GM death watch thread (bankruptcy, loans, buying, interest)

[floridasandy]

GM Officially Declares War on Dealers | The Truth About Cars

Anyway, once again, GM’s timing sucks. After not doing anything about its dealer bloat for decades, they can’t wait a month for a bankruptcy judge to clear the way for clearing the decks. LaNeve’s preemptive strike will alienate store owners (both current and future) and these guys are known for their high testosterone levels. In other words, screw them and they’ll *********.

Not to mention the fact that franchise holders are deeply enmeshed in their local communities. The word on GM’s welfare checks is already out, dragging down business. “Picking” on the dealers. Will. Not. Help.

[floridasandy]

to tie in with this, GMAC (the lending arm of GM) is about to have the hammer drop:
GMAC lends to GM dealers who typically use these funds to stockpile new vehicles on their showroom floors. The lender had $24.13 billion of such loans on its books in 2008. GMAC earned revenues of $1.4 billion last year on these type of loans to dealers.

Guess what? It’s not 2008 anymore. At the end of that particular year, the feds bailed out GMAC to the tune of $6 billion. Anyone think that GMAC’s business has improved since then? Well exactly. And business is about to get a LOT worse.

Two words: dealer cull. When GM jettisons 40 percent of its dealer network, the move may well send GMAC into a death spiral.

A concern is that shuttering dealerships in a hurried fashion could leave GMAC stuck with unsold inventory if the lender is forced to repossess vehicles when dealers can’t pay up. In such an instance, GMAC may have little choice but to auction off the cars, driving down their prices. Lower prices, in turn, would drive down values of GMAC’s existing books of loans and leases.

This “will have a very negative impact,” says [Fitch Ratings' Christopher] Wolfe.

[texdav]

Looking around where I live one G dealer left teh bransd over a year ago and now sales two korean brands. The other dealers have multi brands of years;so they must have been preparing.The Gm and buick dealer nearest me for example had sold Honda right bext door for about tenyears. The Ford dealer has like three otehr brands right next to each other such toyota.

[LSU Tiger Z71]

Originally Posted by texdav

Looking around where I live one G dealer left teh bransd over a year ago and now sales two korean brands. The other dealers have multi brands of years;so they must have been preparing.The Gm and buick dealer nearest me for example had sold Honda right bext door for about tenyears. The Ford dealer has like three otehr brands right next to each other such toyota.

Are you drunk?

Actually, GM/Toyota dominates the market here. No Korean brands here.

[OC Investor2]

Originally Posted by floridasandy

GM Officially Declares War on Dealers | The Truth About Cars

Anyway, once again, GM’s timing sucks. After not doing anything about its dealer bloat for decades, they can’t wait a month for a bankruptcy judge to clear the way for clearing the decks. LaNeve’s preemptive strike will alienate store owners (both current and future) and these guys are known for their high testosterone levels. In other words, screw them and they’ll *********.

Not to mention the fact that franchise holders are deeply enmeshed in their local communities. The word on GM’s welfare checks is already out, dragging down business. “Picking” on the dealers. Will. Not. Help.

Do you really think anyone cares what happens to car dealers? People may feel symathetic for the individuals who lose jobs, but I doubt many tears will be shed for the dealers. They have a decades long built up reputation for screwing people over in sales, overcharging in maintainence and dishonesty in lending. Good riddance.

[texdav]

Originally Posted by LSU Tiger Z71

Are you drunk?

Actually, GM/Toyota dominates the market here. No Korean brands here.

You must live in the backwoods if you haven;t seen the increase in korean brands or even have a TV. GM bascially has only been a SUV seller for decades. That's why they are going under how . You can get GM trucks cheap now at dealers they have so many piled up;which is also why they are closing longer this summer.You need to get out in the world more.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by LSU Tiger Z71

Are you drunk?

Actually, GM/Toyota dominates the market here. No Korean brands here.

Nation wide in March...

GM down 51%

Toyota down 39%

Hyundai down 4%

I would say that the Koreans are doing very well in comparison.

[Dexterguy]

It's true the Koreans are do well with Hyundai and Kia. Even here in metro Detroit the only new dealerships that are being built are new Hyundai/Kia dealerships. In many cases the dealer owners are building the new Hyundai/Kia dealerships right next to the chevrolet dealer (the land they hoped one day to expand their chevy's on). But it appears the market has changed.

Hyundai/Kia will probably be a big buyer of all the GM and Chrysler dealers that plan on closing soon, or maybe the dealers will just re-name the dealership and stop buying the domestic autos.

It will be interesting to see what happens to all of the empty GM and Chrysler dealerships.