What does it say about a product when half of the retailers expected to sell it want no part of it? It’s another one of those questions we’re not supposed to voice the obvious answer to.
So let’s do.
About half of the Buick retailers (that is, dealerships) in this country have elected to stop selling anything rather than bankrupt themselves trying to sell the battery powered devices with “Buick” badges on them that parent company General Motors says they must try to sell, even if they can’t.
And pay for the opportunity to do that.
GM – having been pushed by the government to manufacture battery powered devices – applied the push to Buick (and Cadillac) dealers to try to sell them. Dealers were told they would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each toward that end. The dealerships would have to be updated to deal with the devices; chiefly, this meant spending their money on electrical upgrades so that the devices that GM foisted on them would retain charge while sitting on the lot, not selling. And so that customers (this assumes they could be found) would not accumulate in the waiting room all day, waiting for their device to be charged up enough so they could leave.
It is necessary to keep devices plugged in while they’re not being used for essentially the same reason it’s a good idea to disconnect the battery in a car that will sit for months, unused.
And alligator clamp the battery to a trickle charger, so that when you want the car to start when you need it to, it will.
With the difference being that if it won’t start because the battery died despite your best efforts to prevent that, you generally don’t throw away the car. You buy a new battery. When the car is a device – and its battery has lost its capacity – it’s the device you toss.
Buick dealers were told by GM that in order to keep the devices they were being forced to accept and try to sell, they would have to spend what was necessary to keep them in operable condition – however long that might be.
This would be on top of what they were obliged to spend on the devices, themselves, as part of their “allotment.” Dealers generally don’t get to sell what they want. They are obliged by contract to sell what the parent company sends them. They finance the purchase of their allotment, in the manner of a short-term investment that they hope will reliably generates return enough, soon enough, to pay for what they spent.
This works when cars reliably sell.
It doesn’t when devices don’t.
It isn’t just inventory that accumulates on dealer’s lots. It’s interest – on the short-term loan taken out by the dealer to finance the purchase of the allotment of cars on the lot. It is therefore very much in the dealership’s interest to buy vehicles that sell. Those that don’t aren’t just sitting (and in the case of EVs, costing the dealer money in the form of what it costs to keep them charged while they sit). They are also costing interest, accumulating the longer they sit and don’t sell.
A point comes when the dealership must cut its losses – by paying someone (anyone) to take the thing that’s not selling off the lot, as that’s worth more than what it costs to continue losing money keeping the thing on the lot, collecting dust (and interest charges).
That point came this year.
Many – about half – of the total number of Buick dealers decided that spending money on devices that people don’t want to buy and even more money on the hardware needed to keep them from bricking while not selling is not a good way to stay in business. So they decided to go out of business instead. The dealers could accept buyouts, which is better than bankruptcy in that at least the dealer didn’t lose everything. But the people who worked for the dealerships that are closing will lose their jobs – and maybe more, if they can’t find new ones. The managers and technicians and sales people who won’t be working at those Buick stores anymore are among the casualties of “electrification.”
News stories such as this one in USA Today frame this shit-rolls-downhill story interestingly. It says “Late last year, Buick said it would be asking dealers to commit a minimum investment of $300,000 to $400,000 to prepare their stores to sell and service EVs.
Italics added.
Corrections follow:
Buick dealers were not “asked.” To ask implies there is no pressure to agree. Buick dealers were told they would either “invest” hundreds of thousands of their dollars to make dubiously sensible “upgrades” to their stores – or they would be cut loose by GM. This is “asking” like being “asked” to hand over what a thug with a gun in your ribs says is his “fair share” of your money . . . else you know what.
And “invest”?
To use that word in this context is an etymological obscenity. People – and businesses – do not need to be “asked” (that is, told) to make sound investments because those make rather than lose money. But they do need to be “asked” to make the kinds of “investments” that GM demanded its Buick dealers make. 
It will be interesting to see what happens to the remaining Buick dealerships that did make the “investment” demanded by GM in devices they won’t be able to sell.
The same, by the way, will likely be the fate of every other brand of car that has been pushed into trying to sell what most people don’t want to buy. Especially the luxury brands, which previously offered things that other brands didn’t, such as V8 and V12 engines.
Will they be able to get people to spend $100,000 on a Duracell when people can buy a $40,000 EverReady?
We’ll see soon enough.
. . .
