Dodge dealer death toll

[Belgium R/T -68]

I've been 28 years in carmanufacturing and I have asked myself many times the last years how we can have productioncapacity
for 50 million cars worldwide but only sell 35 million. 

[moparstuart]

I've been 28 years in carmanufacturing and I have asked myself many times the last years how we can have productioncapacity
for 50 million cars worldwide but only sell 35 million. 

[Ghoste]

I follow you PT but I don't think it's as simple as buying a car.  I can't pretend to be a corporate accountant so you have to keep in mind that my post is an opinion like almost all of the rest of them on this topic.  I guess the proof will be in what happens if it goes down?
Would I be correct in assuming that you feel GM would keep the Chrysler line intact and functioning?

[Sinister68]

On Friday (last day of the month), I nearly bought an '09 Challenger R/T from a Dodge dealer here in SW Houston.  They got the price down to invoice!  I didn't buy it because of the salesman, the terrible interest rate, and it didn't have the options I wanted.  They came down to invoice from $4K over sticker.  Seems like it might be a buyers market. 

[jeryst]

The real problem, I think, is just plain greed. Greedy unions, greedy executives, greedy stockholders, greedy politicians, etc. The problems facing Chrysler are the same ones facing Ford and GM, which are the same ones facing all manufacturing on this country. Maybe GM and Ford are a little better off right now, so they have lasted a little longer, but they too will slowly die off. Maybe one will survive in the end.

[Shakey]

The real problem, I think, is just plain greed. Greedy unions, greedy executives, greedy stockholders, greedy politicians, etc. The problems facing Chrysler are the same ones facing Ford and GM, which are the same ones facing all manufacturing on this country. Maybe GM and Ford are a little better off right now, so they have lasted a little longer, but they too will slowly die off. Maybe one will survive in the end.

You forgot the greedy consumers who continually demand more for less!

[Ghoste]

   When I sold cars we had a saying; "buyers are liars".

[69bronzeT5]

Duncan: Bow Mel Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep (still here..they just built a brand new dealership)

Around the Island:
Victoria: Willie Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep (still there)
Nanaimo: Neal's Nanaimo Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep (still there)
Nanaimo: Woodgrove Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep (still there)

Of course I'm forgetting a few but the one here in Duncan is still going strong.

[TK73]

  When I sold cars we had a saying; "buyers are liars".

Of course I lie to salesman, they start it though...

[RallyeMike]

Update. BBC Dodge, Burien WA....... ist kaput.

Building for lease.

Public auction Jan 13, 10AM

[Todd Wilson]

I would be extremely surprised if they did.  GM is one of the most beaurocratic organizations in the world and they pretty much wrote the book on "not invented here".  It isn't Chryslers technology, dealer network, factories, offices or anyhting like they want.  It's the 12 billion dollars in cash so they can stave off their own extinction.

Help me out with this question.  How can GM buy Chrysler and recieve its 12B in cash?  I'm not following the logic.  Say I buy a car from you for $20,000, i give you $20,000 cash and you giving me $12,000 in cash in return, so in reality did i just buy a car for $8,000?  Do you follow...   

GM could not go to the bank to borrow 12b in cash. They could how ever do some creative things to purchase Chrysler to get to its 12b in cash. This would have ultimately killed both GM and Chrysler if it would have happened as it would have created more long term financing problems for GM. They are like a lot of people out there that keep borrowing and borrowing never thinking of whats gonna happen when its time to pay the $ back.  Like the guy with 125,000$ in credit card debt.

2 months ago Chrysler had 12b in cash and then suddenly they were broke and on capital hill asking for $$ from the governemnt.

I still feel the Big 3 going to DC  was nothing more then a ME TOO plea to get some $$$ as they had just come up with the 700b bailout deal.

I still also feel GM in in serious trouble thru out  and Chrysler and Ford while down due to economy are not in that bad of shape.


Todd

[Todd Wilson]

As for Dodge dealers closing up  I believe I remembered reading that Chrysler wanted to consolidate dealerships and have one dealership that was  Dodge,Chrysler,Jeep dealership. If you just sold Dodge or Jeep  you were probably history. Those dealership closings may not be due to going broke.


Todd

[69bronzeT5]

Update....

Vancouver Chrysler= dead

[RallyeMike]

As for Dodge dealers closing up  I believe I remembered reading that Chrysler wanted to consolidate dealerships and have one dealership that was  Dodge,Chrysler,Jeep dealership. If you just sold Dodge or Jeep  you were probably history. Those dealership closings may not be due to going broke.


Todd

Broke or forced out of business = same result. People out of work and fewer places for parts and service.

[ted]

3 gone in albany ny area, 1 gone in catskill ny

[Mopar2Ya]

 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Even by the standards of battered automakers, Chrysler is in dire shape. Its sales in December were down a stunning 53 percent, far worse than Ford or General Motors, and analysts say it probably won't survive the year as an independent company — despite $4 billion US in government loans and the possibility of more.

Things were so bad last year that a single Toyota model, the Camry/Solara midsize car, outsold the entire fleet of Chrysler LLC's passenger cars.

"Basically they're done," said Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst with the consulting company IHS Global Insight in Troy, Mich. "There is no real possibility of turning this thing around as an independent company in my opinion."

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said she could not provide an immediate comment after requests Tuesday and Wednesday.

