dealerships


REPORT: Stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealers being scaled out of existence

In 2006, Ford began to shrink its dealership network in order to more efficiently align its distribution network. Three years later, it appears that the hardest hit are the company's stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealerships. While there were 619 Lincoln-Mercury dealerships nationwide just a few years ago, the number had dwindled down to just 357 at the beginning of 2009. Automotive News recently spoke with Ford CEO Alan Mulally about the future of the Lincoln brand and its stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury stores. While Ford's current strategy is ... Read more →

REPORT: Credit lines increasingly hard to come by for auto dealers Jonny Lieberman

Like him or loathe him, George W. Bush's clearest, most salient speech came almost a year ago on September 25, 2008 when our Harvard MBA president explained to the nation and the world exactly how ...

Cash for Clunkers program nets 4,000 sales on first day Chris Shunk

The government's Cash for Clunkers program only got off the ground on Monday, yet 4,026 eligible vehicles were reportedly swapped out in the program's first day. The program already has 20,564 ...

GM grants reprieve to 30 dealers, reviewing more Jonathon Ramsey

General Motors wants to shrink its dealer network by around 2,500 outlets and has sent closure notices to more than a thousand already. Still, the General has left a door open that allows affected ...

Under Fire: GM targeting metropolitan Cadillac dealers for closure? Jonathon Ramsey

Cadillac is one of the core brands that will form the new General Motors, but the dealership network can't continue in its current guise, according to GM sales head Mark LaNeve. There are 1,422 ...

Dealer Bailout: Chrysler to redistribute all new inventory 5 months ago on Autoblog

After the suggestion of Congressional hearings on the matter, Chrysler's Jim Press assured Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) that Chrysler dealers with leftover inventory after June 9 would "receive a fair and equitable value." It appears that Chrysler is making good on that promise. The ...

Dealership has five days to sell entire inventory 5 months ago on Autoblog

The soon to be terminated 789 Chrysler dealerships have all of five days to sell thousands of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep models, or else the damned dealers may have to eat their remaining inventory. When the termination letters went out on May 14, the pink-slipped dealers had 44,000 new cars and ...

REPORT: GM preparing to give more dealerships the axe 5 months ago on Autoblog

On top of the 1,124 General Motors dealers that will be closed next year, the ailing automaker is reportedly going to announce another round of dealer closings on Monday when its bankruptcy declaration is expected. According to two Automotive News sources, 450 dealers will not see their dealer ...

GM and Chrysler CEOs called to D.C. to explain dealer closings 5 months ago on Autoblog

The situations with GM and Chrysler are beginning to look like what happens after a fumble in an NFL game: a dozen men pile on top of each other all trying to get the ball. The difference in the case of GM and Chrysler is there are far more than two teams struggling for the prize. The latest to hop ...

REPORT: Slighted dealers line up to criticize Chrysler tactics 6 months ago on Autoblog

A story in the New York Times shines a light on some reasons for the Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers to challenge the car company's bankruptcy efforts. The element common to all of the dealers profiled is that they did extraordinary things Chrysler asked them to do, such as buy too many cars ...

REPORT: GM won't pay dealers for franchises, will buy back parts, vehicles 6 months ago on Autoblog

In a special broadcast to dealers yesterday, General Motors' sales chief, Mark LaNeve, explained that the automaker would buy back unsold new vehicles and parts from dealerships slated to be phased out by the end of 2010, but GM wouldn't pay off dealers for their franchises. As reported earlier ...

GM reportedly accelerating the closure of 1,700 dealers 7 months ago on Autoblog

June 1, 2009 is turning into the equivalent of General Motors' D-Day, and every day seems to bring new events that are being planned in advance of it. GM had more than 6,000 dealerships at the end of last year, and in the initial viability plan it offered to the government, the automaker pledged to ...

Three Nebraska auto execs disappear... along with 81 cars 8 months ago on Autoblog

Perhaps it began as an innocent experiment among dealer personnel: what would happen if three dealership executives all disappeared on the same day and 81 of the dealership's cars showed up at auto auctions in two other states? The answer to that question is that the FBI went bird-dogging on the ...

