Here's something to chew on. Scott has mentioned it before, and now we hear from Wagoner.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../BUMDV2L4A.DTL
Quote:
You mentioned a thinning of the dealer ranks and I think you used the word consolidation. Does that mean that you are taking some of the brands and putting them under one roof?
A: Exactly. One of the things that happened was the product portfolio proliferated over the years. It used to be that you had one, two or three basic Chevys, a couple of Buicks and then as the business and the proliferation and market fragmentation happened, to have a viable Buick store, you couldn't just have two Buicks. You needed five or six. We didn't have the money or the capability to sell five or six Buicks.
Over the last five years, we've been working to align Buick in the same channel with Pontiac and GMC. Last year, about 72 percent of the volume of those three franchises sold out stores, and we expect that figure to be 80 percent at the end of this year. We can have maybe four Buicks instead of six. Same thing for Pontiac.
GMC has a full lineup, but GMC doesn't have to move the cars. They can be trucks, SUVs and crossovers. Where we need to play this game is in the major metro areas. It's not a three-year assignment. You have to work at it for a long time.
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Think of Pontiac to be 1/3 the size of Chevy, right? Buick is the other 1/3, and GMC the final 1/3...
I don't think anybody here said this, but (like Wagoner Said) 6+ vehicles aren't needed at Pontiac, and expecting them to come up with some isn't....practical.