There isn’t a person in this country that doesn’t know someone that has been let go from a job, there isn’t a homeowner that hasn’t felt the effect of the decline in real estate prices and there isn’t a person with a drivers license that hasn’t watched in amazement the rapid decline of the American Auto industry. Even if the decline is only in quantity and not in quality, it has been dramatic and tragic.
Today, GM announced that they are closing 2,000 dealerships on top of the 700 Chrysler announced yesterday. That is over 2,700 dealerships, roughly 125,000 employees and likely over $3 billion in owner’s equity and hard work vanished in 1 day of announcements. In about two months from now we will start to see the effects coming to a small town near you. All the news stories, declining stock prices and senate hearings will be on Main Street with big “Closed” signs and vacant lots where Chevys, Cadillacs and Jeeps once stood.
So whose fault is this? I own a business and have made good decisions and bad, had good quarters and bad and missed opportunities that I can kick myself for. If I didn’t see the opportunity, I can assure you someone will. At the end of the day, I am completely responsible for my business.
So when the American automotive companies decline as they have, there is no one to blame but the leadership of those companies. Sure, you can point towards Wall or the or the government but at the end of the day, there is one guy at the top of each of these organizations that gave these corporations their direction and allowed the deals that were their downfall to be signed.
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So now we have a scapegoat for all these problems … the question is, what now? I would love to say to you to Buy American but since my wife drives a Lexus, that wouldn’t seem right. Although in my defense, I have only driven American cars my whole life. Plus, the plant workers at those Toyota, Honda and Lexus factories are Americans and the workers at those dealerships are our neighbors. So buying a Toyota is really buying an American car.
So maybe we are doing exactly what we should be doing. We are adjusting to market reality. Those dealerships should never have been opened. Had we had less dealerships they would all be stronger and more able to handle an economic downturn. Of course I feel bad for those workers and owners that are going to lose so much in the coming months but in the end, they shouldn’t have been there in the first place and you can put that blame squarely on the shoulders of the leadership of the American car companies.
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