Your Local GM Dealer

[buyacargetacheck]

I just noticed something strange yesterday. My local GMC-Pontiac-Buick store and the Cadillac-Hummer (no Saab) store are owned by the same dealer but in different locations about a mile apart. They have just combined all 5 franchises into the older GMC-Pontiac-Buick lot (which sits right next to a successful Lexus dealer). A Volkswagen dealer will move into the former Cadillac-Hummer property next to the Infiniti store (which is also owned by the GM dealer). The pylon sign hasn't been changed yet, but the dealer has put up crummy "Cadillac" and "Hummer" block letter signs. "Oldsmobile" can still be read on the window as you walk into the showroom.

Now, I live in an upscale Southern California city of over 200,000 residents where, during the height of the housing bubble, it seems everyone was driving around in a blinged out Escalade, Suburban, Tahoe or Yukon (if not a BMW or Mercedes where they're stocked on huge lots and sold like Chevies for crying out loud - it's embarrassing). This seems like a bad sign of things to come if the dealer isn't putting capital investment into his Cadillac location.

What's happening in your town?

Edited December 14, 2008 by buyacargetacheck

[Satty]

The (evil) Chevy/Mercedes-Benz dealership is owned by the same company that owns the Toyota/Lexus/BMW (formerly had Porsche as well) dealership. The lots are on the opposite sides of town. There is another (non-evil) Chevy dealer a few miles away. 2 of the 3 Ford dealerships within 20 miles of me are Ford only, the other one is F/L/M but only recently picked up Lincoln and Mercury, after the Lincoln/Merc/Jeep dealership closed. Jeep was picked up by the Chrysler/Nissan dealership that also owns the Kia dealership thats up the block. The Saturn and Acura dealers are owned by the same group. I dont know who owns the Dodge dealership, buts its a cramped lot wedged in between a TV station and a residential area on the "poor" side of town. We haven;t had much movement in terms of new car lots, but used lots are popping up and shutting down every other week. Buy-here, pay-here lots are everywhere.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I'd say it means nothing really...

My hometown P/B/GMC dealer added Caddy and Saab about 2 years ago.

I'd almost be in favor of a "GM store" set up in some areas...

[buyacargetacheck]

If I lived in a rural area I'd agree with you. But this is a highly populated, well-to-do suburban city. So, where formerly we had Cadillac in its own modern location, now it will share shelf space with GMC trucks in one of the city's oldest properties right next to the booming, modern Lexus property. The contrast is hard to ignore.

I'd say it means nothing really...

My hometown P/B/GMC dealer added Caddy and Saab about 2 years ago.

I'd almost be in favor of a "GM store" set up in some areas...

[Satty]

I completely forgot about our Cadillac/Pontiac/GMC/SAAB dealership picking Buick up about a year ago. Buick had been part of Buick/Isuzu/Infiniti, but Buick left for C/P/G/S and Isuzu just dissolved, leaving Infiniti by itself.

[Intrepidation]

If I lived in a rural area I'd agree with you. But this is a highly populated, well-to-do suburban city. So, where formerly we had Cadillac in its own modern location, now it will share shelf space with GMC trucks in one of the city's oldest properties right next to the booming, modern Lexus property. The contrast is hard to ignore.

I agree, especially in places like where you live, Cadillac should have it's own more premium dealership.

Why not have a Cadillac/Saab/Buick type dealership? They're all technically premium brands, so you could have multiple brands in a premium environment.

Edited December 14, 2008 by Dodgefan

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Sign of the times, I guess...

Everything else is going to hell, so why not the dealership base too?

I'm sure the dealers will start 'selling out' in droves. They're like the government, they go where the money is. Doesn't matter that this industry helped 99% of them build their family fortunes.

Edited December 14, 2008 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[vonVeezelsnider]

Well we have 12 GM Dealers in the metro area here, most people who own a Chev/Cadillac Dealer here also own a PBG Dealer (Jack Carter Chev/Cadillac owns Northland Pontiac, GSL Chev City owns three other GM dealers- two in Edmonton and one on 200St in Langley BC), but there's very little cross brand ownership up here. The GM Dealer owners mostly stick to their own brands.

