Chrysler, wtf?

[Stu Gotz]

Stuffing the channel and then telling your dealers to eat a dick is poor form.

One man's opinion.

[dk_alaskan]

The local dealer here just got the UPS notice-after 75+ years of selling Chrysler's your DONE!!! SEE YUH, thanks for your service, even though you are the ONLY Chrysler Dodge Dealer w/in almost a two hour drive of the 2 major towns on the Penninsula, you have until June 9th to get your shit out.

[f2f]

i searched the news to see what happened. found this atop an article about the cut dealerships:

[LightRanger]

Being that dealers are on the hook for their existing merchandise, are we going to see a firesale on Chryslers at dealerships who have gotten pink slips?

And yes, I agree. Fucked up.

[dk_alaskan]

No firesale is going to happen, Chrysler is going to reimburse the dealers for their stock on hand come the 9th. All remaining stock will be redistributed to the remaining dealers

[farmguy]

Just a quick reminder, Chrysler is now owned( not too sure if this is exact %) 55% by the UAW and another good portion by the feds...... .....did you really think it would be ran right?

[Core Shot]

we gave them $4 BILLION

its all gone.

we are going to give them another $8 BILLION
that will be gone soon too

[Benny Profane]

"Stuffing the Channel"??

I've never heard that one.




Blame it all on the PT Cruiser convertible. They brought it upon themselves with that action.

[LightRanger]

"Stuffing the Channel"??

I've never heard that one.




Blame it all on the PT Cruiser convertible. They brought it upon themselves with that action.

There was a guy I studied abroad with in England for a summer. One of the biggest douches I've ever met. He tried way too hard. While we were abroad, he spent a lot of money. Rumor was that he was just spending tons of shit on credit, while we were undergrads. I seriously almost got into a fistfight with this guy over nothing because he was rustling shit up so much over nothing.

I felt vindicated when we were back at school a few months later and I saw him driving a white PT Cruiser Convertible.

Incidentally, dk_alaskan, while you may think Chrysler will reimburse their dealers, I'm pretty sure they're not required to because they're in bankruptcy. Correct me if I'm wrong, and please link to why.

Edit: While writing the above I'm just back from an end of the year party for graduating law school, so give me a break if it doesn't make too much sense.

[Core Shot]

Edit: While writing the above I'm just back from an end of the year party for graduating law school, so give me a break if it doesn't make too much sense.

congrats and welcome to the #1 TGR messagebourding profession

[uglymoney]

I rented a Chrysler minivan last fall. Brand new with 7 miles on it and it was a piece of junk. Why anybody would buy one of these when perfectly good vans are available is beyond me. Then the time I rented and all they had was a PT Cruiser. Never in my life have I had so many people look at me in disgust. If they ever try to put me in a cruiser again I'm walking.

Full size Dodge trucks shed engines and transmissions about every hundred K. A friend of mine that has one is going Ford next time around.

What is their about Chrysler worth saving? They make shitty cars that do not last. According to Consumer Reports one of their top selling cars, the god awful Sebring, is the least reliable car currently sold in the US with frequency of repair 2.5 times that of the AVERAGE car. That means about 5 times more breakdowns than your Toyota or Honda.

On another note, in a place like Iowa with a few midsized towns and hundreds of smaller towns the only reason a lot of the people buy a certain car is because they have that dealer in their town and do not want to drive to a city to have their vehicle serviced. If they close the dealers these people will just drive Yota's, Hondas, Scubarus and Hyundai's just like the rest of us.

On yet another note, I'm pleased that we might have a chance to buy Fiats in this country again. I grew up in the back of a Fiat, VW, and BMW. My old man switched to American cars when it looked like they were getting their shit together in the late seventies and eighties with four cylinders and manual transmissions on reasonably competitive offerings (for that time). He has given up again and now has a driveway full of Yota's.

[skiing-in-jackson]

55% by the UAW and another good portion by the feds...... .....did you really think it would be ran right?

Ding. Ding. We have a winner. The UAW is in the process of destroying what's left of the American auto industry. America... you can demand ultra high wages for crappy work- and get it. Gotta love unions.

Also:

Brand new with 7 miles on it and it was a piece of junk. Why anybody would buy one of these when perfectly good vans are available is beyond me.

Had to take a trip last winter, rented a Ford Excursion/Expedition. It had like 2K miles on it. It was crappy all the way around.