881 dealer closings in 2008 sets new record 9 months ago on Autoblog

Dealerships dropped like flies in 2008, with 881 retail stores resigned to history at year's end. The steep drop in vehicle sales and difficulty finding cash to finance inventories were the main reasons for the record decline, but 2008 won't likely hold that title very long. While vehicle sales ...

GM plans to trim 400 dealers per year until 2012 9 months ago on Autoblog

Dealership rationalization was something General Motors was looking at well before the economy went pear-shaped. GM still has more than 6,300 dealerships in the U.S., and it is even more important now to start shedding some of that financial burden. That is why The General told dealers at the NADA ...

REPORT: Dealers say bailout hasn't made for more GMAC loans 10 months ago on Autoblog

Show me the money. With apologies to Cuba Gooding Jr., that is exactly what many General Motors dealers are saying to GMAC Financial Services. Despite being given $5 billion from the U.S. Government last month, GMAC apparently hasn't loosened its purse strings enough for dealers' likings. Some, in ...

GM to delay dealer incentive payments 1 year ago on Autoblog

From November 28 to December 11, GM is holding back incentive payments to dealers, including dealer cash and customer cash. Why? in the words of Mark LaNeve, GM's VP of North American sales, because "Anytime you can delay any kind of a payment, it helps cash flow" And cash is probably the most ...

Ford to meet with dealers about future products, try to close stores 1 year ago on Autoblog

2008 has been a historically woeful year for the auto market, but Ford dealers have been in the crosshairs of a sales decline for over a decade. That brutal reality, along with financial incentives of up to $700,000 or more from the Blue Oval, has lead to the closure of over 500 dealers since ...

U.S. Army declares Arizona car dealer a no-go zone 1 year ago on Autoblog

If you believe the Johnston family, owners of Wildcat Mitsubishi in Tucson and Ideal Automotive in Sierra Vista, Arizona, they have a little communication and paperwork problem. If you believe the soldiers at the Army base in Fort Huachuca, the Better Business Bureau, the Arizona Department of ...

Hyundai pushing dealers upmarket abroad 1 year ago on Autoblog

Hyundai is shaking its money makers, spending €60 million to upgrade its dealer network in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Each of 2,500 dealers will spend at least €24,000 on improving their facilities, with matching funds coming from both distributors and the ...

Tata tours its Jaguar dealers 1 year ago on Autoblog

Ratan Tata, the man and mover behind Tata motors, is doing a Meet the Parents tour with Jaguar's oldest and largest U.S. dealers. As the best businesspeople do, he is flying across the States to meet the men and women in charge of his newest brand. Incredibly, it is the first time he has ever ...

Honda tells some dealers to upgrade, or else... 1 year ago on Autoblog

In March of this year, Honda sent a letter to certain members of its dealer network letting them know they needed to make changes to their stores. With so many Hondas leaving showroom floors, dealers are doing all right on the sales side, but some aren't performing to Honda's standards on the ...

2009 HUMMER H2 and H2 SUT will be E85 compatible 1 year ago on Autoblog

In Dallas, a businessman has spent half a million dollars to install nine pumps that dispense E85, E10, and biodiesel. The catch: the businessman is a HUMMER dealer, and the pumps are next to his dealership. The station is called Classic Clean Fuels, and it is intended to make a statement for next ...

Toyota opens new shopping mall in Japan 1 year ago on Autoblog

Kids in the U.S. want computers in their cars, but kids in Japan want computers instead of cars. Add that craziness to Japan's dwindling population and popular mass-transit options and you'll understand why the Japanese car market dropped to just 5.3 million vehicles, a 27-year low. Toyota, Japan's ...

BMW dealer auctions new M3 for $60K on eBay, doesn't want to honor the deal 1 year ago on Autoblog

UPDATE: 3-24-08 -- This was left on the original M3 forum thread by Ken, the nearly-defrauded winner of the eBay auction: "Sorry its taken so long to post a update. The site is very slow (understandably). This morning, BMW of Lincoln has agreed to sell me the car at a price of 60K, with certain ...