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Not ready for new high tech speed cameras….another tax on the slaves….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQT-dDwsLOY
At least Pontiac never had to make a “device”……
Mullen Motors is a startup EV company. The company did 1 for 100 reverse split today. The share price before the split was at 10,743.76 USD, traded as low as 6.56 USD, so it fell from grace at more than 90 percent. 107 USD to less than 7.00 dollars is a lot.
MULN is the ticker. Must be painful.
Where’s the money? Gone.
There are several former new car dealers in my area that now only sell used. One was once a very high volume chevy dealer.
THE NUTTERY OF EV’S: A CARBON FOOTPRINT AS BIG AS A PANZER …
A new study called “Overcharged Expectations” claims that without federal subsidies, the real cost of fueling an electric vehicle would amount to $17.33 per gallon of gasoline.
The study claims that a 2021 electric vehicle “would cost $48,698 more to own over a 10-year period without $22 billion in government favors given to EV manufacturers and owners” and said traditional gasoline-powered vehicles are cheaper than an electric vehicle without subsidies.
Job #1….forcing EV’s so the slaves will walk only…in their 15 min city/prison camp…
“It is not an overstatement to say that the federal government is subsidizing EVs to a greater degree than even wind and solar electricity generation and embarking on an unprecedented endeavor to remake the entire American auto industry,” the report said.
According to the study, about $22 billion in various federal and state forms of aid… (stolen slave tax dollars)…. have artificially lowered the price of a 2021 electric vehicle by almost $50,000.
The report further estimates that the cost to other people for the strain on the power grid from charging electric vehicles comes out to $11,833 over 10 years, funded by taxpayers…tax slaves… and utility ratepayers…..EV owners are parasites…
https://gizadeathstar.com/2023/11/the-nuttery-of-evs-a-carbon-footprint-as-big-as-a-panzer-division/
Good stuff Eric.
Except I don’t leave my cars and bikes ‘plugged into a trickle charger’ at all. And all of them (6-7?) in two different locations sit for 4-6 months at a time.
When I started living in two locations a while ago, I experimented with leaving them with nothing and they all survived. I was surprised. I can get non-ethanol in one location but not the other which just get heavy fuel treatments. All works well.
Here’s what I think will happen: Instead of automakers admitting that they’ve made a mistake with their misguided EV adventures, they’ll double down. First, they’ll beg government to outlaw new non-EV cars to be sold, because climate change. This will eliminate new ICE-powered cars as competition. Second, they’ll beg government to impose restrictions on existing ICE-powered vehicles, because climate change and safety. Third, they’ll themselves restrict the availability of spare parts for ICE-powered cars, through scarcity, exorbitant pricing or both. Fourth, they’ll go after aftermarket part manufacturers, because safety and intellectual property. And fifth, since the Chinese will not be deterred by intellectual property quibbles, and since low-quality Chinese parts will be the only game in town at this point, they’ll beg the government to outlaw Chinese aftermarket parts, because safety.
At that point, if they succeed, EVs will be the only available alternative for the few car-buyers that have yet to be priced out of the market.
Excellent thoughts Stu. Good ole amerikan fascism at its finest that’ll probably come to pass.
OK. Suppose I was actually interested in an EV.
The dealer takes delivery on an EV on January 1. I visit the dealer March 1 to buy said EV. It goes through 60 days of keeping the battery warm and 60 days worth of charge cycles.
I would be buying a used car being marketed as a new car. If someone bought a new car and gave it back to the dealer in 2 months, the dealer couldn’t call it new. The so called EV would go through the same wear and tear. They should be allowed to call them new cars.
They should NOT be allowed to call them new cars.
Good point Horst. Don’t think any of us ever thought of that.
However, I’m pretty sure that the EV batteries are not getting discharged and then charged just sitting. Some load yes for sure.
Likely just kept on a sort-of trickle charger to handle whatever load is needed to keep the battery topped off. Which by the way, no one has ever mentioned ‘what it takes to keep a EV battery topped off for a month’, and I’m sure cold and or hot makes a big difference.
I have asked many times, ‘how long would and EV battery last unattended at say 45 degrees average’ I don’t know.
Thanks
I don’t think it will be just the Buick dealers (funny thing about Buick – it seems that they don’t even try to push EVs, at least not in my area – the only tv ad they have is that of their stupid self parking car…) that will be going away.
