GM "Expects" To End 2008 With 350 To 400 Fewer Dealers; Current Count Is 6,550

[nadepalma]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

That seems like a lot of Pontiac dealers? With the alignment with GMC and Buick, shouldn't the number of Pontiac dealers be closer to the Buick and GMC numbers?

I would thinks so too - the numbers apear to be a bit misleading.

Originally Posted by Bokl

so many pontiac dealers. wow and with low sales of pontiac and when you exclude fleet sales what do these dealerships sell??? Probably just used cars. Pontiac might as well go out of business.

Even with fleet sales included, Pontiac still sells more retail products than Saturn does. It is GM's 3rd largets brand overall, and 2nd largets passenger car brand after Chevrolet.

Originally Posted by FierySolstice

OK so they want to get rid of approximately 400 dealers? Saturn has 404. There you go!

No kidding...You would think that they'd be the most likely but I guess not.

GM really needs to re-evaluate the entire brand strategy (a beaten horse from me), but this seriously needs to be considered.

[vcs2600]

Around here it's rare to see a dealership that is just Chevy or just P/B/G or just Cadillac.

I would love to know the number of dealers that carry more than one GM "channel" ... I suspect it's most of them.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by vcs2600

Around here it's rare to see a dealership that is just Chevy or just P/B/G or just Cadillac.

I would love to know the number of dealers that carry more than one GM "channel" ... I suspect it's most of them.

http://www.rundebuick.com/ in Cuba City, Wisconsin

a nice standalone Buick store whose owner has a Chevy & a Suzuki dealership across the state line in Illinois...

good people too, #1 reason they are still doing OK last I heard...

[johnnyl321]

Originally Posted by Chaz_23

Excellent news. Hopefully more will go away in the next years. What's taking these people so long to change careers?

Waiting for cash offers for the real estate? Or, looking to purchase a different auto franchise. There's a lot of money to be made in the auto business.

[regfootball]

not cutting fast enough

[civilzues]

Hummer only has 24 dealerships?!

[impala02]

The Chevy/Hummer dealer where we picked up our Equinox recently sent us a letter saying that they were not "renewing" their franchise with GM and will close once they clear their inventory. However, they are not closing as a dealer. They are replacing Chevy and Hummer with scooters and electric cars from China. Seems like a knee-jerk response to me, but maybe there is more to the story.

[Bokl]

Originally Posted by nadepalma

I would thinks so too - the numbers apear to be a bit misleading.

Even with fleet sales included, Pontiac still sells more retail products than Saturn does. It is GM's 3rd largets brand overall, and 2nd largets passenger car brand after Chevrolet.

No kidding...You would think that they'd be the most likely but I guess not.

GM really needs to re-evaluate the entire brand strategy (a beaten horse from me), but this seriously needs to be considered.

No question that pontiac is 3rd gm largest brand overall but when you exclude fleet sales and when you see how many dealers pontiac has. They probably sell just used cars. If you look at saturn. Saturn kills pontica in sales per dealership. But i know what you are saying. If you ask me they should kill pontiac, gmc, buick and saturn and sell saab, hummer and holden. This is only way gm will stay profitable and produce world class cars that people want to buy. GM should just be Chevy, Caddy (buick in china) opel. These brands produce around 90% of gm global sales so why keep loser brands around???

[gardnet1]

A few too many Chevy dealers and not enough Saturn/Cadillac dealers. All the other information is garbage due to the fine print. I know of at least 3 Hummer dealers in Colorado alone and they are all paired with other dealers, even if they do have the signature quonset hut facility.

[EldoFan]

Hopefully some of the dealers up here in the midwest/plains get axed......not talking about dealers in big cities like Omaha, but those that sit in/on the edge of tiny little podunk towns of only a few thousand (of which NE & IA have far too many IMO)

[mikesright]

Originally Posted by EldoFan

Hopefully some of the dealers up here in the midwest/plains get axed......not talking about dealers in big cities like Omaha, but those that sit in/on the edge of tiny little podunk towns of only a few thousand (of which NE & IA have far too many IMO)

Funny that you mention that, in my old hometown (pop 8,000), there is a Chevy/Cadillac dealer and a separate BPG dealer. In the same town there is a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer. Less than 20 miles from the town is a Chevy/Buick/Pontiac dealer to the west, another Ford dealer 10 miles away to the south, 20 mi to the east is a Chevy/Pontiac store and a separate Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep store. In total, all 3 counties don't quite have 50,000 people living in them. Can you say, "overdealered."

[Buickman]

how sad that some find it acceptable to lose franchisees and that the factory has such as it's intention. what better evidence of the need to replace Red Ink Rick?

[mikesright]

Originally Posted by Buickman

how sad that some find it acceptable to lose franchisees and that the factory has such as it's intention. what better evidence of the need to replace Red Ink Rick?

Its acceptable because the dealer count is so high that it is impossible to make money on new car sales for many dealers even in good times. Toyota has 3/4ths of GM car sales yet has 1/6th the dealer base. Therefore Toyota dealers can treat their customers better and they can spend the money they need to upgrade the dealership as well as the buying experience for the customers. Unless GM takes measures to cut its dealer base significantly, as well as upgrade the dealers it has left (new showrooms, etc), the toilet bowl effect will continue on, GM will continue to lose customers + quality of market share will decline.

[GMC-70]

Originally Posted by Bokl

so many pontiac dealers. wow and with low sales of pontiac and when you exclude fleet sales what do these dealerships sell??? Probably just used cars. Pontiac might as well go out of business.

It would be nice if you went out of business! Oh, that's right you've already been shut-down several times only to come back reincarnated

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by EldoFan

Hopefully some of the dealers up here in the midwest/plains get axed......not talking about dealers in big cities like Omaha, but those that sit in/on the edge of tiny little podunk towns of only a few thousand (of which NE & IA have far too many IMO)

I disagree....



I've been terribly sucessful working in a market that is not a metro market...

So if my dealer closed, the easy thinking is that our customer base would just all go to the respective franchise in the big city???

I bet not...that's one thing I've learned in over 2 decades in this business...

Wal Mart is the most sucessful retailer in US history to speak of...they did it by steamrolling into every small town that take them in, and even roll in when they weren't "welcome"...yet people flock to them!