Ford offers to buy back 81 dealerships 1 year ago on Autoblog

Ford has a dealer development program aimed at helping those who lack up-front capital open a dealership. The dealer pays Ford back with profits from the business, and slowly buys out Ford's stake. There are 81 dealers in the program now, 62 of which are minorities who the program was originally ...

iMagicLab opening dealer megaplex in Second Life 1 year ago on Autoblog

On March 1, 2008, Second Life will host the grand opening of the Automobile Dealer Relations Center (ARDC) called AutoLand. While that sounds like the kind of place where you'll have to run for your life from a cyborg Yul Brenner, it will actually be home to a multi-brand showroom in the virtual ...

Hyundai resets its sights on 500,000 units in 2008 1 year ago on Autoblog

In 2007 Hyundai had a US sales target of 555,000. That number was set by HQ in Korea, and when it was clear they weren't going to make it, they revised it downward to just over 500,000. By the time the bell rung, even that number proved a little beyond Hyundai's reach: they sold 467,009 cars last ...

GM working to shrink its dealer network 1 year ago on Autoblog

At the end of World War II, GM "put a dealership in every little hamlet" to keep up with the postwar boom. Sixty years later, in 2005, long after that boom had ended and every domestic maker was losing market share, GM had 15,094 dealerships. By 2007 GM had reduced that to 14,118 dealers. But if GM ...

Customer satisfaction: If they beg, you will listen 2 years ago on Autoblog

Most people that purchase a brand-new car from the dealer lot have heard about the forthcoming customer satisfaction survey that will be mailed to their home. While some dealers will ask you to fairly assess their performance, others will try to manipulate scores with overt suggestions and even ...

Edmunds corrects itself on Tundra incentive spending 2 years ago on Autoblog

Earlier today we referenced Toyota disputing Edmunds.com claiming that the Tundra was sold in July with $6,861 of incentives per vehicle. That would've been the highest amount of incentives for any full-size pickup sold last month, but it turns out Edmunds made an error and last Friday printed a ...

Chrysler expanding dealerships all over the world 2 years ago on Autoblog

In spite of the hurdles it faces domestically, Chrysler is making all kinds of... bold moves... in every other corner of the world. Chrysler's overseas sales is currently 8% of its global sales, but it's working to change that with a vengeance. It has invited 70 potential investors from 19 ...

Excess dealers costing Big Three $436 per vehicle in extra costs 2 years ago on Autoblog

It's a commonly accepted fact that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have far too many retail outlets relative to the number of vehicles they sell. A new study by CNW Marketing Research has now tried to quantify the dollar cost of that excess and come up with $3.9 billion, or $436 per vehicle. The ...

Brandweek asks: what if we got rid of car dealerships? 2 years ago on Autoblog

With the charge that "today's dealer/factory model is a supremely inefficient system," Brandweek's Steve Miller has put together a 6-page report called "A Whole Lot of Questions" that wonders what would happen if the entire brick-and-mortar, kick-the-tires-and-sign-here institution were done away ...

Out of whack: Domestic dealerships outnumber Asians by 5 to 1 margin 2 years ago on Autoblog

The amount of automotive dealerships in the United states is staggering. Domestic dealerships alone number over 15,000 in the US. For perspective, there are less than 13,000 McDonald's restaurants in the US. At the current rate, the Detroit three's dealerships are shrinking at a three- to ...

AskPatty.com aims to enhance communication between women, auto dealers 2 years ago on Autoblog

It's not a new topic in the automotive industry -- women influence and even directly account for around 80 percent of automotive buying decisions, yet dealers still reportedly look over the woman's shoulders for a husband or father. Despite the industry's best efforts to recruit women salespeople to ...

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Autoblog Podcast #153: With Phil Berg

Phil Berg puts his reputation on the line and hangs with the podcast crew.

 
 

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