1 in 5 Dealerships will close this fall

[85_Ranger4x4]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/US-auto-sales-plunge.aspx

 

[KELLY88]

Well that's definitely not good. GM is getting it pretty bad. Just last week Bill Heard Chevrolet, one of the biggest Chevy dealers in the Southeat closed it's doors. 2700 employees out of work. You hate to see something like that happen.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

the dealership i used to work at didnt close, but went through a major downsizing. you can bet im feeling the effects of our shitty economy.

 

[hades]

This is just so sad. So many employees will surely lose their jobs. And with the kind of situation we have right now, finding a new job is really difficult.

__________________
fuel saving devices rock

 

[Jason]

I lost mine.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

And who says buying Toyota, Honda, etc doesn't cost Americans their jobs!

Seriously, I wouldn't mind Toyota and Honda outselling the American makes if they had actually had a better product, but all they're selling on is an out-dated, untrue public perception.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

uhh....honda and toyota are feeling the squeeze the same as the american makes.

shoveling all our money to the arabians for fuel is whats killing our economy.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

True, the Jap car companies are feeling it now, but the Big 3 would be in much better shape right now if it wasn't for the all-out assault from the Jap cars over the last 10 years.

And oil closed at $63.22 a barell today, hardly enough to make for any huge transfer of wealth to the middle east. In fact, that price is just high enough to make the oil sands and oil shale technologies being developed profitable.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

until it goes back up to over $100 a barrel next summer...

 

[Evan]

The labor unions killed the big three many, many years ago. This bumpy economy is just speeding up their demise.

Their eventual failure was predicted decades ago by economists.

This should be a lesson to everyone.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

until it goes back up to over $100 a barrel next summer...

We'll see. A lot of analysts are predicting that's not going to happen this time around.

I think a lot of oil speculators (the greedy, buy it on credit to make a profit, no plans of ever taking delivery speculators - Not the airlines, etc) learned that hard way that oil prices can go down as well as up.

That bubble we had over the summer was all due to speculation. There's no way supply and demand can explain prices rising and falling that much in a few months.

 

[Shran]

We'll see. A lot of analysts are predicting that's not going to happen this time around.

I don't know. I can really see round 2 next summer. Reality is that there are still a lot of greedy people out there who will jump at the chance to make a quick buck at everyone's expense. The only way it won't happen again is if the government steps in and regulates the commodity market a little more.

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

I don't know. I can really see round 2 next summer. Reality is that there are still a lot of greedy people out there who will jump at the chance to make a quick buck at everyone's expense. The only way it won't happen again is if the government steps in and regulates the commodity market a little more.

Well now that half of the firms (Lehman Bros, Wachovia, Bear-Stearns, etc) that contributed to the bubble are now bankrupt (wonder if that had anything to do with the oil bubble popping?) or effectively owned by the government, I don't see them being in a position to go for round 2 next summer.

 

[Jason]

And who says buying Toyota, Honda, etc doesn't cost Americans their jobs!

Seriously, I wouldn't mind Toyota and Honda outselling the American makes if they had actually had a better product, but all they're selling on is an out-dated, untrue public perception.

I worked at a Toyota dealer. Does every thread having to do with the auto industry have to become someones personal "buy American" soap box?

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

I'm not telling anyone to buy American. It just pisses me off that the likes of Toyota and Honda can sell cars based on some old lie that they are somehow superior to any other car ever made, that's all.