Edited December 14, 2008 by vonVeezelsnider

[buyacargetacheck]

Buick and Cadillac together make a lot of sense if Cadillac keeps going in the CTS direction. Buick=plush, Cadillac=sport, both premium. Unfortunately, there's not enough capital in the world, literally, to make that happen. It might cost $100B and the ROI would be low. Unfortunately, we're going to have to live and die by what we have now.

I agree, especially in places like where you live, Cadillac should have it's own more premium dealership.

Why not have a Cadillac/Saab/Buick type dealership? They're all technically premium brands, so you could have multiple brands in a premium environment.

[A Horse With No Name]

I agree, especially in places like where you live, Cadillac should have it's own more premium dealership.

Why not have a Cadillac/Saab/Buick type dealership? They're all technically premium brands, so you could have multiple brands in a premium environment.

Kimura this is a wonderful idea...I really like it!

Posts like this are what keep me coming back to C and G and give me hope...and I'm not being sarcstic. This is the kind of clear, simple, logical thinking that GM needs badly right now.

Chris

[enzl]

Unfortunately, there is no incentive to investing in GM or Chrysler dealerships...there hasn't been for about 18 months or so.

There are multi-channel GM & Alpha program dealers that got BBQ'ed in those deals recently. There are simply too many dealers & an innate inability to make money with new cars from these two--and Ford is only better by comparison.

Most dealers aren't making money right now. Capital improvements will slow to a crawl until things really clear up, economically.

[MikeyMo84]

ok well theres been a lot of activity in my area...

1 ford dealership closed and nissan moved into that building

Audi moved next to the VW Dealership and opened a mazda dealership at the old audi location so now they have Palisades Audi, VW, Volvo and Mazda

Toyota used to be in whats now the VW building but now they have a massive shiny new place down the street

The former Pontiac/GMC/Caddy store now has Buick as well and they have bought out the lots around them, next door is Chrysler Jeep Dodge...Hyundai used to be there until building its own place down the street, next to that is ford which also now has lincoln/mercury, across the street is mercedes and honda is down the street both have the same owners

down where my dealership was b4 it closed RIP we had Pontiac/GMC/Isuzu...we lost isuzu when it pulled out of the us market...we were supposed to get the caddy/buick franchises due to the current place down the street closing down...well long story short a chevy/hummer dealer in the area was forced by gm to build a $5 mil separate building for Hummer and then a year later hummer and the whole market tanked...needless to say they were pissed so in order to smooth things over gm allowed them to re-open a closed pontiac gmc store RIGHT UP THE STREET FROM US...then the death blow to our dealership is when GM also gave them caddy/buick and left us with nothing...the dodge dealership in the area closed and that property as well as our property was bought by the prestige auto group for their new BMW and Mercedes buildings (funny how the expensive brands are doing GREAT around here) prestige also recently built a new lexus store and a mini store...so yeah its been crazy here to say the least

[Intrepidation]

Buick and Cadillac together make a lot of sense if Cadillac keeps going in the CTS direction. Buick=plush, Cadillac=sport, both premium. Unfortunately, there's not enough capital in the world, literally, to make that happen. It might cost $100B and the ROI would be low. Unfortunately, we're going to have to live and die by what we have now.

That, sadly, is is the problem. It's a nice thought though. Of course GM could have done that sort of thing when they were dealer shuffling a few years back to make the PBG dealerships.

Kimura this is a wonderful idea...I really like it!

Posts like this are what keep me coming back to C and G and give me hope...and I'm not being sarcstic. This is the kind of clear, simple, logical thinking that GM needs badly right now.

