Obama!!

[domwilson]

How exactly are they saving money by cutting down on dealers?

I don't have the answer for that. But I can tell you that dealership closings started happening before Obama..

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE51I58Q20090219

[domwilson]

How exactly are they saving money by cutting down on dealers?

Ok, I did find this... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060303877.html

"GM and Chrysler say they must shrink their dealerships as part of the streamlining their operations, and many analysts and dealers agree. There are too many of them competing for car buyers to be profitable and thriving."

[Steven Vaccaro]

I don't have the answer for that. But I can tell you that dealership closings started happening before Obama..

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...51I58Q20090219

That's because as far as I know they will not be saving any money by closing dealers. The dealers didn't get anything for free. They paid for advertising, paid their own rent or owned their building, they even paid interest to GM for the unsold cars on sitting in the dealers lot.

As for closings, those in the Reuters article closed as any struggling business should when they are not making a profit. The dealers I'm talking about have been around for decades & making profits!!!!!

[Steven Vaccaro]

"GM and Chrysler say they must shrink their dealerships as part of the streamlining their operations, and many analysts and dealers agree. There are too many of them competing for car buyers to be profitable and thriving."

BUT that's not saving them money. That's only making the strong dealers stronger by getting rid of the small dealerships. Is this going to save GM? I highly doubt it.

FUNNY, in the end, we "Joe Tax payers" bail out this company only to get screwed by the new "improved" company, because what they are doing is getting rid of the competition for their larger dealers.

Keep in mind, I'm a life long loyal GM fan, my family has three of their vehicles in my driveway.

This "Joe Tax Payer" is taking his money to Ford for the next buy!

[domwilson]

"GM and Chrysler say they must shrink their dealerships as part of the streamlining their operations, and many analysts and dealers agree. There are too many of them competing for car buyers to be profitable and thriving."

BUT that's not saving them money. That's only making the strong dealers stronger by getting rid of the small dealerships. Is this going to save GM? I highly doubt it.

FUNNY, in the end, we "Joe Tax payers" bail out this company only to get screwed by the new "improved" company, because what they are doing is getting rid of the competition for their larger dealers.

Keep in mind, I'm a life long loyal GM fan, my family has three of their vehicles in my driveway.

This "Joe Tax Payer" is taking his money to Ford for the next buy!

Honestly Steven, I can't answer that. I don't know sometimes what goes on in the brains of some of these managers or if said article even exists. These guys were looking for love in a cathouse. Ya know short term gratification with no long term commitment.

On getting screwed? CTI is filing bankruptcy. Down the drain will go $2.3 billion dollars of TARP loan. Can you imagine if that 2.3 billion went to 100 medium sized businesses as loans? We would greater returns on the loans as there would interest. Also, it would have went towards hiring of lot of people.

Back to GM. I was and still somewhat a fan of GM. At least prior to the quality control issues they started having in the late '70's to '90's and their severe lack of vision and diversifying their economy model lines.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Back to GM. I was and still somewhat a fan of GM. At least prior to the quality control issues they started having in the late '70's to '90's and their severe lack of vision and diversifying their economy model lines.

Being a fan is one thing(I still love some of their cars), but I'm pissed and will be for a long time that they had their hand out. Their problems have been publicly known for many years. It wasn't like the issue just popped up on them.

[AndyKunz]

That's because as far as I know they will not be saving any money by closing dealers.

They will save money - it takes time and money to run a network of dealers like they have.

They might also lose out, as people will travel to closer dealerships of competing brands.

It's a balancing act, not especially easy.

Andy

[Bill-SOCAL]

I always questioned the new dealership "car mall" model that cropped up out here. Before the closings I had nearly 60 car dealerships within 10 miles of my house. When did it become the norm that people needed to be no more than a 15 minute drive from a cluster of 8 to 10 car dealers??

[domwilson]

I always questioned the new dealership "car mall" model that cropped up out here. Before the closings I had nearly 60 car dealerships within 10 miles of my house. When did it become the norm that people needed to be no more than a 15 minute drive from a cluster of 8 to 10 car dealers??

We have the "National City Mile of Cars here." It is literally a long Blvd. occupied my mostly car dealerships.