Chrysler is abandoning 789 dealers across the U.S., but the Rensselaer Dodge is not on the list.
GM is also cutting lose dealers, but has not released its list of 1100 that got its notice on Friday.
Update: The Saturday Rensselaer Republican reported that Charlie Roberts Chevrolet was one of the 1100 GM dealers who will no longer be GM dealerships. Their contract will expire in 2010. Steve Roberts sounded both disappointed and bitter.
We have lost the Ford dealership, and Ford may be the only U.S. car manufacturer who will survive. With GM pulling out of Rensselaer, that will leave only the Chrysler dealership selling new cars, and Chrysler is not a viable company without government subsidies. Maybe it is time for someone in town to get a Toyota or Honda dealership.
I never have had a bad experience dealing with Charlie Roberts Chevrolet, which is not a statement I can make about all Rensselaer car dealers.
This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.
What the media doesn't tell you is that Toyota and Honda have both been sucking on their government's teat for some time now. And, Toyota, which had about $98 billion in cash only last year, is now on par with Ford with about $18-19 billion on hand. (Where are all the doom and gloom headlines covering this?)
ReplyDeleteOur recent Honda dealership went bankrupt but was bought out by a larger regional dealer that has many dealerships around the state selling most major auto brands.
Now is not a good time for any automaker to be opening new dealerships as all have been drastically reducing production to meet the slowing demand. The difference between the imports and Ford versus GM and Chrysler is that GM and Chrysler's strategy was to produce their way to profitability but duh, that just led to an over abundance of product and dwindling demand. It doesn't take an economist to see that that was a bad move!
At least Rensselaer still has a new car dealership. The town I went to college in, which is over twice the size of Rensselaer, has lost their new dealerships this past year and now has none.