[CUBUCK]

It really blows. The dealers at this point are really the only true entrepreneurs in the auto industry and are completely getting hosed. That being said I saw a dealer comparison and it was something like 5000-6000 dealers for Chrysler and GM in the US vs like 1500 for Toyota, so can't really be a surprise.

As far as what has value at Chrysler the Jeep brand is probably the crown jewel. I imagine it would be easy to find a buyer should they decide to put it on the block.

[uglymoney]

As far as what has value at Chrysler the Jeep brand is probably the crown jewel. I imagine it would be easy to find a buyer should they decide to put it on the block.

True that. Very vulnerable to oil prices though.

[CUBUCK]

True that. Very vulnerable to oil prices though.

True,

Its unfortunate they were not able to get more traction with some of the diesel offerings they have put out the last few years. Wasn't going to get you 40mpg but was a step in the right direction.

[Benny Profane]

It really blows. The dealers at this point are really the only true entrepreneurs in the auto industry and are completely getting hosed. That being said I saw a dealer comparison and it was something like 5000-6000 dealers for Chrysler and GM in the US vs like 1500 for Toyota, so can't really be a surprise.

As far as what has value at Chrysler the Jeep brand is probably the crown jewel. I imagine it would be easy to find a buyer should they decide to put it on the block.

Sorry, but if that's the model for entrepreneurship in America, we're in trouble. That franchise system has been blocking true innovation in auto retailing for generations using political influence, more than anything, on the local level. How many times have you heard in the past few days, "oh, boo hoo, we've been here since 1920 something or other, my grandfather started the biz. boo hoo.", and it's basically been run the same way since then, while the rest of retailing has morphed into the WalMart and BestBuy model, with the ease of internet shopping right along it's right side. It just became so calcified and tired that the car companies were just dumping millions of cars their way, or else, just to get the volume numbers up, and easy credit lubed the machinery of sales. It really made no sense, especially when some guys were only selling 100 cars a year. And, Toyota certainly taught them a lesson with 1200 dealers doing more sales than the bloated GM network, but they wouldn't change until they looked at chapter 11 in the face. But, don't worry, millions and millions of your tax dollars will be thrown at this dying beast over the next 3 or 4 years at least, just to keep some people voting right.

I'm waiting for the true auto retailing entrepreneur to rise from the ashes of this mess to sell me a car like I want to be sold. I want to shop for the car on the internet or a central store like an Apple store, where i can test drive and really get under the hood of this thing, and not have a "salesman" standing there, but a technician, who knows that car in and out and won't bullshit me for a second. Or, I have it brought to my house for the test drive. If I like, I order on the internet at a set price, and it's delivered to me within a week at my convenience. The company, of course, has well located service centers to have the car maintained, and, if they're close enough, they come and pick up the car and drop off a loaner. There will also be a lot of pre owned cars at the service center that also will be listed on the internet and sold the same way. Maybe that guy who runs ZipCar has some ideas, or the guy who runs NetFlix, or, God Bless Him, Steve Jobs gets healthy and can fix the mess if he wants to. I'd actually like to see him start a car company, but that's doubtful. We certainly don't want those 55 year old white guys from Detroit who play way too much golf in charge anymore. Or, shudder, the UAW.

[belgian]

I'm waiting for the true auto retailing entrepreneur to rise from the ashes of this mess to sell me a car like I want to be sold. I want to shop for the car on the internet or a central store like an Apple store, where i can test drive and really get under the hood of this thing, and not have a "salesman" standing there, but a technician, who knows that car in and out and won't bullshit me for a second. Or, I have it brought to my house for the test drive. If I like, I order on the internet at a set price, and it's delivered to me within a week at my convenience. The company, of course, has well located service centers to have the car maintained, and, if they're close enough, they come and pick up the car and drop off a loaner. There will also be a lot of pre owned cars at the service center that also will be listed on the internet and sold the same way.

Would you also like them to provide 35 free blowjobs from Jessica Alba with your purchase?

Besides your mostly unrealistic requests, you CAN in fact buy cars off the internet at a set price (usually at or below MSRP in fact) here: http://www.carsdirect.com/home Buy it online and it'll be ready at the dealer of your choice whenever you want. Dealers however HATE this because you're buying the car out from under them with little to no negotiation.

[Benny Profane]

Would you also like them to provide 35 free blowjobs from Jessica Alba with your purchase?

