GM: Possible pitfalls could derail rebound

DUH! ,but the profits from Japanese cars sold in the US, albeit made in Japan or merely assembled of imported parts in the US, go to Japan and the go there untaxed by the US federal government

That may be your opinion but obviously you have not tried to get a total drive home price of a new car lately. The 20% to 30% premium comes from my ten year experience as Group Sales Manager for one of the largest mega dealership groups on the east cost. We sold just about every brand you can name. We consistently earned 20% to 30 % more on import brands than domestic, of the same size and similarly equipped.

I remember when the warranty was 1,000 miles or thirty days, WOF ;)

So you guys were gouging on import prices, huh?

A 1000 mile warranty is a measure of the manufacturer's confidence in his product.:>(

No it is not gouging, it simply it is giving less of the profit because it simply easier to get more money out of the average import buyers because they think imports are "better."

We sold Toyota and Honda, it several of our stores, both of whom always tout their resale value, but we never needed to pay even wholesale to get Toyota or Honda buyers to buy another Toyota or Honda. Import buyers will except more of the dealership high profit add on's as well. If you doubt that, look at the NADA listings for wholesale and retail prices on the average domestic and the average import. The difference between them is larger profits to the dealership ;)

Surly you are not suggesting import brands over the years have not had major engine, tranny, and brake problems? Those I owned certainly had their share of problems, terminal rust, paint coming off, gasket and oil seal failures, to so nothing of Toyotas current oil sludge problem that has never been properly addressed simply pushed ahead a few years, till the extended warranty expires.

If one lives in hilly country one would be well advised to use the parking brake all the time. Why leave you 30K parked on a hill and count on a small pawl in the tranny to make sure it does not run down the hill if bumped by another car attempting to park? Another reason to use the parking brake is to be sure it will not corrode and be useless if need to stop the car if one has a brake failure

Get real, look at all of the latest surveys, the vehicles GM builds today are as good as, or better than, any other brand on the market, and generally cost less to drive home

Ya right.

For years, I have had better luck with certain foreign brands than with GM. GM has sucked butt for a long time... They may have started to clean up their nasty act lately, but their attitude is crappola.

We dont live in hilly country. Texas is not the California backlot many believe it is. But the worst problem is that I had a wife and teenaged daughter. They never managed to learn that the car was defective and in order to keep dad from having to re-do the shittola rear discs every few months, they had to use the parking brake religiously. Other 4WD (four wheel disc) systems didnt have that limitation.

GM has made a lot of shit, and they have not supported their loyal customers, regardless of the mindless raving that you continue to spout. They have the engineers to remedy it. But, they are like an unfaithful wife. How many times do they "do better" and then screw you again before you write them off.

They deserve a severe punishment tour.

I dont know if you are "complete", or simply a very accomplished one. Nate may well be correct, however.

I can't answer that for you, I have never had a GM vehicle that was problematic

Then you must not have owned any in recent years, or you are conveniently blind.

A little dishonesty is okay, huh? That is, sincerely, the GM way.

Yeahbut he was talking about the Honda and Toyota dealerships doing that - not the GM dealerships. Sincerely - the Honda and Toyota way.

Some, maybe. Some are of consistently higher quality than domestics. Only import I've had engine issues with was a well-used Corrado G60; it's had a set of rod bearings (replaced in the car) while it's been in my care, it's currently parked because the supercharger is blowing oil. Compression is kinda low too, but it's got about 140K miles on it and I suspect most of those were hard ones. (I know the last 30K or so were; SWMBO has a heavy foot!) Other than that, I've done no more than belts, hoses, and fluids and maybe an occasional alternator or starter to my cars. I did replace the transaxle on an old Scirocco at about

210K miles because it had a loose bearing that made the output shaft seal pass oil, but it was still working fine. That was the best damn car I ever owned...

Now I have a Porsche 944 which does require a little more care and feeding, but there's other benefits to owning that car, such as it drives like nothing else. (no differences except price and style my ass.)

I have never had any of those issues, and I've been driving "well used" imports (mostly VWs) since I got rid of my old Dart back in 1998ish.

And that's one of my (many) pet peeves with my company Impala - if I don't remind the service people to adjust the parking brake at *every* oil change, it stops working. I've never had that problem with any import.

My personal vehicles are all stickshifts and have proper lever actuated parking brakes, not that silly foot pedal like GM uses, so using the parking brake is a) easy and b) not a problem.

nate

It was my impression that they were selling Hondas and Toyotas out the door of the same dealerships that he always brags about. And that may have been an unjust comment.

A heavy foot does not constitue hard miles. Hard miles are taxi miles. Going fast, accelerating fast, braking hard, do not make hard miles on a decent car. 140,000 is not low mileage, but it's far from high mileage. Most GM's since the early 90's would reliably go over 200,000

That would be typical of most GM cars as well.

I guess - more than a little care and feeding. Nice cars, but definately a car lover's car - one that you have to not mind tending to frequently.

I know there are some problems with the newer Impalas that I believe are inexcusable, but you're the only one I've heard of with this particular problem. This might be unique to your car.

I think you knew very well what I meant.

That says more about you than the cars you choose to buy if you believe using a foot actuated parking brake is a hard thing to do. LOL

.net/njnagel

Duh! Some people are you that slow. We WERE Toyota and Honda dealerships. What part of mega-dealerships group did you not understand? The partners owned twenty six stores in six eastern states that sold all of the brands made by GM, Ford. Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, VW, MB, as well as the Korean brands. The Toyota and Honda "way" is the same "way" as any every other brand and that is to make earn the highest gross as possible on every sale, get real.

That attitude proves my point, that import buyers believe the cars and dealership are "better" and the reason were able to earn a higher gross on Toyotas and Honda sales. No only did we earn more on the sale, shop rates are much higher at import brand stores as well LOL