Chris

I do what I can

--

Since we're talking about dealers/closing I really miss my city's Dodge Dealership. The building wasn't pretty and the showroom was only big enough for 4 cars, but they had the best service and sales people. Helpful, genuinely friendly, and honest. I started going to the Chrysler/Jeep dealership which has since picked up Dodge in the wake of Tom Manzi closing it's doors...it's a nicer, larger place but it's just not the same. It's no fun talking to the sales guys...to me their friendliness feels forced and they don't really seem to want to just strike conversation. Sad times, if only I could have bought a car from them before they closed.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[mustang84]

We used to have two GM dealerships about a block apart in my hometown of about 5,000. One was a Buick-Pontiac-Olds dealership and the other was a Chevy-Cadillac-GMC. Sometime in the late 90s the CCG dealer bought the BOP, and now the guy that owns our Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealership has bought the GM dealership. So the GM dealership will be moving from a small downtown lot to a big lot with a new building out on the highway (right next to the Ford dealership). And across the highway is the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer.

At least, this is what was said a year ago. No earth has been moved, so I'm guessing that they are holding off until things stabilize in the car market.

[buyacargetacheck]

Your town sounds like mine: Mercedes and BMW have the newest, nicest facilities. Toyota has a very nice one too including a 3-story parking garage for its inventory. Meanwhile GM plays musical chairs...

ok well theres been a lot of activity in my area...

1 ford dealership closed and nissan moved into that building

Audi moved next to the VW Dealership and opened a mazda dealership at the old audi location so now they have Palisades Audi, VW, Volvo and Mazda

Toyota used to be in whats now the VW building but now they have a massive shiny new place down the street

The former Pontiac/GMC/Caddy store now has Buick as well and they have bought out the lots around them, next door is Chrysler Jeep Dodge...Hyundai used to be there until building its own place down the street, next to that is ford which also now has lincoln/mercury, across the street is mercedes and honda is down the street both have the same owners

down where my dealership was b4 it closed RIP we had Pontiac/GMC/Isuzu...we lost isuzu when it pulled out of the us market...we were supposed to get the caddy/buick franchises due to the current place down the street closing down...well long story short a chevy/hummer dealer in the area was forced by gm to build a $5 mil separate building for Hummer and then a year later hummer and the whole market tanked...needless to say they were pissed so in order to smooth things over gm allowed them to re-open a closed pontiac gmc store RIGHT UP THE STREET FROM US...then the death blow to our dealership is when GM also gave them caddy/buick and left us with nothing...the dodge dealership in the area closed and that property as well as our property was bought by the prestige auto group for their new BMW and Mercedes buildings (funny how the expensive brands are doing GREAT around here) prestige also recently built a new lexus store and a mini store...so yeah its been crazy here to say the least

[gmpartsgirl]

In Tulsa, Buick was mixed with Chrysler/BMW. What I heard was that GM wasn't allowing that anymore and took the Buick franchise away and put them all with Pontiac/GMC dealers. We have 1 Cadillac/Saab dealer thats been here forever, they were a Lotus dealer too years ago. All of our Chevy dealers are Chevy only with the exclusion of one who sells medium duty Isuzu. The local Ford monopoly bought the Hummer franchise, but it was taken away as well I'm told because of GM and given to one of the Chevy dealers on the south end of town. Our Olds dealers were always Olds only, one shut down years ago, the other turned into KIA. All of the new big shiny stores are out south and are all Nissan, Ford, Chrysler and the big import dealer who's Inifiniti, Jaguar, Benz and I don't know what else. Theres a rumor that Sonic is pulling out of Tulsa which means two big Chevy dealers and a redundant Nissan dealer, but it hasn't happened yet. We closed our satellite used lot down the street and even closed our on site used building and moved everyone into the new car building. Lots of managers have been fired at all the stores in our area across all makes, lots of paycuts, people doing double duty. My own personal feeling for taking the Buick franchise and giving to all the Pontiac dealers is a sign of the closure of Pontiac. Not sure why they didn't give back to the Cadillac store where it began.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Toyota used to be in whats now the VW building but now they have a massive shiny new place down the street

Yeah, that seems to be the trend in order to produce the 'united front'

If I see another shiny new Toyota or Nissan dealer, Ima scream.

