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is a cube 2 cute 4 caps?
There I was, peacefully reading a press release to see how Nissan was pricing a new model. Then Nissan North America Inc. officially changed the name of the Cube small crossover to “cube.”
My inner nitpicker instantly engaged. How dare Nissan stop capitalizing products? And where's the consistency? Nissan still has cubes with capitals (just not capital C). If you don't want a plain cube 1.8, you can get the cube 1.8 S or even the Nissan cube 1.8 S Krom Edition.
And why is it the Nissan cube? Why not nissan cube?
Then I relaxed a bit. Hey, consistency is overrated. As the press release noted, “this message was sent by www.NissanNews.com,” which I could find at http://www.nissannews.com. Clearly, Nissan had set itself free.
So getting into the spirit … my altima quest is to take a rogue armada across the frontier using a cubed sentra as pathfinder, or vice-versa.
But somehow, cube's too cu ... Continue reading "is a cube 2 cute 4 caps?" »
Nov 23 12:01 am U.S. ET
Opel is getting what it once wanted
Opel's unions and its engineers should tell the German government that they are delighted to know that General Motors Co. views Opel as a regional brand, not an international one.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson said yesterday that he's not looking to turn Opel into a global brand, exporting its vehicles to markets hither and yon.
"Opel is a regional brand and I don't see that changing. That doesn't mean I'm closed to ideas about how it can be used elsewhere; but the measure of the Opel brand's success will be Europe, because if you don't win here all the discussion of exports will be irrelevant," he said.
Henderson arrived at Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim, Germany, on Monday to repair relations strained when GM decided, after about a year of trying to sell Opel, to instead keep its European unit.
Oddly, though, Henderson's German audience seemed to take offense at his comments. Reuters' local reporter wrote that GM “crus ... Continue reading "Opel is getting what it once wanted" »
Nov 12 2:28 pm U.S. ET
When the ‘cost of distance' bites
I haven't spoken lately with my old Czech contact Ladislav Glogar. But I can picture him sagely nodding about how a wildcat strike at a transmission parts plant in India shut General Motors and Ford assembly plants in North America.
“That's the cost of distance,” Glogar would explain.
I first heard his theory of distance in early May of 2004 in his spartan office at Czech parts supplier Autopal in Novy Jicin. But I think of it every time manufacturers in high-wage economies start searching the globe for cheaper parts.
Glogar said it as off-handedly as a banker discussing “the cost of money” with colleagues. Now, coming from a man who got his start when fellow workers elected him to run a parts-making collective in the Soviet era, his business-professor tone caught my ear. ... Continue reading "When the ‘cost of distance' bites" »
Nov 10 11:06 am U.S. ET
First, admit you have a problem
DETROIT -- Mea culpa.
Things were pretty screwed up at Chrysler.
That's the flip side of the big "Chrysler business plan" extravaganza going on all day under the design dome. It's like a 12-step program.
Yeah, there are big hopes and plans for the future. (See elsewhere at autonews.com)
But here's what else we press, dealers, analysts, suppliers and local politicos heard:
• Dodge Nitro? Dull as dirt. Dodge chief (also design chief) Ralph Gilles showed how dumpy the existing SUV looks, and how cool it can be.
• Quality? Terrible perception, largely justified. Quality chief Doug Betts (ex-Nissan and Toyota) described a dysfunctional system that, for example, took an average of 71 days just to decide who would look into a possible quality boo-boo. He's been working on it, and he's adopting Fiat audit standards and durability testing.< ... Continue reading "First, admit you have a problem" »
Nov 4 1:18 pm U.S. ET
5-year journey will be tough, but it can work
Updated: 6:07 p.m. News reporters like to find news. One definition of news is anything that makes a newspaper's city editor say: "No fooling!" (Actually, I cleaned it up a bit.)
There wasn't anything today that rose to that level, although there some nice nuggets and insights.
But on balance, the time spent here today has been worth it to get a notion of how our tax dollars are being spent/invested.
At the end of the day, Sergio Marcionne emphasizes that the TARP and EDC loans will be repaid by or before 2014. It seems possible. if management's assumptions are right.
You know, any time a new manager takes over a team or a company or a government, there is the temptation to describe with alarm and disbelief the disarray they found. Some times you can dismiss it as politics.
