So long.....
 

No, I am not leaving (although I am sure some of you were hoping for it
;-)). I am reporting that either Buick or Pontiac may soon be a brand of
the past.

==========================================

GM may kill off Buick or Pontiac




By Reuters

General Motors, which issued a shock profit warning last week and has been
losing market share, may phase out one of its weaker car brands if sales
fail to meet projections, company Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Wednesday.

GM's Buick and Pontiac are both "damaged brands'' due to lack of investment
over the years, and GM is working to correct that with an array of new
vehicles coming to market, Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive conference
in New York.

But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, "then we would
have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don't have to do that. What
we've got to do is keep the brands we've got.''

Financial analysts have said for years that the world's largest automaker
has too many brands to support, even with the gradual phase-out of the
Oldsmobile brand a few years ago, particularly with its weaker U.S. sales.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...7.asp?GT1=6301

==============================================

I will be pretty sad if they drop Pontiac, especially considering the GTO
and Grand Prix cars they produced......wide track.

I always thought of Buick as an old persons car.

My bet's on Buick (to die).

-W

"JimH" wrote in message
...
No, I am not leaving (although I am sure some of you were hoping for it
;-)). I am reporting that either Buick or Pontiac may soon be a brand of
the past.

==========================================

GM may kill off Buick or Pontiac




By Reuters

General Motors, which issued a shock profit warning last week and has been
losing market share, may phase out one of its weaker car brands if sales
fail to meet projections, company Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on
Wednesday.

GM's Buick and Pontiac are both "damaged brands'' due to lack of
investment
over the years, and GM is working to correct that with an array of new
vehicles coming to market, Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive
conference
in New York.

But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, "then we would
have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don't have to do that. What
we've got to do is keep the brands we've got.''

Financial analysts have said for years that the world's largest automaker
has too many brands to support, even with the gradual phase-out of the
Oldsmobile brand a few years ago, particularly with its weaker U.S. sales.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...7.asp?GT1=6301

==============================================

I will be pretty sad if they drop Pontiac, especially considering the GTO
and Grand Prix cars they produced......wide track.

I always thought of Buick as an old persons car.

I agree. Pontiac has too much of a following.

Since the death of the Roadmaster what has Buick offered?


"Clams Canino" wrote in message
ink.net...
My bet's on Buick (to die).

-W

"JimH" wrote in message
...
No, I am not leaving (although I am sure some of you were hoping for it
;-)). I am reporting that either Buick or Pontiac may soon be a brand
of
the past.

==========================================

GM may kill off Buick or Pontiac




By Reuters

General Motors, which issued a shock profit warning last week and has
been
losing market share, may phase out one of its weaker car brands if sales
fail to meet projections, company Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on
Wednesday.

GM's Buick and Pontiac are both "damaged brands'' due to lack of
investment
over the years, and GM is working to correct that with an array of new
vehicles coming to market, Lutz told a Morgan Stanley automotive
conference
in New York.

But if some of its brands fail to meet sales projections, "then we would
have to take a look at a phase-out. I hope we don't have to do that. What
we've got to do is keep the brands we've got.''

Financial analysts have said for years that the world's largest automaker
has too many brands to support, even with the gradual phase-out of the
Oldsmobile brand a few years ago, particularly with its weaker U.S.
sales.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...7.asp?GT1=6301

==============================================

I will be pretty sad if they drop Pontiac, especially considering the GTO
and Grand Prix cars they produced......wide track.

I always thought of Buick as an old persons car.

My bet's on Buick (to die).


-W


*************

GM needs to get with the program and retire brand names that have run
out of steam.

If I ran GM, I'd cut down on the duplication between models in various
divisions. If you wanted Car X, you would have to go to (say, for
example) the Buick dealership to buy it....not price it at Buick and
then settle for the exact same body style with a slightly different
grill and cheaper upholstery from Chevy for $2900 less.

Cadillac pickup trucks? Give me a break.....

But look at the bright side: when all the franchises are "repurchased"
and everything is a GM factory store, the sticker prices on new cars
will finally be believable. If you don't want it at the
posted price, have a nice day.