For some reason these companies even have the uncanny ability to coordinate their dealers into a common theme... GM could only dream of doing that.

well long story short a chevy/hummer dealer in the area was forced by gm to build a $5 mil separate building for Hummer and then a year later hummer and the whole market tanked...needless to say they were pissed so in order to smooth things over gm allowed them to re-open a closed pontiac gmc store RIGHT UP THE STREET FROM US...then the death blow to our dealership is when GM also gave them caddy/buick and left us with nothing...

So maybe GM is moving to combine these dealers? It seems to be happening a lot.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

My own personal feeling for taking the Buick franchise and giving to all the Pontiac dealers is a sign of the closure of Pontiac. Not sure why they didn't give back to the Cadillac store where it began.

It's funny...

PCS talked about how the Pontiac, GMC, Buick marriage was an unholy alliance. While walking around one of the lots the other day, I couldn't help but agree...

The Buicks looked upscale (even though most are dated) as did the GMCs. But the Pontiacs looked cheap and bastardized (except for the obvious premium models) not unlike Kias...

Pontiac needs to have a new direction ASAP in my opinion. Buick and GMC are an excellent pair that should be successful. Pontiac needs to be the performance player that all of us enthusiasts have wanted all along.

[gm4life]

We used to have two GM dealerships about a block apart in my hometown of about 5,000. One was a Buick-Pontiac-Olds dealership and the other was a Chevy-Cadillac-GMC. Sometime in the late 90s the CCG dealer bought the BOP, and now the guy that owns our Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealership has bought the GM dealership. So the GM dealership will be moving from a small downtown lot to a big lot with a new building out on the highway (right next to the Ford dealership). And across the highway is the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer.

At least, this is what was said a year ago. No earth has been moved, so I'm guessing that they are holding off until things stabilize in the car market.

What town in Iowa are you talking about? And what dealer? I am from Dubuque aren't you in the Cedar Rapids area?

[mustang84]

What town in Iowa are you talking about? And what dealer? I am from Dubuque aren't you in the Cedar Rapids area?

Yep, I live in Cedar Rapids...Harlan, Iowa is my hometown. The two GM dealers were Olesen Motors (Chev/Cad/GMC) and Miller Motors (BOP). Now it's just Olesen; they sold the Miller Motors building but kept the lot across the street, and a hot rod shop has set up in the Miller building (they have a beautiful '87 Monte Carlo SS sitting in the showroom window). Keast Ford is the one that bought out Olesen.

Edited December 15, 2008 by mustang84

[buyacargetacheck]

Very interesting. Are you saying that GM gave Buick franchises where none existed before just so that every Pontiac-GMC dealer could carry Buicks too?

...What I heard was that GM wasn't allowing that anymore and took the Buick franchise away and put them all with Pontiac/GMC dealers...My own personal feeling for taking the Buick franchise and giving to all the Pontiac dealers is a sign of the closure of Pontiac. Not sure why they didn't give back to the Cadillac store where it began.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Well, my local BPG dealership closed at the end of May - supposedly, the owner of the land refused to renew the lease that the dealership was on and wanted to sell it for redevelopment (a KFC that was also on the parcel of land closed in April), and I had heard that GM no longer wanted the brands under the guy's ownership <never heard much more on that back story though>. Both places are empty and no movement has been be seen on the land I guess due to the financial crisis (I'm sure the landowner is upset she isn't making any money right now). Unfortunately, with this dealership closing down, the next closest BPG dealerships are 30 minutes away to the south and 45 minutes to the north. I was hoping that a newer owner would have been given the brands to sell in a new dealership locally, but the auto lot being constructed was for a new CarSense dealership and not a BPG dealership.

So far in my end of southern Burlington County not much has changed yet. The local Toyota (Liberty Toyota, Route 130, Burlington City) built a new, larger store down on Rt 130 South outside of Willingboro (and next to large Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler and Hyundai dealerships). A Ford dealership next door to my Saturn dealership combined their operations 5 miles down the road with a Lincoln-Mercury dealership. Other than some small-time used car lots going under, not much else has changed yet (Ayres Pontiac-Cadillac, an extremely small dealership, is still in business but I don't know how or why GM is letting them live - they can't sell more than 1 new car a month and don't carry a used car inventory).