Every state whose governor has signed a law to bar future sales of gasoline powered vehicles has signed a death warrant for most dealerships of all makes that sell new cars. Reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the witch turns the hour glass over and says to Dorothy “This is how long you have to live!” OK, with the car dealerships, it is an 11 year glass, but still….I can see the leftist governors of those states sneering that line having signed those bills into law.
The local Chevrolet dealer just moved into a nice shiny new building earlier this year. Too bad. Unless something changes (undoing of state and federal bans/restrictions on new gas powered vehicles) that building will be emptied out and be up for sale in a few year’s time.
The odd part is how we accept their banning anything. Does anyone, besides me think they may be pushing their power a little. Who are those people that think they can make up a threat (global warming) and then force me to comply with what they say I can or cannot have? These governors and “law making psychopathic asses” that think they can exceed their authority need removed,,, peacefully if possible and sent to mental institutions.
Their last lie, covid, still ongoing, only enough people have figured out the bs and therefore put an end to the threats of incarceration, children removed, restricted to home, forced inoculation. So now they are only killing the children and babies with their mandatory ‘experimental’ shots to attend indoctrination camps comically referred to as schools. It takes a real piece of work (parent) to force their children to take a shot for a babysitting service paid by taxing others while they slave away stocking foreign goods on shelves and pay taxes to fund the same government that oppresses them.
For whatever is left of Christmas which was taken by the ACLU and the court that said it violated the 1st amendment,,, the same court that okayed the murder of babies. To all I say Merry Christmas!
Sad to see how we destroyed kind thoughts like Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men. Growing up in the 1960s and seeing all the decorations, displays, carolers, smiles from people to no decorations, no displays, no carolers, and no smiles sticks in the mud pretty well defines what we lost.
Lets try to keep what we still have left……
>what we lost.
Thunder only happens when it’s raining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ywicffOj4
Some good news from GM. 400ci producing 523 naturally-aspirated horsepower!
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/l8p-crate-engine-chevrolet-performance-inside-look/
That’s fantastic news and a great article. Thanks for sharing.
This will probably be out of my range financially, so I’ll keep my little Gen 1 350 going strong for several years to come with all of the cheap aftermarket parts available.
But it’s fun to dream.
America isn’t set up for short automobile trips, outside of driving to and from work and routine shopping. That’s it. If you (well, not anyone here because you’re a bunch old car guys and won’t put up with TSA, etc) are traveling any distance it’s going to be by air. There are regional airports but because the same basic rules apply to them as major hubs, the operating cost is outrageous, and because they’re run by municipalities who see them as a promotional tool, they charge whatever the operating cost and debt service will allow, without regard to saving money. This translates to extremely high gate fees, which you pay for in your ticket. So that RJ trip to the big hub airport costs twice or more what the hub to hub trip costs. So we drive to the hub, which for many is 50-100 miles depending, park the car for a week and hope it will be there when we come back. No way can we do that with an EV.
Some people think the answer for the “middle miles” is some sort of intercity rail. But no, there you run into even more problems in the form of undue and outdated regulation that prevents anyone from ever making a penny in profit from rail travel unless it’s scenic excursion trains that are more about the meal and the view than actually going anywhere. And Amtrak is infrequent, unreliable and can’t share schedules and tickets with airlines BY LAW, so that’s right out. And from what I’ve seen over the years, there’s zero interest in reforming passenger rail service, just lots of talk about building new high speed boondoggles that turn into land grabs by the insiders. Besides, an RJ at cruise is still more efficient than a diesel driven train and needs no infrastructure beyond a 1000 ft runway.
If these idiots really want to save the planet they’ll go for the jugular and tell these muni airports to stop soaking passengers, then figure out how to accommodate more regional jets at the hub airports. Instead of making EVs do what ICE cars do, how about adjust to a new way of doing things within the existing structures?
If there actually is a problem. Which by their action (or lack) makes it pretty clear there isn’t one.
I wondered about this last time I left my car for two weeks at Sky Harbor. How would that work? I didn’t notice any Teslas in the parking garage. You come back and your car wont start. Another example of why EVs are practically useless.
Flying for us is a pretty simple calculation. Takes an hour and a half to drive to the airport from our house, getting there 2 hours early for a 1-2 hour flight, thats about six hours total. I can drive 400+ miles easy in six hours without stopping and on one tank of gas. Any more than that, unless we have a good reason to drive (family, scenery along the way) we prefer to fly. Don’t understand why everyone is still so butt hurt about TSA. You pay the 150$ for 3 years of pre check. No long lines, no taking off your belt or shoes, no pat downs, no backscatter radiation. Simple bag check and walk through a metal detector.