But not today.
Having seen how the crew from Daimler looted Chrysler, and how Cerberus mis-ran the joint, I understand the size if the t ... Continue reading "5-year journey will be tough, but it can work" »
Nov 4 10:25 am U.S. ET
Lesson of Penske's bid for Saturn? It's tough getting started
Roger Penske's abrupt cancellation of his Saturn purchase is a stark reminder of how hard it is to enter the automotive business.
How hard?
Consider this: When 32 million units of auto production capacity sits idle, one of the most capable executives on the planet can't find a manufacturer willing to deliver a couple hundred thousand new vehicles two years from now.
Penske's pure-distributor scheme -- to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors and use the dealership network to sell vehicles built by an outsider -- was always risky. Penske wouldn't own any product development capability, or design studios, or test tracks. He had a deal for GM to build existing Saturn products for the first two years, until he could find another manufacturer to provide products. He would have one really strong asset: the Saturn dealer network: Savvy dealers with newer facilities.
But even Penske couldn't make it work.
In private, Penske ... Continue reading "Lesson of Penske's bid for Saturn? It's tough getting started " »
Oct 1 12:01 am U.S. ET
Second-stage absence spells failure to launch
Abort! Abort!
Saturn took its name not from the planet on its logo, but from the Saturn rockets that sent man to the moon. Then-General Motors Chairman Roger Smith wanted to launch something new, and choose an appropriate name.
The metaphor behind the name also fits Roger Penske's decision not to move ahead with his plan to take over the Saturn brand.
GM had agreed to supply Saturn with vehicles for two more years. That would be enough to launch a new Saturn. But Penske needed another supplier of vehicles after that, and couldn't line up one.
Penske had the first stage of his rocket. But he wasn't going to launch without a second-stage booster rocket.
Would you? ... Continue reading "Second-stage absence spells failure to launch" »
Oct 1 8:35 am U.S. ET
Pyrrhic victories for all in Opel sale
As General Motors finally agrees to sell a majority stake in its Opel subsidiary to Canadian supplier Magna and Russia's Sberbank, it's time to score the results.
Hey, Pyrrhic victories all around.
Everybody wins. And loses.
All the parties in this deal may be excused if they woke up this morning feeling like Pyrrhus of Epirus did after beating the Romans in 280 BC. Thinking of his army's heavy losses, Pyrrhus supposedly said, “One more victory like this and we are utterly undone.”
These days, a lot of us can relate.
In a downturn this severe, virtually everybody takes some hits. The Opel deal is just worse than most.
How bad? Here's a clue: cash goes in, but doesn't come out. Magna and Sberbank pay a half billion euros for 55 percent, but GM doesn't get any. The cash stays in Opel. Let's translate this: investors throw money into the sinkhole and hope it doesn't get big enough to swallow them. The German ... Continue reading "Pyrrhic victories for all in Opel sale" »
Sep 11 3:53 pm U.S. ET
A tale of two Augusts
Stand back just a smidge and it's hard to see much difference between U.S. car sales last month and a year earlier.
For the record, that's 1,262,189 this August and 1,250,117 last year. The difference is up less than one percent – actually 0.9656 percent, or 430 sales short of a full percent. But because it's this year and we're all hungry for good news, let's call it a percent.
But, man oh man, this 1.3 million feels so much better than last year's 1.3 million!
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, that level of sales, a 15.5 percent fall from August 2007, sounded awful.
This year, 1.3 million sales calls for a celebration. Wahoo!
Obviously the difference is which direction you're going. In 2008, August was the moment the industry realized it was actually going over the cliff. This year, August is the first full stage on the climb out of the pit.
Sure a SAAR of 13.7 million is a long cry from the 16 and ... Continue reading "A tale of two Augusts" »
Sep 2 12:01 am U.S. ET
Amid clunker chaos, dealers are reanimated
I've talked to a lot of dealers the past few weeks -- we all have here at Automotive News. For all the clunker horror stories of red tape, crashing government Web sites, late payments, inventory crunches and long hours filing claims, what strikes me most is a change in how dealers sound.
Dealers found their voice. They are reanimated, re-energized.