[Drew Dowdell]

I completely forgot about our Cadillac/Pontiac/GMC/SAAB dealership picking Buick up about a year ago. Buick had been part of Buick/Isuzu/Infiniti, but Buick left for C/P/G/S and Isuzu just dissolved, leaving Infiniti by itself.

I'm fairly sure that Infiniti put in stand alone requirement clauses in the dealership franchise agreements

[gmpartsgirl]

Very interesting. Are you saying that GM gave Buick franchises where none existed before just so that every Pontiac-GMC dealer could carry Buicks too?

My understanding was they didn't want their Buicks mixed with other brands, so the Buick franchises that were mixed were given to Pontiac/GMC dealers. Pontiac and GMC are always together here. The talk is it was done to protect those dealers when Pontiac goes away, and that was done a year or more ago. Buick was always a stand alone here like Oldsmobile except for some of the rural dealers who are BOPC, and it was that way always until around the time Olds went away one of the Buick franchises became, Buick, Jeep and BMW. So yeah they wanted them to have Buick too. Caddy is still on its own here except like I said in some rural areas.

[gmpartsgirl]

Other than some small-time used car lots going under, not much else has changed yet (Ayres Pontiac-Cadillac, an extremely small dealership, is still in business but I don't know how or why GM is letting them live - they can't sell more than 1 new car a month and don't carry a used car inventory).

From my own experience with GM and working in a fairly small dealer in a small suburb, GM is pretty protective of its small town dealers. They want them there so their customers can obtain service, etc without driving an hour or more. Generally if a small dealer goes away its their own choice not GM's. GM takes pretty good care of its dealers. Just like only Saturn dealers can look up and order Saturn parts or perform Saturn warranty repairs, its to insure they don't lose service business to more plentiful GM dealers.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

My understanding was they didn't want their Buicks mixed with other brands, so the Buick franchises that were mixed were given to Pontiac/GMC dealers. Pontiac and GMC are always together here. The talk is it was done to protect those dealers when Pontiac goes away, and that was done a year or more ago. Buick was always a stand alone here like Oldsmobile except for some of the rural dealers who are BOPC, and it was that way always until around the time Olds went away one of the Buick franchises became, Buick, Jeep and BMW. So yeah they wanted them to have Buick too. Caddy is still on its own here except like I said in some rural areas.

I don't understand this whole "Pontiac goes away" thing.

Has GM secretly been planning the demise of that division for some time now, or was the name SO damaged that GM believed/forcasted that it couldn't be saved? What gives?

I think it's pretty defeatist and pretty sad if indeed GM did take this surrender mentality.

[gmpartsgirl]

I agree, it was incrediby sad and made me so angry that they let Olds die. It'll be just as pathetic if they let Pontiac die.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

From my own experience with GM and working in a fairly small dealer in a small suburb, GM is pretty protective of its small town dealers. They want them there so their customers can obtain service, etc without driving an hour or more. Generally if a small dealer goes away its their own choice not GM's. GM takes pretty good care of its dealers. Just like only Saturn dealers can look up and order Saturn parts or perform Saturn warranty repairs, its to insure they don't lose service business to more plentiful GM dealers.

As they should... Some would argue that GM looks out for the dealers way too much, given the return. (But that's another topic) GM's small town dealers need to be kept happy. This is a HUGE advantage that GM still has over the asian imports.

[gm4life]

Ahh I gotcha. In Dubuque Doug Wartham bought out Kruse Pontiac/Nissan/BMW and has also bought out Cal Car and is building one super store. For all four brands. Other than that nothing has changed. Thanks 84.

Edited December 16, 2008 by gm4life

[gm4life]

As they should... Some would argue that GM looks out for the dealers way too much, given the return. (But that's another topic) GM's small town dealers need to be kept happy. This is a HUGE advantage that GM still has over the asian imports.

Yup this is huge.