U.S. sales of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brand vehicles fell 30 percent last year, the worst decline of any major automaker. It lost more market share than any of its peers, down to 11 percent. Analysts say most of Chrysler's products, especially its cars, don't look, feel or drive as well as the competition's.

Chrysler plans to introduce an electric car in 2010, but until then, there are few promising models to boost sales. Many analysts predict that by 2010, Chrysler will be acquired by another automaker or sold in pieces by its majority owner, New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Chrysler's chief financial officer has said the company needs $7 billion every 45 days to pay parts suppliers, and analysts question whether the company's meager sales are generating enough cash to make those payments.

Analysts also say an acquisition by General Motors Corp. is still possible. The two companies discussed it late last year before GM backed away to focus on its own cash issues.

Nissan Motor Co. could be interested in buying Chrysler's truck business. Chrysler is already signed up to make pickup trucks for the Japanese company.

Jonathan Macey, a Yale University law professor who has been critical of U.S. automakers' management, said Chrysler's sales numbers are "further evidence of an unviable entity."

When automakers went to Washington late last year, their aim was to get enough money to become viable again. They wound up with only enough help from the Bush administration to get them through March, when Barack Obama will be in office and might provide more aid.

Macey said giving the carmakers any money is burning cash.

"I'm a big fan of not throwing good money after bad," he said. "The idea that you would enter into a financing relationship like this without any parameters is more evidence of the complete insanity of all this."

A Treasury Department spokeswoman noted that the agreement for the government's automaker loans required that the administration designate someone to keep analyzing the companies' finances and viability.

Macey, author of a book on corporate governance, said it's too late for Chrysler and GM to solve their problems, including high labor costs and union work rules that hinder competitiveness.

To get the loans, GM and Chrysler had to agree to negotiate concessions from creditors and the United Auto Workers union, but the specifics have yet to be worked out. The government can call in the loans March 31.

Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, in a presentation to the Senate Banking Committee last month, said the company could stay alive in the long term with reasonable concessions, a $7 billion bridge loan and $6 billion more out of the $25 billion Congress allocated to develop new fuel-efficient technology.

The Bush administration provided a $4 billion loan. Now, Chrysler is counting on an additional $3 billion in aid for its financing arm, Chrysler Financial.

Some lawmakers say automakers need time to wring out the concessions, and point out that the recession and nearly frozen credit markets are at least partly to blame for poor sales.

"You could make a car that could run on air or could fly and people wouldn't buy it," said Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. "I'm hoping that we may see some of that investor consumer confidence come back."

Chrysler, based in Auburn Hills, Mich., and Ford Motor Co., in nearby Dearborn, are also waiting on a decision from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on whether they can become industrial loan corporations. That would mean the government could guarantee their debt, making it more appealing to investors, whose cash Chrysler could use to make more car loans at better terms.

Some lawmakers have noted that foreign automakers, including Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. and Germany's BMW AG, have the industrial banks, placing the domestic auto industry at a disadvantage.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., whose state is home to Chrysler, GM and Ford, said much will depend on how the Obama administration executes the terms of the auto bailout.

In his presentation to Congress, Nardelli used charts that showed Chrysler could post an operating profit of $400 million this year if Americans buy about 11 million light vehicles overall. But in this economy, analysts predict the figure will come in smaller.

Nardelli said Chrysler will improve fuel economy on 19 models this year, about three-quarters of its product line. Besides the electric car, it also has a deal with Nissan to produce a Chrysler subcompact in 2010.

Last month, Chrysler showed off prototypes of a new 300 sedan, Charger performance car and Jeep Grand Cherokee, as well as new, more luxurious interiors under development for nearly all of its products.

The problem, says Bragman, is that significant new products don't arrive for another year. And Chrysler may not make it until then.

"The good stuff doesn't come in time," Bragman said. "They don't have any help coming really for 2009."

[TUFCAT]

Its a media massacre.....very sad that nobody reports that Hyundai U.S. sales are down 48.3% for the month of December!!!!!!   

[Ghoste]

Or that Toyota is posting a loss for the first time in 70 years.

[Mopar2Ya]

Its a media massacre.....very sad that nobody reports that Hyundai U.S. sales are down 48.3% for the month of December!!!!!!   

I agree this whole recession scare if half the media's fault also. Toyota has been around 70 yrs?? 

[Ghoste]

Yes, they made tiny unreliable pieces of crap until the first Arab oil embargo caught the American car makers unprepared.  People were willing to drive junk for the sake of fuel economy.  This brought a much needed cash infusion to the Asian car makers and began the slow bleed of cash away from the domestics (which made it more difficult for them to respond).  Without that big sales push in the 70's who knows if Toyota would have become the giant of today?

[Mopar2Ya]

Jap vehicles were such junk back in the day, but alas they have copied the American & Germans to get where they are at now. 

[1969chargerrtse]

2 Dodge Dealers closed near me this week.  One had a Challenger out front.  All gone.

[HemiTom]

here in Delaware/Mayland area there were some closings/buyouts...

Kirkwood Dodge..sold to BrandywineCJ...Wilmington,De
Gamacorta CJ sold to Carmen Dodge...New Castle,De
Price Dodge sold to Carmen autogroup...New Castle,De
Advantage CDJ...Elkton,Md......Gone
Sturgill CDJ Conowingo,Md...Gone
Baker CJ/Star Cj Wilmington,De...Gone