Sure, the cash-for-clunkers program spike in business helps. For the first time in a year, prospects had a sense of urgency, wanting to score a new ride before the gov'nmint dough ran out. Meager margins rose. That trickle of reluctant buyers pinching every dime turned into clusters of folks fixated on Uncle Sam's goodies.
But beyond that, the very clumsiness of clunkers also helped dealers rally. Yes, the goofy rules and hapless processing hurt far more than necessary.
But it also put a face on a previously faceless adversary. Dealership personnel dusted off rusty skills ... Continue reading "Amid clunker chaos, dealers are reanimated" »
Aug 24 3:20 pm U.S. ET
What a clunker of a mismatch!
Sometimes, people with disparate backgrounds, cultures and vastly different personalities work well together on a project. Other times, you know before the starting gun sounds it's gonna be a disaster.
Look at the main parties in the cash-for-clunkers program: auto dealers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in charge of reimbursing dealers. Um, so that's research scientists who have never cut a check to anybody inventing a system to pay billions within days to entrepreneurs desperately short of capital.
Sure, that'll work.
Now in the perfect world envisioned by Congress, the final report eventually would read something like this: “In the 30 days before the law took effect, NHTSA scientists developed, tested and verified electronic systems for handling applications and payments, prevented fraud, and handled without delay unexpected surges in both applications and program funding. Dealers quickl ... Continue reading "What a clunker of a mismatch! " »
Aug 19 12:01 am U.S. ET
UPDATE: On to the Senate for more clunker cash
Update: 2:09 p.m. Now that the U.S. House has passed a bill to add $2 billion to the cash-for-clunkers program, the action moves to the Senate on Monday.
The quick House action -- less than 24 hours after the first warnings the original $1 billion incentives pool was about to run dry -- and the 3 to 1 vote margin shows how much momentum the program had developed.
The rush of “clunker” showroom traffic has been the best boost in a year for most dealers. And dealers are rarely shy in telling their local politicians how they feel.
How will the bill do in the Senate? Well, if the average Congressional district has several dealerships, the average Senator has dozens or hundreds of dealers in his or her state.
UPDATE, 1:01 p.m.:Capital Hill is a beehive today as Congress scrambles to find additional funds to keep the unexpectedly popular cash-for-clunkers incentives from grinding to a halt.
After word Thu ... Continue reading "UPDATE: On to the Senate for more clunker cash" »
Jul 31 10:29 am U.S. ET
The official return of business as usual
In the mail, I got a militarily official-looking beige envelope. The government, no doubt.
In the letter, a presidentially official-looking eagle spreads his black wings in the round gold logo that says "Automotive Stimulus Package." Yep. Gotta be the feds.
The letter begins with a thing that looks like a stamp: "APPROVED AUTOMOTIVE STIMULUS PACKAGE."
Then it tells me that a certain Chevy dealer particularly needs my year of a certain Chevy "and our managers have been authorized to buy back your current vehicle."
Wow.
If I agree to buy a new car or truck from these guys, then they'll look at my car and make me an offer on the used car.
In other words, it's business as usual at a car dealer. Trade in a car on a new one. In still other words, the implied connection with the government is phony, aimed at gullible people.
In even further other words, this kind of promotion is one of the reasons some Americans don't symp ... Continue reading "The official return of business as usual" »
Jul 22 3:26 pm U.S. ET
The termination doesn't matter; just reimburse us
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the dealer rights bill with hopes, from my understanding, that the manufacturers will work with the dealer body in resolving the pending issues before the bill makes it to the Senate.
From my many discussions with other dealers of terminated franchises, I think we are all singing the same song. Our concerns lie not in our desires to be somewhere where we are not wanted. We just want a reinstatement of our dealer rights as per our signed dealer agreement.
Let's face it: As a franchised dealer, you can be profitable and have stellar customer service scores, but if the manufacturer doesn't want you, there are enough contract clauses to allow the company to terminate you with enough notice. Likewise, the dealer benefits from those contract clauses as well. But if a manufacturer chooses not to keep a dealer, it needs to properly reimburse that dealer for the equipment and supplies and pa ... Continue reading "The termination doesn't matter; just reimburse us" »
Jul 21 12:27 pm U.S. ET
What Congress should enact
Recently in the news is word of a dealer rights bill gaining significant momentum in congress. If passed, this law would strengthen and reinforce the rights of all dealers.
