Other Editorials

Auto dealer glut hurts U.S. makes

Saturday, February 3, 2007

About two-thirds of 15,000 dealers who sell Big Three vehicles need to close, says analyst and ex-GM adviser.

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

LAS VEGAS -- The number of auto dealers selling American cars is shrinking, but not nearly fast enough, a top industry analyst and former General Motors Corp. adviser said Friday.

About two-thirds of the more than 15,000 dealers who sell Detroit-made cars and trucks need to get out of the business in order to create a healthy dealer body that can compete with Toyota and Honda, said Stephen Girsky, speaking at an auto industry roundtable hosted by J.D. Power and Associates in conjunction with the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention.

The domestic dealer network is shrinking by about 3 to 4 percent a year. And while that's been painful for dealers, the market remains oversaturated. "Three to 4 percent a year just isn't cutting it," Girsky said, who was an adviser to GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson until he resigned last year.

full text at www.detnews.com
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Girsky is nothing more than a flunky for the banks, having come from Morgan. His words are about as worthless as David Cole and Paul Ballew. Ballew had the nerve to call Jan "less than our expectations." GM wants to control distribution and is therefore killing dealers and divisions. How else can you explain discontinuing Red on Lucernes effective this week? Why discontinue the Rendezvous when crossovers are the hottest segment? Buick dealers will die quickly when they lose a $300 lease vehicle and customers with returning leases will go elsewhere after choking on $500-600 quotes. Considering that the engineering and tooling is paid for and the vehicle is made is Mexico, it was profitable for GM but successful Buick dealers are not what Wagoner is interested in.

Wake up people and realize the path to failure is tread purposely by Red Ink Rick and his merry band of followers. No one is so incompetent and/or stupid as to lose so much so steadily and remain in office. The Board of Bystanders knows exactly what's up, move offshore, buy off union leaders, shed pensions eventually on the gov't, go belly up and buy the carcass out of bankruptcy. Delphi was only the test case. Look out, it's going to get worse as the dismantling of General Motors continues...

Our biggest problems and impediments to recovery are inside the building!