What makes you think GM doesn't want to use distributorships? The concept
has worked for all car manufacturers. I don't know of any major car manu.
who sells their car directly to the end-user.




wrote in message
oups.com...
My bet's on Buick (to die).


-W


*************

GM needs to get with the program and retire brand names that have run
out of steam.

If I ran GM, I'd cut down on the duplication between models in various
divisions. If you wanted Car X, you would have to go to (say, for
example) the Buick dealership to buy it....not price it at Buick and
then settle for the exact same body style with a slightly different
grill and cheaper upholstery from Chevy for $2900 less.

Cadillac pickup trucks? Give me a break.....

But look at the bright side: when all the franchises are "repurchased"
and everything is a GM factory store, the sticker prices on new cars
will finally be believable. If you don't want it at the
posted price, have a nice day.

Dr. FeelGood wrote:
What makes you think GM doesn't want to use distributorships? The concept
has worked for all car manufacturers. I don't know of any major car manu.
who sells their car directly to the end-user.


Ford was going to try a few years ago but the dealers went berserk
because it meant 17-22% of the retail price was going to be available to
be shared between the actual designer, maker, tester, compliancer,
warranter of the product & the consumer instead of brain dead lying
dealers snipping huge amounts for doing nothing & adding absolutely no
value to the supply chain. For the same reasons the EU tried to
summarily outlaw them but it meant that without retail price maintenance
to rip the consumers off Fiat would instantly by put down & the lazy
corrupt unions made sure they chickened out. Ah the EU the socialist
experiment........:-)

The dealers boat or car, don't actually "pay" for the stock it comes
with manufacturer organised finance attached at a really high invoice
price (usually no less than 10% under recommended retail but often
closer to only 7% below)

This way the manufacturer gets instant cash flow at almost full retail
prices from the finance Co. to parade to Wall St.

They can keep production up even if demand changes up & down throughout
the year, because the dealers act as warehouses for hard/expensive to
safely store big articles.

By having the dealers "technically" owing the finance Co (sometimes the
manufacturer also owns the finance Co but that is a stand alone profit
centre anyway) nearly full retail price on the "stock" means they can
keep them in line & maintain retail prices at a maximum against the
consumer. If retail prices actually were allowed to react to supply &
demand then those other peoples' money prepaid retail invoice prices
would change also & shock horror we can't allow that:-)

The dealers never sell lower than the "invoice" price which means they
can't sell outside their designated area & there is uniform pricing no
matter what the economics are related to the particular dealer; an
efficient high volume all season selling dealer in say Florida doesn't
actually sell their boats etc any cheaper than a small dumbo dealer in a
god forsaken 4 mth season place in say.... well up north:-)

The way the dealers get their actual 17-22% profit on sales is via a
complex myriad of unrelated payments back from the supplier, these have
endless names & they're constantly changing the descriptions attached to
these "unrelated to sales" payments, because a supplier paying a
reseller a reward for NOT competing & maintaining artificially high
retail prices is totally illegal in every proper country. So the dealers
get interest rebates i.e. the supplier actually pays for the finance
just so they can pretend they've sold "all" production at hugely
inflated prices, season length rebates, volume rates, end of model end
of season end of lent end of the world rebates:-) showroom presentation
rebates, training rebates, tool rebates, etc etc etc all the amounts
have nothing whatsoever to do with the real costs attached to whatever
the rebate is named but they all total about 17-22% of sales & this is
the dealers reward for keeping prices high & never ever actually
competing even against other brands because the aim is to maintain the
total industry pricing as high as possible.

Of course over the years when we've said these things the NG boat
dealers all denied same but that's because they're liars (we initially
thought they were just employees & like most dealer employees they have
no clue how the dealer makes so much money??? after all they know what
they pay for the stock so how do they afford the big house on the
hill??), liars to the NG, their staff & the public (do you get those
invoice price plus $100 adds the-) damn it's a giggle!!!

But what has been particularly bad was that the NG boat dealers
lied/spammed people into buying Ficht when OMC & the dealers knew it
didn't & couldn't work, but the dishonest dealers kept lying pushing it
because they had secretly upped the total rebates on Ficht sales to 30%,
think about it; 30% on a $12000 engine!!!! No wonder the lying idiots
ran away from the NG when OMC finally went under, well they had prior
knowledge, because they actually ran away 2 weeks before!!!!!.