This IS a good thing and definitely needed. However, what it doesn't address -- nor should it in its current form -- are the rules that give manufacturers latitude enough to ignore such laws while in bankruptcy.
I say this from experience, having lost not only my Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge franchises but also my Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and GMC franchises, in two separate locations.
As reflected earlier, GM deserves kudos for doing the right thing -- even in bankruptcy -- by not completely alienating their dealers who are losing their franchises. Chrysler, on the other hand, used bankruptcy to shield themselves from liability and leave 789 dealers hanging in the wind.
Many who did not have other CJD franchises now have parts inventory with a signifi ... Continue reading "What Congress should enact" »
Jul 14 9:34 am U.S. ET
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Nov. 23
 |
My inner nitpicker instantly engaged. How dare Nissan stop capitalizing products? And where's the consistency? Nissan still has cubes with capitals (just not capital C). If you don't want a plain cube 1.8, you can get the cube 1.8 S or even the Nissan cube 1.8 S Krom Edition.
And why is it the Nissan cube? Why not nissan cube?
Then I relaxed a bit. Hey, consistency is overrated. As the press release noted, “this message was sent by www.NissanNews.com,” which I could find at http://www.nissannews.com. Clearly, Nissan had set itself free.
So getting into the spirit … my altima quest is to take a rogue armada across the frontier using a cubed sentra as pathfinder, or vice-versa.
But somehow, cube's too cu ... Continue reading "is a cube 2 cute 4 caps?" »
Nov 23 12:01 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
Opel is getting what it once wanted
Posted 2:28 pm U.S. ET, Nov. 12
 |
GM CEO Fritz Henderson said yesterday that he's not looking to turn Opel into a global brand, exporting its vehicles to markets hither and yon.
"Opel is a regional brand and I don't see that changing. That doesn't mean I'm closed to ideas about how it can be used elsewhere; but the measure of the Opel brand's success will be Europe, because if you don't win here all the discussion of exports will be irrelevant," he said.
Henderson arrived at Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim, Germany, on Monday to repair relations strained when GM decided, after about a year of trying to sell Opel, to instead keep its European unit.
Oddly, though, Henderson's German audience seemed to take offense at his comments. Reuters' local reporter wrote that GM “crus ... Continue reading "Opel is getting what it once wanted" »
Nov 12 2:28 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
When the ‘cost of distance' bites
Posted 11:06 am U.S. ET, Nov. 10
|
“That's the cost of distance,” Glogar would explain.
I first heard his theory of distance in early May of 2004 in his spartan office at Czech parts supplier Autopal in Novy Jicin. But I think of it every time manufacturers in high-wage economies start searching the globe for cheaper parts.
Glogar said it as off-handedly as a banker discussing “the cost of money” with colleagues. Now, coming from a man who got his start when fellow workers elected him to run a parts-making collective in the Soviet era, his business-professor tone caught my ear. ... Continue reading "When the ‘cost of distance' bites" »
Nov 10 11:06 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
First, admit you have a problem
Posted 1:18 pm U.S. ET, Nov. 4
 |
Things were pretty screwed up at Chrysler.
That's the flip side of the big "Chrysler business plan" extravaganza going on all day under the design dome. It's like a 12-step program.
Yeah, there are big hopes and plans for the future. (See elsewhere at autonews.com)
But here's what else we press, dealers, analysts, suppliers and local politicos heard:
• Dodge Nitro? Dull as dirt. Dodge chief (also design chief) Ralph Gilles showed how dumpy the existing SUV looks, and how cool it can be.
• Quality? Terrible perception, largely justified. Quality chief Doug Betts (ex-Nissan and Toyota) described a dysfunctional system that, for example, took an average of 71 days just to decide who would look into a possible quality boo-boo. He's been working on it, and he's adopting Fiat audit standards and durability testing.< ... Continue reading "First, admit you have a problem" »
Nov 4 1:18 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
5-year journey will be tough, but it can work
Posted 10:25 am U.S. ET, Nov. 4
 |
There wasn't anything today that rose to that level, although there some nice nuggets and insights.
But on balance, the time spent here today has been worth it to get a notion of how our tax dollars are being spent/invested.