Your comment is bootlicker BS. The TSA is trash. Airport security is about attacking our individual rights, nothing else. You pay the extra $$$ and fast pass TSA, don’t come here bragging about it. You should feel shame.
Our individual rights outside our homes are already gone. Do you have a smart phone? One that you carry with you everywhere? IDK, maybe you do maybe you don’t. If you do then you lick the boot of the security state.
Not ashamed of doing right by certain parts of my family. Flying does remain a necessary evil for some of us. Unless you’re horse face Kerry or some other 1%er flying private is out of reach for most of us.
Hi Xious,
I last flew in 2016 – after my dad died. I doubt I will ever fly again, unless it’s a family emergency and I need to get out to CA (sister). I am unable to forget the Before Time – when you were not treated as a presumptive “terrorist” just because you wanted to fly somewhere. And it’s not even about the “terrorist” stuff. It is about degradation (of a piece with the “masking”). The whole idea being to get people used to be being handled (literally) by some low-IQ government geek. I cannot get used to that. I won’t put myself in the position of ripping out the geek’s larynx – and so I no longer fly.
It’s like the old Seinfeld bit about maximum strength cold pills… Figure out what’s going to kill me, then back it off a notch.
How badly will they howl if we grope their wife? Their daughter? What if we figure out how to take nude pictures of them? Share them with each other for kicks?
But convince everyone that their seatmate is a terrorist and anything goes. Take what should be a half day’s travel into a two day ordeal? No problem. Just scare the bejesus out of everyone and they’ll put up with whatever shit you want to hand down, and thank you for it.
I remember flying in 2002, just after it all began. Back then I carried a GPS when they were still new, and you had to ask the captain for permission via a flight attendant. So I asked, and the FA was happy to pass along the request. The woman in the seat in front of me loudly asked the aether “why would someone bother the captain with that? and “Why would anyone want to use that?” As if I’m going to try something. Funny thing is about half way through the flight I get a note with from the cockpit showing current lat/lon and airspeed and the FA asked me if my location concurred. Of course I was using a different display system and reading MPH vs knots so it didn’t match, but it was nice to see someone was being normal.
People are just to nervous to begin with, and now we let them set policy. We can blame the lawyers but I think it really comes down to people just putting up with whatever because the goal is to complete a task, and the path of least resistance is to go along to get along, or find an alternative.
I think that nervousness on the numbnutz part is from always being connected. We never had that in the time before. I always try to find alternatives. Almost to a fault. It all comes down to common sense leaving the building. When this started I couldn’t see why they didn’t just reenforce the doors and arm the pilots.
Flew out of Flagstaff once to Durango, no goonish behavior detected. Almost like the old days when Sky Harbor was a tiny airport. It is a nice 45 min drive to Flag, with little traffic as compared to Phoenix. Problem is most flights from Flag still go to Phoenix first. And the ones that don’t are twice the price.
How badly will they howl if we grope their wife? Their daughter? What if we figure out how to take nude pictures of them?
Nude pics? Bad idea. Two words – Big Mike
>It is about degradation
Latest SH*T is medical offices demanding to confiscate your internal passport (er, “driver’s license”) in order to be “seen” by a Doctor-God.
I refused one such Gamma female’s demand, and was denied service, i.e., denied medical attention, six weeks ago in SoCal.
Was able to prevail (i.e. successfully refuse to hand over my DL) at another medical group (their nominal competitor), as of yesterday.
Anyone else seen this?
The by far best critique of TSA is that it has never, ever, captured a “terrorist”. About the only thing it’s good at is stealing stuff from air passengers.
I likewise have not flown since TSA. I haven’t been groped, patted down, or X-rayed. Likely a part of the end of my marriage, when I refused to fly to Florida for my father in law’s funeral. As I explained to her, it would be futile, since the first time a TSA agent put their hands on me in what I deemed an inappropriate manner, I would end up in jail, not my intended destination. I offered to drive there from Missouri, but that wasn’t good enough.
Why would we put up with such BS, when they have never, ever captured a terrorist? But they have stolen thousands of dollars worth of passenger’s property.
“Don’t understand why everyone is still so butt hurt about TSA. You pay the 150$ for 3 years of pre check.”
There’s a definite “let them eat cake” vibe going on here.
It’s amazing what they can normalize over time. Just remember, it’s not normal to be treated like a potential terrorist with no reasonable suspicion. Even if you can pay a bribe to be treated a little better.