[gmpartsgirl]

It's not something thats going to change anytime soon I don't think. I've heard that GM is considering forcing out some of the big dealers in the bigger towns so there is less market saturation. And more competition for the smaller more rural dealers. They are trying to make it so that is more return from the smaller dealers because they do realize the importance of having them and the comfort it gives their buyers and the sense of loyalty and family feel that one gets from a small town dealer.

[fightingbee]

From my own experience with GM and working in a fairly small dealer in a small suburb, GM is pretty protective of its small town dealers.

It sure seems like it, esp. in the midwest. As mustang84 and gm4life have mentioned, I loved the fact you could usually find a GM dealer in about any halfway decent size town in IA when I lived there.

Edited December 16, 2008 by fightingbee

[ZL-1]

I don't understand this whole "Pontiac goes away" thing.

Has GM secretly been planning the demise of that division for some time now, or was the name SO damaged that GM believed/forcasted that it couldn't be saved? What gives?

I think it's pretty defeatist and pretty sad if indeed GM did take this surrender mentality.

As sad as the possible (imminent?) demise of Pontiac is, it may not be a 'surrender mentality' but instead a 'pick your battles mentality'... sometimes one has to turn one's back and move on without fighting.

[Oracle of Delphi]

I don't understand this whole "Pontiac goes away" thing.

Has GM secretly been planning the demise of that division for some time now, or was the name SO damaged that GM believed/forcasted that it couldn't be saved? What gives?

I think it's pretty defeatist and pretty sad if indeed GM did take this surrender mentality.

I have only been trying to tell you this for over 2 years, it's not a Pontiac surrender mentality. It's a GM survivor mentality. GM>Pontiac!

[gmpartsgirl]

It sucks but GM does need to condense. Too many nameplates, too many twins and everybody knows it. It'll be interesting to see what they finally do in the end. It worked years ago but the only competition was other domestics and came down to a matter of brand loyalty. Not this case now, people are fickle and stupid and have no loyalty to anything anymore. It's every man (manufacturer) for himself. Catch up and modernize or die. The old school mentality and ego is whats killing GM, they were the big dog for too long and they got complacent and stale.

[The O.C.]

Well here in (snowy....yes, snowy) Las Vegas, we have three Cadillac dealerships. Mine is on West Sahara out towards Summerlin, Red Rock, and many other upscale areas.....prolly the best location in the Vegas area due to the demographics....and we have a nice, modern store.

Right up the street is the local BPG store.....and Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz, Desert BMW, and Lexus of Las Vegas are all just up the road from us. All nice stores.

The other good locale for dealerships is in Henderson in the southwest of the Vegas area.....there's a big automall where the franchises are also located, and our main Caddy competitor as well.

Finally, the third Caddy store is our other store, located in the literal ghetto on East Sahara. Prolly 20-30 years ago, it was the happening location for car dealerships.....but not anymore. There's a hint of rumor that when our lease is up on the East Sahara location, we'll be moving that store up to the northwest part of Las Vegas (another growing area.)

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Nothing much has really changed here in Northeast Wisconsin other than my salesman at Gustman Chevrolet/Pontiac telling me it has been slow. As far as I know VanDynHoven here does still sell Buicks along with Chrysler and Jeep. Van Leishout downtown still sells Dodge and when Plymouth was around they sold those.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I have only been trying to tell you this for over 2 years, it's not a Pontiac surrender mentality. It's a GM survivor mentality. GM>Pontiac!

Judging by the posts in this thread, this Pontiac surrender mentality has been going on FAR LONGER than 2 years.

If GM saw a drop off of Pontiac purchases back when the getting was good, why didn't it take steps to save the division.

(Then again, they've seen the sign of bankruptcy for 3 years now and never took the steps to save the company, so go figure )

[thenewdamage]

This is just anecdotal evidence but what I have seen is rather sobering. A customer of mine is a Chevy/Cadillac/Hummer dealer. They have 3 seperate lots, all relatively new, on a culdesac street just off an interstate in So Calif. I was doing some computer work at the cadillac lot and it was quiet as a grave. The Chevy lot next door was almost as quiet. There were like 6 sales reps standing outisde the main entrance. They reminded me of vultures waiting for something to die. The Hummer lot across the street is now their used car lot. Last week I was in a mercedes dealership ordering some parts and the place was packed with people, cars going in and out constantly and a LOT of activity. As I said, strictly anecdotal, but thats what I am seeing.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

We have a dealer here that has 4 buildings (all side by side) 1) is the Cadillac/Oldsmobile lot. 2) is the Chevrolet lot 3) is Buick/Pontiac/GMC and 4) Is Saturn.

