Homeslice]

Brand equity, you say? Let's take the extreme case, if there was only one Chevy dealer every 500 miles. What kind of brand equity are you going to have then? Chevy isn't Ferrari, people don't worship their cars, so they can't get by with as few dealers as Ferrari can.

And yes, the manufacturers do regularly review dealers for standards and such, and do often threaten them with the loss of it, but.........When I was at Ford, it was mostly due to customer service issues, as well as lame attempts to get them to order more cars ......Not due to costs of doing business. The amount of time spent on each dealer is not as much as people think. When I was with Ford, the small rural dealers were treated to maybe 2-3 phone calls a month. Does having fewer dealers make things more efficient, yes, but for you to say that it will automatically help sell more cars?? Jigga pleaz....... that's where I called bs.

And when this is a Democrat administration that is allegedly supposed to care about jobs........

Seems like the only jobs Democrats understand are factory (union) jobs......Not dealership jobs, which are small businesses that the average big-city Democrat doesn't appreciate, other than spouting off a few pandering soundbites during election time. BOTH parties are sacks of shit that are just guessing WTF they are doing.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

blah blah blah Does having fewer dealers make things more efficient, yes

Glad you finally get the point

Originally Posted by Homeslice

yes, but for you to say that it will automatically help sell more cars??

Oh yeah...here is where I said that

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Dumbass

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Glad you finally get the point

Except those efficiencies are very minor, since the manufacturer doesn't own the dealer, and only helps him with a teeny bit of his expenses.

Oh yeah...here is where you said that:

Originally Posted by pauldun170

I don't know, I thought the point was to sell cars, not create sales jobs.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Except those efficiencies are very minor, since the manufacturer doesn't own the dealer, and only helps him with a teeny bit of his expenses.

Oh yeah...here is where you said that:

I can see how you could interpret it that way.


My point is that the government helping Automakers get around all the legal bullshit concerning dealers in was assisting automakers in restructuring efforts.
The point of those restructuring efforts is to help automaker shed legacy bs and focus on selling cars.
Not focus on retail jobs, the focus of the original article.

Reread my posts and hopefully you will see that.

Dealerships purchase the franchise rights and represent the automaker in the market place. It is the right of the automaker to control that arrangement.

My perspective on dealer saturation is from an economist standpoint.
Are you going to standby your assertion that consumers cross-shop between GM products and Toyota products?