Crisis on Dealers' Row

[Chuck]

"Why give that money to them? (the automakers)" he asked. "Give that to the people. Give it to us, the small businesspeople."

CNN Money - Nov. 21, 2008

Very hard times for dealerships -- Ed.

Recently walked down Northern Blvd., the center of auto sales in the New York City borough of Queens. There I found varying degrees of fear, hope and anger among dealers whose livelihood depends on selling people cars. The problem is - no one's buying them.

"I used to be proud of this country," said one dealer, who did not wish to be identified by name. A recent immigrant, he now managed a small lot. "I used to shout wherever I went, all over the world, how great America is. The land of opportunity. You can achieve whatever you want. Now, look at all this."... [Read More]

[ArizonaChris]

In the small Arizona town I live in, there is one big chevy dealer in the center of town. The entire dealership is lined all the way around on 3 sides with gigantic SUVs, mega $45k pickup trucks and of coarse the gas sucking giagantic crossovers. Where are the 30mpg cars we want? Why there in a tiny spot parked in back behind the dealership, out of sight. They deserve what they are getting - let them die off. Its natural selection...

[WriConsult]

As reluctant as I am to trust the automakers with $25B, I would trust them a lot more than car dealers. Sheesh.

[Shiba3420]

I love the way he blames the banks and not the manufacture or his own decision to sell the types of cars he does. He didn't see any further into the future than anybody else, but its their fault....lovely.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by ArizonaChris

In the small Arizona town I live in, there is one big chevy dealer in the center of town. The entire dealership is lined all the way around on 3 sides with gigantic SUVs, mega $45k pickup trucks and of coarse the gas sucking giagantic crossovers. Where are the 30mpg cars we want? Why there in a tiny spot parked in back behind the dealership, out of sight. They deserve what they are getting - let them die off. Its natural selection...

This is a great point. When I went to the Toyota dealer recently, they had a Yaris, Prius, Scion, Tundra, Rav4 and Sienna in their showroom. That's 3 4cyl, 2 v6 and 1 v8. When I went to the Ford dealership, every car in the showroom was a v8. Not even a V6 to be found. Sure they had some, but they had to get on the golf cart and drive to the back to find them. It really set the tone. If I didn't know better I would have assumed that V8s were the only thing Ford made. It does set the tone and the mindset for the customers. Customers aren't buying 4cyl domestics, because domestics are not what comes to mind when you think of 4cyl cars. It's not an accident. The 3 blind mice have worked long and hard to make sure you associate them with big FSPs. Now it's their fault that that association has stuck.

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