Thats true. We are treated like potential terrorists everywhere, it has become the new normal over the last 20 years
When I lived across the street from ASE (Aspen) I had a pretty nice flying experience. First off, easy to get to the terminal… just a short walk, but driving a few miles wouldn’t be the end of the world if parking wasn’t exorbitantly expensive. Then getting through TSA was about as nice as the old days of when the airlines paid for security, just go on through and “sorry but your belt buckle set off the metal detector so I have to hand wand you sir.” No human X-ray machines, no commanding you to do what we sez right now! attitude.
The thing is, Aspen Ski Company pays the airlines a pretty nice subsidy to get them to fly into ASE, and Vail Resorts does the same thing up in Eagle County. And it still costs more to land at ASE than DEN because Pitkin county runs it so poorly and all the good people in Woody Creek lawyer up every time someone mentions lengthening the runway to accommodate 737 sized aircraft.
But compare fares to Grand Junction (GJT) or Montrose (MTJ) and you’ll see a major difference, even with longer runways and bigger planes. And the TSA is more Kafkaesque than Aspen for sure, at least in GJT. And don’t get me started on flying anywhere near Washington DC. Talk about “never forget” the TSA in and around flight 93’s “crash site” takes it personally and assumes everyone (including their own mother) is a terrorist.
> all the good people in Woody Creek lawyer up every time someone mentions lengthening the runway to accommodate 737 sized aircraft
LOL.
At one time, Santa Fe, NM, refused to allocate funds to maintain their airport runways, so commercial air service (Frontier 727s) ceased, and the airport closed. Santa Fe became the only U.S. State capital without an airport. As you may know, neither does BNSF (formerly, ATSF) run directly to Santa Fe. Closest stop is Lamy, NM. The oldest U.S. State capital, founded 1610, is indeed “The City Different.” 🙂
ASE is the third busiest airport in Colorado, and much of that has to do with the fact that United and American have to fly two RJs several times a day where they could just fly one 737-800 and probably cut back to a few a day. There is plenty of GA traffic, and that’s really the noisy stuff because the pilots are trying to save the brakes by running a lot of reverse thrust. Lengthing the runway should actually reduce the overall noise level but all the amateur Hunter Thompsons think they need to make a fuss.
Does make for entertaining reading in the local papers though.
TSA, hell, I got my GED!
Flew for the first time in 1973, I bought the ticket, no questions asked. The airline had spartan seats and the interior was plain. Flew to O’Hare in Chicago on Halloween night. Over the intercom, the message from the announcer: “Dracula, Count Dracula, you are wanted, please report to the airline terminal desk.” Close enough to remember what was said exactly.
Back when you could actually fly with not many problems.
I boarded a United flight to my destination, you can fly the friendly skies, it was a nice plane and it was plump full of passengers.
Nobody got blown out of the sky or crash landed.
Can’t decide if I want to drive 70 hours there and back, or fly two days for 50 hours, there and back. Doesn’t matter if the flight is three hours in length, still takes plenty of time to prepare for the flight. Then you need accommodations, rent a car.
Might drive to trade off for something not so new and probably not that much different.
Seems like the gov has become an existential threat these days.
Eastern Shuttle. BOS-JFK-DCA (or was it IAD?), every 30 minutes, guaranteed a seat. Jump aboard, pay cash after pushback, and back home in time for dinner. $29 one way.
Still existed up until 2021 but run more like a regular flight.
I flew the Eastern Airlines shuttle regularly when I was a student back in the 60’s; Boston to Newark for $14 then . Was a great experience and quite convenient, but that was in the before times. I feel bad for those who’ve only flown under the present Gestapo rules.
[If these idiots really want to save the planet ]
I highly doubt the planet need saving,,, if it did, it sure wouldn’t take stupid humans. The planet was here before us and will be here long after we destroy ourselves.
>The planet was here before us and will be here long after we destroy ourselves.
So? You are betting the “L” factor in the Drake equation is a small number, eh?
Can’t say I disagree.
In any case, the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland is a reminder of our puniness as a species, compared to the forces of nature.
Somebody needs to write a book.
How to impoverish and destroy a nation and its people. The USA would be a great example.
Nothing this stupid can be accidental….
Somebody did, Atlas Shrugged. I disagree with a lot of Objectivist philosophy myself, as they’re too statist, however, Ayn Rand was prophetic in the collapse of society in Atlas Shrugged. The powers ruining our society are basically following her book like a how-to guide.