At the end of the day, Sergio Marcionne emphasizes that the TARP and EDC loans will be repaid by or before 2014. It seems possible. if management's assumptions are right.
You know, any time a new manager takes over a team or a company or a government, there is the temptation to describe with alarm and disbelief the disarray they found. Some times you can dismiss it as politics.
But not today.
Having seen how the crew from Daimler looted Chrysler, and how Cerberus mis-ran the joint, I understand the size if the t ... Continue reading "5-year journey will be tough, but it can work" »
Nov 4 10:25 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
Lesson of Penske's bid for Saturn? It's tough getting started
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Oct. 1
|
How hard?
Consider this: When 32 million units of auto production capacity sits idle, one of the most capable executives on the planet can't find a manufacturer willing to deliver a couple hundred thousand new vehicles two years from now.
Penske's pure-distributor scheme -- to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors and use the dealership network to sell vehicles built by an outsider -- was always risky. Penske wouldn't own any product development capability, or design studios, or test tracks. He had a deal for GM to build existing Saturn products for the first two years, until he could find another manufacturer to provide products. He would have one really strong asset: the Saturn dealer network: Savvy dealers with newer facilities.
But even Penske couldn't make it work.
In private, Penske ... Continue reading "Lesson of Penske's bid for Saturn? It's tough getting started " »
Oct 1 12:01 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
Second-stage absence spells failure to launch
Posted 8:35 am U.S. ET, Oct. 1
|
Saturn took its name not from the planet on its logo, but from the Saturn rockets that sent man to the moon. Then-General Motors Chairman Roger Smith wanted to launch something new, and choose an appropriate name.
The metaphor behind the name also fits Roger Penske's decision not to move ahead with his plan to take over the Saturn brand.
GM had agreed to supply Saturn with vehicles for two more years. That would be enough to launch a new Saturn. But Penske needed another supplier of vehicles after that, and couldn't line up one.
Penske had the first stage of his rocket. But he wasn't going to launch without a second-stage booster rocket.
Would you? ... Continue reading "Second-stage absence spells failure to launch" »
Oct 1 8:35 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
Pyrrhic victories for all in Opel sale
Posted 3:53 pm U.S. ET, Sept. 11
|
Hey, Pyrrhic victories all around.
Everybody wins. And loses.
All the parties in this deal may be excused if they woke up this morning feeling like Pyrrhus of Epirus did after beating the Romans in 280 BC. Thinking of his army's heavy losses, Pyrrhus supposedly said, “One more victory like this and we are utterly undone.”
These days, a lot of us can relate.
In a downturn this severe, virtually everybody takes some hits. The Opel deal is just worse than most.
How bad? Here's a clue: cash goes in, but doesn't come out. Magna and Sberbank pay a half billion euros for 55 percent, but GM doesn't get any. The cash stays in Opel. Let's translate this: investors throw money into the sinkhole and hope it doesn't get big enough to swallow them. The German ... Continue reading "Pyrrhic victories for all in Opel sale" »
Sep 11 3:53 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
A tale of two Augusts
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Sept. 2
|
For the record, that's 1,262,189 this August and 1,250,117 last year. The difference is up less than one percent – actually 0.9656 percent, or 430 sales short of a full percent. But because it's this year and we're all hungry for good news, let's call it a percent.
But, man oh man, this 1.3 million feels so much better than last year's 1.3 million!
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, that level of sales, a 15.5 percent fall from August 2007, sounded awful.
This year, 1.3 million sales calls for a celebration. Wahoo!
Obviously the difference is which direction you're going. In 2008, August was the moment the industry realized it was actually going over the cliff. This year, August is the first full stage on the climb out of the pit.
Sure a SAAR of 13.7 million is a long cry from the 16 and ... Continue reading "A tale of two Augusts" »
Sep 2 12:01 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
Amid clunker chaos, dealers are reanimated
Posted 3:20 pm U.S. ET, Aug. 24
|
Dealers found their voice. They are reanimated, re-energized.
Sure, the cash-for-clunkers program spike in business helps. For the first time in a year, prospects had a sense of urgency, wanting to score a new ride before the gov'nmint dough ran out. Meager margins rose. That trickle of reluctant buyers pinching every dime turned into clusters of folks fixated on Uncle Sam's goodies.
