GM sued by Canadian Dealers

[C7Driver]

So it isn't just those of us buying C7's that feel like GM treats it's Cdn customers much differently than in the U.S...


GM Canada dealers sue company as sales plummet

The Globe and Mail staff
7:14 AM, E.T. | June 30, 2014


A group of prominent General Motors of Canada Ltd. dealers is suing the company and its parent General Motors Co., saying the auto maker has ignored their repeated pleas for financial help to address a dramatic drop in sales and market share.

GM Canada

 

[C7Jake]

more than satisfied with my C7
GM Canada should have dropped more dealers in 2009

 

[C7Driver]

more than satisfied with my C7
GM Canada should have dropped more dealers in 2009

Looks like a chicken and egg issue, look at their market share, down in the 5% range. Sales are the problem, not less dealers. You gotta have product and they just don't sell a lot of pickups in the GTA. My dealer tells me he could have sold a 100 'Vettes but he can't get product. Meanwhile dealers on the east coast of the U.S get a 1000 and they have unsold product on the lot today.

 

[C7Jake]

too many dealers, not enough sales to spread around even with employee pricing for everyone
C7 allocation is a stand alone issue
if you got the will & some cash, there's always a way...assuming you really must have a C7

 

[C7Driver]

Looks like a market share issue, that is how you end up with too many dealers...from BNN today...

GM Canada’s market share in the Greater Toronto Area plunged more than 50 percent between 2008 and 2013, hitting just 5.6 percent last year, according to the suit by 17 Toronto-area dealers. The list of dealers includes operators of some of the biggest GM dealerships in the country and some whose relationship with the company goes back to the 1920s.

GM Canada (GMCL) and its parent, the suit alleges, have failed to offer the dealers financial help, while pumping millions of dollars into support programs for U.S. dealers in markets that are similar to Toronto. While Toronto area dealers’ market share declined, U.S. dealers’ market share grew, says a statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court last week.

“GM responded to the problems faced by its American dealers by extending financial support and assistance, in accordance to its obligations to them, but GM and GMCL withheld similar support from Canadian dealers during a continuing decline in their market share,” the claim says.

and previously from the Globe and Mail...

As General Motors Co. executes a comeback from the greatest crisis in its history, its Canadian sales unit is missing in action.

General Motors of Canada Ltd., No. 1 in the Canadian market for the better part of a century, slid to third place last year on the back of its seventh-consecutive annual drop in vehicle sales. Its parent company, by contrast, posted its third straight increase in the U.S. market.

The 7-per-cent sales slump by GM Canada – a decline that came as overall industry sales in Canada rose 6 per cent to the second-highest level yet – reflects the new reality of fierce competition in the auto industry that prevents one company from gaining the kind of domination GM enjoyed for decades.

Market share and sales fell in part last year because of an aging product lineup and aggressive incentives by competitors. GM Canada is also still dogged by the elimination in 2009 of the Pontiac brand.

Pontiac accounted for a much larger proportion of the company’s business in Canada than it did in the United States.

 

[Keith Tedford]

GM was asleep at the switch with the 2014 Corvette. A new model and they still geared production to the 10-12K a year that they had been selling for the last few years. The plant is capable of building at least 35K a year.......with forward planning for parts supply. New models pretty well always sell better when they first come out. Surprise, surprise. By February, they already had orders for 16k cars and couldn't fill them all. Some will wait for a 2015 but a lot of other buyers simply move on, buying another brand. The Corvette has a lot of competition out there and it seems pretty obvious that GM can't afford to be losing any sales due to mismanagement and that is exactly what it is. Then when they did come out with something new we got the Vega, Fiero, SSR, and Solstice. In 2008, there should have been a total shakeup at the top in GM not just a token top boss moved on. The billions our government gave to GM sure seem to have evaporated with no visible gain. That's not to mention all the companies owed money. Same people doing the same things generally get the same results. This isn't God we are talking about, it's GM and something needs to be done and soon.
Actually, I think GM is looking at us in the rear view mirror and concentrating on China and south-east Asia. It might just be where all the spare cash is being spent and the North American operations can sink or swim on their own. GM can always export from China.

 

[C7Jake]

Keith, you're wrong...Bowling Green is on track to build 35,000 '14 C7's by Aug 8th

 

[smackYYZ]

Keith, you're wrong...Bowling Green is on track to build 35,000 '14 C7's by Aug 8th

Sounds about right, mine came off the line June 11th with VIN 28936.

 

[C7Driver]

The Corvette has a lot of competition out there and it seems pretty obvious that GM can't afford to be losing any sales due to mismanagement and that is exactly what it is. Then when they did come out with something new we got the Vega, Fiero, SSR, and Solstice.

Heh I have Solstice, really like the car given the price. It isn't a C7 but it is a fun little car to drive, 310 HP out of my supercharged car. You wouldn't believe how many compliments I get out of the blue by folks in traffic, walking buy or in parking lots.

Never the less I have a C7 on order, different class of car and about twice the price of the Solstice by time you option it out.

Interesting on the competition, reading a Porsche GT3 forum the other day, those folks are looking at the Z06 as some serious competition for their bucks. Many who admit never thinking they would look at a 'Vette in the past now considering it. I imagine the 911 owners are looking at the Z51's and thinking the same thing. Bang for buck, hard to beat this new 'Vette.

 

[tony]

And if you read also the 911 forum, many P owners are not 'impressed' at
the cost of the new 911's.
So....one needs to be doing well financially should you want a new or nearly
new 911. So the new C7 is one heck of a buy. My 911 C4S sets you back ~$130,000.
As a point of reference...a new, base, 911 Turbo S sets you back north of $180,000.
Heck...a base Boxster, ~ $60,000 can be optioned to ~ $90.000 !!

Yet if you wait 4 years plus, like 'vettes, Porsche's become much more affordable.

Tony,
welland and the P car

 

[Keith Tedford]

I was of the understanding that they couldn't build anywhere near 160 units a day. I was wrong. GM's reasoning for not putting on a second shift doesn't show a lot of confidence in the staying power of their products though. You never want to give people that impression. It is contagious. You might think it but you certainly don't admit it in print.
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