Don't forget searching the Ipod for a better song!
All at the same time...
Don't forget searching the Ipod for a better song!
All at the same time...
Take your pick
VW Golf (Rabbit) Great car, mediocre reliability Toyota Matrix (Corolla) Mediocre car, great reliability
Automakers use several criteria to decide where to put dealerships. There are only 6 VW dealerships in the state of Missouri.
One of the main criteria is market size. For example assuming that Columbia, MO and the neighboring radius that people would travel to purchase a car has a population of 300,000.
We'll use conservative numbers for this example and say that 40% of the population is of a car-buying age, so 300,000 X 40% = 120,000.
Let's say 40% of the population of people who are of car-buying age purchase new vehicles instead of used vehicles: 120,000 X 40% = 48,000.
Now, let's say that the new car buying population buys a car every 4 years:
48,000 divided by 4 = 12,000In our example, out of a total population of 300,000, we came up with 12,000 potential new car buyers every year (actual numbers are probably even lower).
VW's market share in the U.S. is roughly 2.5%, and assuming that market share applies in every market (it does not), then 15,000 X 2.5% = 300 annual sales, or 25 per month.
VW probably wants single-line dealerships, and 25 new vehicles per month is probably not enough for a dealer to invest close to $5 million and get a decent return on his investment.
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Thanks for that expert analysis, as usual, Ray O. :-)
You're welcome!
The process for determining where to put a dealership is a little more refined, but that is the general idea.
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I'm just glad Toyota has a dealership here in Columbia! That's all I really need.
most of the VW dealers i know about sell another line of cars, usually audi.
Multi-line dealerships are more common in smaller markets in order to get a large enough sales volume to make the dealership profitable. In larger markets, single-line dealerships are more common than multi-line.
Not terribly surprising. In all of Nassau and Suffolk counties (NY), an area of some 3 million people, there are only 7 VW dealerships that I know of. That's an average of one for every 400,000 people, or so.
-- Mike Smith
Ray O wrote: > mike wrote >
I have to agree with Ray O. In my small market of Columbia, the local Toyota dealership (Machens) sells new Toyotas and BMWs on the same lot. They're called "Machens Toyota/BMW." Down the road just a little is their Ford dealership called Machens Ford.
LOL.
VAG ag Volkswagen Audi groupe.
-- Nee momenteel effe geen XT
I was Group Sales Manager for one of the largest mega dealerships groups on the east coast, that operated in six states, we sold most every brand on the market. To be viable in the very completive automobile market a dealership must sell at least 500 new vehicles and unload at least half of the traded vehicles every month. The size of the market has little to do with it. Most of our Groups sold at least five brands and one actually sold 15. In all cases the warranty and service work was completed in a common service area in facilities that were all relatively new.
mike hunt
You're also consistently full of shit, and you either are lying or you were a real good delegator because you've proven repeatedly you know jack about cars. Isn't it time for you to go back to trolling rec.autos.tech yet?
nate
That kind of surprises me, since VW and Audi are starting to eat into each other's markets. Here on Long Island, I don't know of any combined VW/Audi dealerships. In fact, I know of one case where there are a VW dealer and an Audi dealer less than 1/4 mile from each other, on "dealer row" in Smithtown.
-- Mike Smith (it's my kinda town! ;-)
Calm down and enjoy life. All hostility does is shorten it and make you miserable while you are here.
Our VW dealer where we bought our Rabbit is a VW/Audi?Subaru dealer FWIW... Tanukiki
You're not familiar with Mr. Hunt are you? He's just an idiot and deserves to be run off, and I don't say that of many people. I'd like him to feel as unwelcome as humanly possible. Look for his many other posts on rec.autos.tech and alt.autos.gm if you don't believe me.
nate
Yaris...You guys have had them longer than us! What engine did VW put in that A-Body, anyway? Used to be you couldn't buy an A-body in the US because of safety issues. Esp when you have a Cellphone jabbering Soccer Mom in an Expedition with
10 screaming kids; her mind isn't exactly on driving, ya dig?Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:
Hmmm. Apparently my killfile of Mike has expired....
"Mike Hunter" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:
I think you're misrepresenting something when you say: "a dealership must sell at least 500 new vehicles..."
I worked for a dealership and it sold one line comfortably with between about 100-150 cars per month. Mixed new and used. The GM was successful enough with salary and bonuses to end up buying the dealership.
JP
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