It seems that he has either given up his Cadillac franchise or plans to move it in with the Chevrolet franchise. Because the website now says "Chevrolet - Cadillac and the cadillac building has been abandoned. Funny thing is though, they only had 3 or 4 Cadillacs at the place yesterday. (It is a small town, but this is still down compared to usual)

I wouldn't think he is getting rid of the Cadillac franchise, as that doesn't seem to be a good move IMO, even with the market down.

The dealers around here (Charlotte) are all dead. The GF and I have already been out looking for a car to replace hers and the ONLY dealerships that had traffic were Charlottes largest Ford dealer (which also had a GT500 KR ) and CarMax. Other than that, everyone seems to be starving.

[CARBIZ]

It would seem that a certain GM dealership that courted me last year and then changed their mind is in serious financial straits.

We were told several months ago that they were on a "COD basis" at the auctions and for dealer trades, then the rumor went around about a month ago that the dealership was in receivership.

I have been informed today that they will be closing at the end of this month.

Not to blow my own horn, but perhaps if they had not listened to certain people with vested interests, then I wouldn't have had to tear several hundred customers away from them.

Still, it's bad news for GM because with all the dealerships that have closed in this city, there are huge gaping holes where people now have no choice but to buy imports because there is nary a domestic dealer in sight.

I mean, I live downtown and if I were considering a new purchase, I would be very unsure of what to do because there are no GM dealerships in the entire core of the city. It's one thing to drive across town to make a purchase; quite another to do that for warranty work and servicing.

[Drew Dowdell]

I wonder if it would be profitable for GM to open <someday, when they're semi-solvent> service stations via the franchisers around town. Have a few huge mega-dealers to sell the vehicles and then a ring of GM service stations with full warranty/OEM support.

[buyacargetacheck]

I have wondered the same thing. The "Goodwrench" name is just there ready to be used. Goodwrench franchises could offer service for all makes as well as "certified" used cars. Perfect for these times. A bankruptcy restructuring could make it happen.

I wonder if it would be profitable for GM to open <someday, when they're semi-solvent> service stations via the franchisers around town. Have a few huge mega-dealers to sell the vehicles and then a ring of GM service stations with full warranty/OEM support.

[gmpartsgirl]

I don't ever see it happening. For the majority of dealers, especially the smaller dealers, the service/parts departments are the bread and butter of the dealership. We're already beating sales this month, which isn't entirely unusual, and some dealers have such giant parts departments that they only have sales departments because they have to.

[gm4life]

I already emailed GM a letter concerning Pontiac. If enough people bitch it might help, Pontiac is said to be more focused and hopefully can live. Even if that means no Vibe/Torrent or G3 I am okay with that.

[buyacargetacheck]

Those are precisely the dealers who might be better off NOT selling new cars and just concentrating on parts and service. Used car margins too are usually better than new car margins. I recently read about a rural Chrysler dealer who says he could go either way with Chrysler staying in business because he does better with used cars, service and parts anyway. I guess the sticking point, though, would be giving up exclusive parts sales of, say, Pontiacs (or Chevys, whatever) while at the same time expanding your parts offerings to include makes you've never sold before. Goodwrench is probably GM's most underused, underappreciated name brand. I can remember when Goodwrench commercials/advertisements were as common as the car ones.

I don't ever see it happening. For the majority of dealers, especially the smaller dealers, the service/parts departments are the bread and butter of the dealership. We're already beating sales this month, which isn't entirely unusual, and some dealers have such giant parts departments that they only have sales departments because they have to.