Much like 1984, A Brave new world, or The Prince.
I agree John, it seems like the PTB are using 1984 as an instruction manual.
1000 Buick dealerships down, 1000 left to go.
If we have to do what we are told, you’ll kill us.
If we leave you, you’re probably gonna die too.
We had to kill GM to save GM.
Another joke in clown world.
There’s the Stealers Wheel, a rock group that sings the song.
Look at it this way: The Edsel, Pinto, DeLorean, and the Aztek have been redeemed by the floppiest flop to have ever flopped in the US auto industry: every make/model of EV.
‘What does it say about a product when half of the retailers expected to sell it want no part of it?’ — eric
Eric is talking about EeeVees here. But if your fallback ICE alternative is a Buick Envista with a 1.2-liter, three-cylinder motorcycle-sized engine, where the hell is your future?
https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2023/08/29/2024-buick-envista/
If I could stick a knife in my heart
Suicide right on stage
Would it be enough for your Wokester lust
Would it help to ease the pain?
Ease your brain?
— Rolling Stones, It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)
Paid Off My 2019 V6 GAS Operated SUV with 41,000 miles Last Week, 2 years Early.
I will keep the SUV for the rest of my life or until death whichever comes first.
NO FRIGGING BATTERY OPERATED POS FOR ME!
End Of Story.
Once they tax people out of their ICE cars and on foot or bicycle those 15 minute cities will be easy peasy.
Congratulations John, being debt free is one of the greatest decisions you can make
I predict the EV push will be a joyous blessing for manufacturers of aftermarket parts and engine rebuilders to keep the older cars on the road longer.
As the new car market dies a well deserved fiery EV death, good used cars are going to be the hot items, along with the parts and services to keep them in tip top shape.
Sure, the super rich will be able to keep a new car in the garage, while some debt slaves will happily take on perpetual payments to do so, I think most people will look for alternatives, and that has to be used cars.
Until they are outlawed.
You’re right, of course. But … good Lord, we’re Cuba. Minus the warm weather, that is.
Screw all of them for getting in bed with GovCo to begin with. They have done nothing but create a Corporate Oligarchy that ultimate fucks everybody out a decent standard of living, and themselves out of existence.
Indeed, Graves –
And (changing subject) check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLrwJ7zUMmI
‘Dealers were told they would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.’ — eric
Dealers talk to customers every day. They have their finger on the level of demand. And they know that overpriced EeeVees won’t even be considered by the majority of buyers.
Unlike giant, government co-opted corporations such as GM, dealers do not have to toe the ‘Biden’ regime’s party line of ‘cliiiiiiimate change.’ They can see pigs in a poke, piling higher and deeper, and elect to just walk.
What happens to GM sales when its dealer outlets go dark? Duh, maybe EeeVee Mary should have thought of that.
Die, GM, die.
And I’d guess almost all of them sell multiple brands. What percentage of their business comes through the Buick door vs all the others? My guess is not much, just judging by the number of them I see on the roads. $300,000 would go a long way to expanding out the used lot, or hiring on a few more salespeople. By dropping Buick they can better allocate their existing staff and infrastructure to other tasks. And in the case of salespeople, if they can sell today’s Buick lineup imagine what they can do for the GMC franchise.
I think GM is too nostalgic for their own good. Brand loyalty gets harder all the time. Pulling these sorts of shenanigans might work for McDonalds franchisees who don’t have much leverage, but for a dealer that’s been around for 100 years who’s used to dictating terms to the factory (and the factory producing good products that people want), this isn’t going to fly -unless the product is so good it brings customers in hordes. Commercials about restoring some old barn find for dementia dad isn’t going to do that, especially when they show up and you only have an EV to sell them.
Some McDonalds franchisees have successfully pushed back. The Orlando owner of “The World’s Largest McDonalds” does what he pleases within the franchise agreement because of the old real estate rule, “Location location location”.
>What happens to GM sales when its dealer outlets go dark?
Maybe they will attempt to sell their electric appliances via amazon.com
Who knows?
Sell GM to Mattel?
“It’s Mattel. It’s swell.”
“Batteries not included?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel#/media/File:Aerial_Mattel_Headquarters_El_Segundo_May_2012.JPG
Remember, they’re not “GM” any more. Last I saw, they were “gm.”