Besides your mostly unrealistic requests, you CAN in fact buy cars off the internet at a set price (usually at or below MSRP in fact) here: http://www.carsdirect.com/home Buy it online and it'll be ready at the dealer of your choice whenever you want. Dealers however HATE this because you're buying the car out from under them with little to no negotiation.

Why, yes, I would. (the blowjobs) Is that legal in your state? Are you from Nevada? How much would that option be? It doesn't have to be her, I'll just, you know, flip through a catalog of some sort ......


You see, it's a start, (the internet shopping you speak of) but you still have to deal with the dealers and all the crap they have to throw at you. Now, how the fuck does that make any sense? As you said, do you really want to pick up your 30 thou car at a place where people are pissed at you, or another place where they smile and ask if you're happy? I say, kill all the dealers, and start over with my model, or, actually, the Apple store model, which, from what I see, is one of the most successful models in retailing these days. It's the only place in the local mall that seems to attract crowds and excitement when I go.

[MTT]

As far as what has value at Chrysler the Jeep brand is probably the crown jewel. I imagine it would be easy to find a buyer should they decide to put it on the block.

I would have agreed 5 years ago, By in my opion they have destroyed everything good about jeep the past 10 years.

I don't know if its been done because of new Federal regulations? or just really bad desision making from the top?

[belgian]

I would have agreed 5 years ago, By in my opion they have destroyed everything good about jeep the past 10 years.

I don't know if its been done because of new Federal regulations? or just really bad desision making from the top?

bad decision making I'm pretty sure. The Jeep Liberty, the ultimate soccer mom machine that is as offroad capable and is similarly sized to a Camry and gets 16mpg. Poor planning

That and whoever thought this was a good idea is a monumental idiot:



This thing is pretty rad though:

[LightRanger]

Pretty sure they still make XJs in China. Should've kept making those with updates and skipped the Liberty.

[Brock Landers]

Or just kept the original cherokees

[Nathan Explosion]

I'm waiting for the true auto retailing entrepreneur to rise from the ashes of this mess to sell me a car like I want to be sold. I want to shop for the car on the internet or a central store like an Apple store, where i can test drive and really get under the hood of this thing, and not have a "salesman" standing there, but a technician, who knows that car in and out and won't bullshit me for a second. Or, I have it brought to my house for the test drive. If I like, I order on the internet at a set price, and it's delivered to me within a week at my convenience. The company, of course, has well located service centers to have the car maintained, and, if they're close enough, they come and pick up the car and drop off a loaner. There will also be a lot of pre owned cars at the service center that also will be listed on the internet and sold the same way. Maybe that guy who runs ZipCar has some ideas, or the guy who runs NetFlix, or, God Bless Him, Steve Jobs gets healthy and can fix the mess if he wants to. I'd actually like to see him start a car company, but that's doubtful. We certainly don't want those 55 year old white guys from Detroit who play way too much golf in charge anymore. Or, shudder, the UAW.

I know you have me on ignore, Benny, but it took me eight hours to buy my last car. I told the dealer up front how I wanted the test drive, which was about 20 miles, and had me running the car to 120+ mph on a long straight road. I then had them throw it up on a lift in the garage. I've never had a chance to see the mechanical workings of a Suby up close, and told them it was important to me if I were going to buy the car. Then we negotiated, and I walked out with $2,500 off MSRP, two extra sets of floor mats, a free roof rack, free bike rack, free ski rack, and a free upgrade to Goodyear Eagle Ones, since I hated the piece of shit Firestones they had on it. Before I moved away from the dealer, I was on a first name basis with the shop manager. I never paid for an oil change, tire rotation, or a car wash.

You've just got to find a good dealer.

(If anyone wants to visit my dealer, it's Gillman Subaru in Houston. They really do kick ass.)

[Hugh Conway]

You've just got to find a good dealer

Why should I have to find any dealer? Aside from a couple urban dealerships that have innovated to increase their service business (things like open evenings until midnight or weekends, the "innovation" from dealerships is price opacity. That's always good uglymoney's point is well taken - if you've got to drive 50 miles to get to a dealer anyway, why buy American. Another dumbass idea from the "analysts"

The UAW didn't pick Robert Nardelli, BOB FUCKING NARDELLI, as CEO. Cerberus deserves the pineapple for the dumbest fucking management decision in Automotive history.

[LightRanger]

Or just kept the original cherokees

XJ = original Cherokee

I'd imagine that there have been some technical advances since 2001 that they'd want to add to them... making them a bit better, but without substantial changes.