PERSPECTIVE 2000
All in all, it was not one of Ford's better ideas.
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That original foray into Indianapolis failed. There were reports that Ford's buyout offers to dealers were on the stingy side.
Eventually the company set up Auto Collections in Salt Lake City; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; San Diego; and Rochester, N.Y.
They performed poorly, and last fall Ford began overhauling them. They returned to traditional retailing practices such as commissioned managers, price and product advertising and higher trade-in allowances. One-price selling remains, and salespeople are still salaried.
GM almost got into the factory store act last fall. Dealers were told the corporation planned to buy and operate up to 770 dealerships in major metropolitan areas.
CEO Jack Smith scotched the idea. "We never had any intentions of running factory stores," he told Automotive News. "We've done that before, and it wasn't a great success."
