Quote:
Originally Posted by fbodfather
well -- as you know, my family has owned a few Chevy dealerships over the years -- and my cousin still runs one......
I can tell you that I've not slept in a couple of weeks -- this is a gut wrenching thing to watch -- believe me -- it's been HORRIBLE.............
Here's the problem:
In 1970 (when Honda built motorcycles, Datsun was Nissan, Toyotas sold cars in California and that was about it, (and foreign cars' interiors would deteriorate right on the lots...)...the Big Three were Chevy, Ford, and Plymouth, --and Americans still bought American cars and were proud to do so........we had the right number of dealers in the right locations.
Then the world changed.
I can think of one area in the country where there are 20+ Chevy dealers -- and 7 Toyota Dealers -- and Toyota outsells Chevy 3 to one.
That means the Toyota dealer is probably making some serious money....and it also means that most of the Chevy dealers are either losing money -- and have for some time - or are making very little money.........
That's a bad thing.
I remember a dealer saying to me one time: "If you have 50 head of cattle and enough food for 30 -- do you try to feed all 50 and watch them all get diseased and die? -- OR -- do you slaughter 20 and keep 30 healthy ones?"
.........see where this is going?
The really sad part? (and this is going to get a few people going.....)
WHEN did it become fashionable for Americans to hate America? And when did it become fashionable for Americans to buy from countries that would not lift a finger to help us in bad times? And where did the thought come from that a service industry can create untold wealth? (.......there is less and less industry and production in this country and it scares the HELL out of me...)
Sorry guys and gals -- but the past few months have been a living hell for a lot of people -- and I guess I look back at how America pulled together during the first world war and the second world war - and people made HUGE sacrifices so that we would be victorious -- and let's face it -- we've become all about "Me-me-me" rather than 'We-we-we" -- and what you see happening to GM and Chrysler and Ford is only the beginning if we don't soon wake up!
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The problem is that it became fashionable for Americans to "dislike" the American car buying experience because of what these franchise dealerships had done. Not all of them, but most reports state that the consumer buying experience in general was horrific and detestable. Dealerships like Toyota took control of the impulse to insult a vulnerable America and use it as an instrument to their benefit. My wife bought two Toyotas and as I was a witness, the experience was accomodating, interesting and not nearly as highly pressurized as purchasing a Chevrolet from D&C Chevrolet that is now thankfully went defunct as early as 2006 and finally vanished.
The smaller dealership issues have the additional disadvantage of not being viable because of their size, but the other GM dealerships on high were riddled with devious, greedy people in high positions, using good people to run their dealerships into the ground. The charities, the benefits, the close "family" ties among employees are all special, but as long as GM did not utilize their human resource stratagies properly; screen new employees even at the dealership level, then what else could you expect? Do you think those employees that had self-serving motives gave a damn about those at the dealerships that cared about a co-workers' family and friends? Precautions should have been taken before things got to this point.
The changes in the front office needed to have a direct affect on the dealerships down the line. The example was clearly not set and Toyota raised not only the expectations for GM, but for all American car companies. For years I've struggled internally with buying new GM cars because I'm tired of walking around with a target on my wallet. Why does Chevrolet make me feel this way and not Toyota? If my heart were not set on this vehicle, I would probably bite the bullet and buy Eastern European cars and settle with a car manufacturer in the middle somewhere. This GM vs. Japanese car war is really old and I'm tired of it.