But beyond that, the very clumsiness of clunkers also helped dealers rally. Yes, the goofy rules and hapless processing hurt far more than necessary.
But it also put a face on a previously faceless adversary. Dealership personnel dusted off rusty skills ... Continue reading "Amid clunker chaos, dealers are reanimated" »
Aug 24 3:20 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
What a clunker of a mismatch!
Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Aug. 19
|
Look at the main parties in the cash-for-clunkers program: auto dealers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in charge of reimbursing dealers. Um, so that's research scientists who have never cut a check to anybody inventing a system to pay billions within days to entrepreneurs desperately short of capital.
Sure, that'll work.
Now in the perfect world envisioned by Congress, the final report eventually would read something like this: “In the 30 days before the law took effect, NHTSA scientists developed, tested and verified electronic systems for handling applications and payments, prevented fraud, and handled without delay unexpected surges in both applications and program funding. Dealers quickl ... Continue reading "What a clunker of a mismatch! " »
Aug 19 12:01 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
UPDATE: On to the Senate for more clunker cash
Posted 10:29 am U.S. ET, July 31
|
The quick House action -- less than 24 hours after the first warnings the original $1 billion incentives pool was about to run dry -- and the 3 to 1 vote margin shows how much momentum the program had developed.
The rush of “clunker” showroom traffic has been the best boost in a year for most dealers. And dealers are rarely shy in telling their local politicians how they feel.
How will the bill do in the Senate? Well, if the average Congressional district has several dealerships, the average Senator has dozens or hundreds of dealers in his or her state.
UPDATE, 1:01 p.m.:Capital Hill is a beehive today as Congress scrambles to find additional funds to keep the unexpectedly popular cash-for-clunkers incentives from grinding to a halt.
After word Thu ... Continue reading "UPDATE: On to the Senate for more clunker cash" »
Jul 31 10:29 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
The official return of business as usual
Posted 3:26 pm U.S. ET, July 22
|
In the letter, a presidentially official-looking eagle spreads his black wings in the round gold logo that says "Automotive Stimulus Package." Yep. Gotta be the feds.
The letter begins with a thing that looks like a stamp: "APPROVED AUTOMOTIVE STIMULUS PACKAGE."
Then it tells me that a certain Chevy dealer particularly needs my year of a certain Chevy "and our managers have been authorized to buy back your current vehicle."
Wow.
If I agree to buy a new car or truck from these guys, then they'll look at my car and make me an offer on the used car.
In other words, it's business as usual at a car dealer. Trade in a car on a new one. In still other words, the implied connection with the government is phony, aimed at gullible people.
In even further other words, this kind of promotion is one of the reasons some Americans don't symp ... Continue reading "The official return of business as usual" »
Jul 22 3:26 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
The termination doesn't matter; just reimburse us
Posted 12:27 pm U.S. ET, July 21
 |
From my many discussions with other dealers of terminated franchises, I think we are all singing the same song. Our concerns lie not in our desires to be somewhere where we are not wanted. We just want a reinstatement of our dealer rights as per our signed dealer agreement.
Let's face it: As a franchised dealer, you can be profitable and have stellar customer service scores, but if the manufacturer doesn't want you, there are enough contract clauses to allow the company to terminate you with enough notice. Likewise, the dealer benefits from those contract clauses as well. But if a manufacturer chooses not to keep a dealer, it needs to properly reimburse that dealer for the equipment and supplies and pa ... Continue reading "The termination doesn't matter; just reimburse us" »
Jul 21 12:27 pm U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
What Congress should enact
Posted 9:34 am U.S. ET, July 14
|
This IS a good thing and definitely needed. However, what it doesn't address -- nor should it in its current form -- are the rules that give manufacturers latitude enough to ignore such laws while in bankruptcy.
I say this from experience, having lost not only my Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge franchises but also my Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and GMC franchises, in two separate locations.
As reflected earlier, GM deserves kudos for doing the right thing -- even in bankruptcy -- by not completely alienating their dealers who are losing their franchises. Chrysler, on the other hand, used bankruptcy to shield themselves from liability and leave 789 dealers hanging in the wind.
Many who did not have other CJD franchises now have parts inventory with a signifi ... Continue reading "What Congress should enact" »
Jul 14 9:34 am U.S. ET
| Post Comment | Permalink |