You know, this could open the door to Chinese automakers looking to break into the US market. They could offer generous deals to the soon to be defunct Buick dealer, and then offer better terms on vehicles they sell. For example, the Chinese automakers that make both ICEVs and EVs could offer to upgrade the dealers for EV sales and service for free. Then, they could let the dealers make more money on each vehicle they sell. Along with being priced lower than the competition, which would spur sales, dealers would jump on it.
The Chinese motorcycle builder, CFMOTO, already does this. They build ATVs, UTVs, and motorcycles. The products are good, and they’re priced thousands less than their Japanese, European, or American counterparts. In addition to the lower prices driving sales, CFMOTO offers a better deal to the dealers selling their products; I don’t know the details, but it boils down to this: CFMOTO dealers make more money per vehicle sold than they do with competitors’ vehicles, and they sell more of them.
If Chinese automakers, such as BYD, Geely, and Chery, were to court the soon to be defunct Buick dealers and offer them a good deal like CFMOTO does to powersports dealers, then they could make serious inroads into the American market, and they could do so quickly. I think that this BACKFIRE on GM, big time…
There’s only one fly in your ointment, GovCo. They would NEVER allow certification of these Chinese alternatives on “safety” and “emissions” grounds. Unless of course they grease the Palms of Bidens…or whomever
Which pretty much proves the issue isn’t real, or isn’t much of a problem.
Dead is dead, whether it be by climate change or T-boned by an idiot texting through an intersection.
Uh, haven’t they ALREADY greased Biden’s palms?
And perhaps increasing Communist China’s control is one part of Xiden’s plan?
If I was stuck with a GM dealership, I’d have connected with several Asian manufacturers back in 2009 when GM became a subsidiary of the fedgov.
I wonder if that is an option now, or have the Asian car makers already enough exposure in the USSA.
D.C. is utterly corrupt and can’t be peacefully reformed. NIFO. It’s the only way to be sure.
How is it that the Buick executives, being smart enough to draw 6 or more figure salaries, weren’t smart enough to see this coming? Maybe I should apply for such a position. Oh, wait, there are no such positions, since the company is about to go belly up.
Uh, because said Buick executives answer to Mary Barra and her colleagues at the PARENT company! The Buick execs either do as they’re told, or they’ll no longer draw those 6 and 7 figure salaries. It’s really as simple as that.
The pitiful part being, they are going to lose their job anyway.
That’s true, but they’re hoping that, if they suck up to the right people, then they’ll keep their jobs.
They’re true believers. Once you believe that humans can burn up the planet by exhaling you’ll believe you can find the right way to market these gimped vehicles to an eager public.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/humans-may-be-fueling-global-warming-by-breathing-new-study/ar-AA1lJVtY
The jokes literally write themselves these days, don’t they? It is becoming more & more difficult to tell parody / satire from reality in Clown World. This reads like a Babylon Bee article but it is -real-. W T F !
So just stop breathing… easy peasy. Global warming solved.
The meme “You’re the carbon they’re trying to eliminate” is in full force and the logical outcome. Ever since Malthus humans have been trying to eliminate the “undesirables.”
Problem is they can’t ever seem to figure out who to kill. Einstein was an average student and worked as a bureaucrat at the patent office. Who’da thunk he’d change the world? Certainly not anyone who mattered. We’ve probably prevented the birth of 10 Einsteins just because the timing wasn’t right, or because the parents weren’t married, or because the statistics said the kid wouldn’t do well. The ultimate example of Bastiat’s “unseen.”
A big reason why Jews were tolerated in Western Europe was because the Catholic church at the time called usury a sin. The Jews were happy to loan because they could charge interest that matched the risk, kicking off trade and investment in speculative ventures. Of course it didn’t work out so well for Spain, but that’s why you need restraint too, or the debtor might get in the mood to do a little crusading…
Seems like the unintended consequences of population control always lead to someone picking favorites, and funny that it never seems to be the Hapsburgs who volunteer to leave the population first.
And then there is the issue of Inventory Taxes. Perhaps someone who is an accountant can explain how this aspect might play into these decisions on the part of the dealerships.
I know that many companies want as little inventory and the end of quarters and annually because GovCo, in their infinite capacity for greed, wants a tithe based on what is sitting in inventory.
As with all business failings of this type the towns that used to have all Big3 dealerships have, in the last few decades, been reduced to having perhaps one. Now they face the prospect of having none.
GovCo: The Parasite That Gives Meaning To Our Lives.