[gmpartsgirl]

Those are precisely the dealers who might be better off NOT selling new cars and just concentrating on parts and service. Used car margins too are usually better than new car margins. I recently read about a rural Chrysler dealer who says he could go either way with Chrysler staying in business because he does better with used cars, service and parts anyway. I guess the sticking point, though, would be giving up exclusive parts sales of, say, Pontiacs (or Chevys, whatever) while at the same time expanding your parts offerings to include makes you've never sold before. Goodwrench is probably GM's most underused, underappreciated name brand. I can remember when Goodwrench commercials/advertisements were as common as the car ones.

The margins are better on used for sure, but it would take alot of changes. Only dealers can order parts from the manufacturer, only dealers can perform warranty work, you have to have a service/parts department to sell new cars. The Big 3 are so set in there ways and GM especially is run like a small government, they have more red tape and paperwork and bureaucratic bullcrap than any other company I think. It would be one hell of a shakeup and a whole new way of thinking, it would take a lot of fresh meat up top to pull it off. And I agree the Goodwrench name and AC Delco are both underused.

[MikeyMo84]

if any brand should go away its GMC...all of their trucks are virtual carbon copies of the chevy trucks...and as much of a gmc fan as i am i think its something that needs to happen...im also not feeling buick as a brand any more simply because they have no good product and only 3 vehicles for sale...why bother (Except for the chinese market...keep the buick nameplate there seeing as its the best thing that happened to GM there but use global platforms with buick badges)

however eliminating the pontiac brand would be a very bad decision on GM's part...Pontiac needs to become what GM's been saying it should be all along...the sporty performance oriented GM brand with primarily high powered RWD CARS...no pansy ass suv's/hatchback/econoboxes quite simply their lineup should include a 2 seater coupe/roadster, a midsize sedan/coupe/convertible (like the 3 series and g37) and a large sedan (like the 5 series and m45) bmw and infiniti are some of the biggest selling brands around here and GM needs to take note of their successful formula and build great pontiac cars to go with them....oh and another thing...notice how a lot of the performance cars out there come with the option of ALL WHEEL DRIVE!?!? cmon GM you have the technology...make it happen

as for chevy that should be its mainstream honda /toyota/nissan competitors

caddy can compete against mercedes/audi/bmw

and saturn can be the low buck kia/hyundai competitor

4 brands....each with their own clear cut defined target market and demographics...dont do rebages to cut costs...globalize to cut costs use the same platforms in multiple markets...more countries = more buyers = less cost

i dont need to say anything about hummer...GM knows whats up with that...and im all for AM General buying it back

Is it just me or is this so simple and sensible?? but God forbid gm ever does that...and i know there will be people that disagree with getting rid of gmc/buick based on nostalgic enthusiasm but at this point GM cannot afford to survive with so much extra baggage simply for nostagias sake

Edited December 17, 2008 by MikeyMo84

[Croc]

Is it just me or is this so simple and sensible?? but God forbid gm ever does that...and i know there will be people that disagree with getting rid of gmc/buick based on nostalgic enthusiasm but at this point GM cannot afford to survive with so much extra baggage simply for nostagias sake

No, it is just you. GMC is virtually the only time GM has succeeded at "brand management" marketing; research shows that consumers, particularly women, perceive GMC as premium to Chevrolet, and that not as many people cross-shop the two brands as one might think. Because GMC required virtually no development costs, its sales are nearly pure profit. Just like when GM shuttered Oldsmobile, and buyers didn't flock to other GM divisions, GM would be crazy to shutter its pure profit divisison.

[CARBIZ]

I don't ever see it happening. For the majority of dealers, especially the smaller dealers, the service/parts departments are the bread and butter of the dealership. We're already beating sales this month, which isn't entirely unusual, and some dealers have such giant parts departments that they only have sales departments because they have to.

Exactly: the 'new car departments' are the loss leaders that drive business for the service department. Any dealer that only sold new cars and had no service department would not last. I have seen stats that show nearly all dealers 'lose' money in the front end. It's service and used vehicles that keep the lights on.

You didn't think that paying '$500 over' was going to keep that 40,000 sq ft building operating, did you?