Before you dealers & sad pay through the nose dealer groupies damage
your keyboards, ALL the facts & figures were confirmed absolutely in the
bankruptcy court case after OMC fell over (indeed we didn't know till
then that they'd upped the Ficht rebates to 30%, wish we had known that
in 98:-)).

The brain dead lying dealers actually tried to sue the administrators
for the unpaid 30% rebates!!!!!! Needless to say the administrator
argued that the rebates are just discretionary promotional payments not
related in any way to the price or resale of the goods because if
they're not then lots of people are & should be going to jail. The court
instantly agreed & with the wave of a hammer told the dealers to sod off
(Her Honour was wise).

So in general terms getting rid of exclusive dealers is great for
consumers & manufacturers & the economy in general because they are
"almost" the lowest of the low, the boat brokers are the lowest you
regularly come across, sort of the bottom of the swamp base line.

Of course we now know that the actual lowest of the low is a failed
boat broker who then spams with falsehoods & off topics our news group,
they're even lower than a turd on a stick:-)

Oops that reminds me speaking of turds on sticks ...........

K

Sorry to bear bad news on easter Friday because I know, particularly
you poor Ficht owners:-), finding out just how these lying dealers have
ripped you off over the years is depressing & I agree but hey; we did
tell you at the time yet you chose to believe them??? Anyway now for
something to cheer you up, it's your Krause lie of the day:-)

This lying simpleton, after it became clear he was losing a thread
where he was displaying his usual lack of patriotism much less gratitude
for the brave men & women out there risking their everything, to keep
the likes of him safe, he just reverts to type.

But seriously can you imagine this uneducated union thug now claims
he is reviewing universities!!! & wait for it he poo poos the
engineering course!!! this from a lying uneducated union thug who
couldn't use a toaster without a union authorised electrician in attendance.

I've included just one of the followup responses but it was such a
bald faced lie it even embarrassed the rejoinders:-)


I have visited West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and
the sub training facility at Groton. Some years ago, I actually did look
over descriptions of some of the course material at Annapolis and the
c.v.'s of some of the faculty. I'm sure the engineering course material
is fairly rigorous, though it is more "trade-oriented" and did not look
up to MIT or CalTech standards. I mean, if your goal is to be an
aeronautical engineer, you're going to get better training at MIT or
CalTech or at any of a large number of other engineering schools. I
thought the faculty academic credentials no better than what is found at
a typical smaller four year public university. The military academies
turn out military officers with an education, not highly educated
military officers. But that is their purpose, eh?



--


Holy molly, grandma, put on your high boots.


Harry Krause, admitted graduate in the humanities with a degree in
English
is hereby qualified to critique the engineering curriculum of not
only West
Point, but also that of the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy and
compare it to that of MIT and CalTech.


The above paragraph is a classic.


You missed your calling Harry.







wrote in message
oups.com...

My bet's on Buick (to die).


-W


*************

GM needs to get with the program and retire brand names that have run
out of steam.

If I ran GM, I'd cut down on the duplication between models in various
divisions. If you wanted Car X, you would have to go to (say, for
example) the Buick dealership to buy it....not price it at Buick and
then settle for the exact same body style with a slightly different
grill and cheaper upholstery from Chevy for $2900 less.

Cadillac pickup trucks? Give me a break.....

But look at the bright side: when all the franchises are "repurchased"
and everything is a GM factory store, the sticker prices on new cars
will finally be believable. If you don't want it at the
posted price, have a nice day.

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:28:24 +1100, "K. Smith"
wrote:

only the drivel snipped





bb

wrote in message
oups.com...
My bet's on Buick (to die).


-W


*************

GM needs to get with the program and retire brand names that have run
out of steam.

GM needs to stick it's foot up the union's ass. They're being held hostage
by the unions, with costs for pensions and health insurance higher than any
other company. The minute they talk about making the employees pay a co-pay
towards the health insurance premiums, the unions threaten a strike.

Mark my words...
If GM continues to appease the unions, they won't be around 10 years from
now. What they really need to do is hire some of Wal-Mart's execs. ;-)