Is Chrysler's bankruptcy now official?

[472 R/T SE]

Good luck to all who feed there families with the Mopar brands.  I have been brand loyal to the Chrysler label for over 20 years, and sincerly hope it never goes away.

+ 1

[bull]

Looks like 800 dealerships will soon go bye-bye: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090512/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chrysler_dealers

[rick.d]

If they close more dealers, then there will be less competition between dealers. That being said, wouldnt it make it harder to sell cars because of the lack of competition between dealers? As it is now, not many dealers want to "deal" on the new challenger, so wouldnt this make it worse from a consumer standpoint? Also i would think you would want to have more dealers pushing your product, maybey for a little less profit upfront, but make it up in volume by flooding the market with lower prices on the challenger? I only say that because ive seen the new Camaro for 27k with 3k of options, and compared to the challenger (and mustang) how can that be justified pricewise? I do love mopars, and i am going to get a new challenger soon, i hope, but i think Chrysler needs to realize they arent selling Hemicudas anymore.

[Mike DC]

 
IMHO the dealership network has been having a net total of a negative effect on the domestic auto industry for decades.  Anything that can be done to reduce their influence/presence is a good thing IMHO. 


Ask any dissatisfied former domestic car buyer what pissed them off -- you'll usually hear more griping about dealing with the dealership than the actual mechanical failures that sent them back to it. 

[Ghoste]

I agree with Mike for the most part except that I think that most of the dealerships to be closed will be the lower volume small town "mom and pop" type of dealers and IMO, most of the gripes have intiated with the big city megastore corporate mandated appearance "professional" dealerships.

[bull]

I agree with Mike for the most part except that I think that most of the dealerships to be closed will be the lower volume small town "mom and pop" type of dealers and IMO, most of the gripes have intiated with the big city megastore corporate mandated appearance "professional" dealerships.

I agree. And if that's the case it really stinks.

[BLUE68RT4ME]

Gentleman, and ladies if there are any out there, this sucks about Chrysler, about GM, and all the poor suppliers that provide them the items they need.  That said, this is just one area of the meltdown that is going to affect EVERYONE!

The worlds other economy's have caught up to us, and they've been doing so with our money.  Everytime we buy something from overseas, everytime we send a job somewhere else, our money leaves this country and resides in the other.

After WWII we were rebuilding the entire world.  Everyone was buying from us.  It inflated our economy so great we were richer than, well I'd almost be willing to say the rest of the world combined.

As the other countries started to develop our businesses realized they could profit more, and more recently just say alive, by using the lower wages of the other countries.  Well, now that money has made these people competitors rather than vendors.  We've educated and enriched the world in many ways since then and this is the result.

Our labor forces, especially in the auto industry, cost far more than those elsewhere and its not because of the poor people who are working for them currently, who in most cases are sitting at home right now waiting for a phone call to come back.  It's all the promises that unions made that to everyone over the years.  The retirement packages and health benefits, in many cases but not all, were FAR beyond reality and they were never adjusted appropriately for the turning future.

The politian who gets elected, the union director who gets hired, both do so making promises that you'll get more for less.  Well, the platform to make promises for the future is pretty much gone.

What I've really wanted to say is this, IT'S NOT OVER AND IT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.  We are borrowing money from the tax revenue of a country who's economy is shrinking and from a taxable population that is also shrinking!  There are roughly 78 million baby-boomers closing in on retirement and my generation, Gen X falls in at a mere 34 million.  Even if our economy maintained a flat line for the next 20 years the taxes we'd pay to maintain the debt that we're acquiring NOW is MORE than double... but this is not over!

On top of that, the tax need is rising to pay for an empty Social Security fund, which also has to be raised by more than 2 times to pay for everyone in the baby-boom.  On the back-side of that, there is more welfare being paid out than at any time in our history.  That's not going to be going away anytime soon either.  And more people keep getting voted in promising to expand those benefits. (disclaimer:  I'm am not against welfare as a whole, but welfare as an entitlement I am.  I believe in helping the disabled and disenfranchised, but not the mother down the street having kids as a source of income.  I sincerely hope I don't hurt anyone's feelings by saying this)

Mopar... I love Mopar... live and die Mopar but this is much bigger than this... and it's not over... and it will never be the same...

That's probably more than 2 cents, but take it for what it is.  The world is forever changed IMO.

P.S.  I'm not trying to make it sound like a complete gloom and doom type of thing, I have no idea what lies ahead, I just don't think people completely grasp what we're really facing here so I do say things a little bold.  Sorry...

[Neal_J]

Watch for GM to cut 3,000 dealers next.

[Ghoste]

It's not just the politicians and unions Mark, everytime a board of directors make a promise about more for less to the stockholders it's the same thing.  The unreal retirement and compensation packages of the higher level managers have some bearing in the bottom line as well.
It's everyone, every single last one of us.

[BLUE68RT4ME]

It's not just the politicians and unions Mark, everytime a board of directors make a promise about more for less to the stockholders it's the same thing.  The unreal retirement and compensation packages of the higher level managers have some bearing in the bottom line as well.
It's everyone, every single last one of us.

In full agreement