Heh, well as long as I don't have to deal with Franchised Dealers in my industry I'm not concerned enough about it to go that far; but if I was a GM exec I would "lay everything on the table."

 

I saw the same thing here in Portland. There was a Yellow GTO sitting on the lot for about 3 months with a sticker price more than $40k. One day it was gone...I guess someone bought it.

On the other side of town, I went to look at a GTO, and they wouldn't let me test drive it. Again, same ridiculously high price tag, and they wouldn't even move it out of the show room. I asked the sales person point blank, "So I have to buy this car without a test drive?". His answer was yes. They were treating the car as if it were a Ferrari.

Its no wonder they can't sell anything.

greg

 

Take my word for it. That didn't happen in just Portland.


It's these types of Pontiac dealers that's going to bring the division down. The average 99.99% of the people that's going to be drawn into a Pontiac showroom aren't going to know a JasonE, or one of the other sales persons like we have here, and are going to get a really sour taste in their mouths regarding Pontiac dealers just like I did February last year when I was serious about getting a GTO.

I also have a hard time believing GM has no weapons at their disposal over things like this. I haven't seen a Mustang GT with a markup of more than 5K yet, but early GTOs get $10K, and now Solstices are going for $14K over?

Pontiac a damaged brand? Lutz may be right for the wrong reasons.

 

They never learn do they.

Ahh, Sky looks better anyways, and the Saturn dealership's pricing policy is much better. I predict great Sky solstice, and poor Solstice sales in the months to come due to greedy pontiac dealerships.

 

Would have been great if they would have been released together, that way the buyer would have had a choice to walk across the street for a competing deal.....

 

See, bringing them both out at the same time is something that GM should have done. That would have kept Pontiac dealerships in check then.

It's still foolish though when you consider that the miata is out, and i doubt the mazda dealerships are overmarking them.

 

if a price of a product is advertised... it is required to be paid that price...

if there is an ad in the paper saying apples 50cents a pound, and the price is good without coupon, and you go in there without noticing the ad in the paper, and they try to sell it to you for 75 cents a pound... thats illegal...

if a vehicle is advertised at a certain price you must sell it for that price...

GMS was not an option... sure it was viod where prohibited, and only participating locations...

But... if GM ever advetised, and they did... right on their website, you could go and get the exact price you would pay, it wasnt a suggested price...
and you could show the dealership or not, and that would be the price you paid. if options are equal, and dealership has not added anything to the car.

but if i'm wrong i'm wrong...

But to the point, its false advertisement if what is advertised isnt given.

 

Here's the story of my car purchase in the last year, and I'll *STRONGLY* bet that my story is representative of thousands (literally) of others.

Last year, about this time, I was car shopping. Having grown up in a Chevy-fanatic family, they have always been my first choice. I've owned three Camaros. Since there was no more Camaro, I was in a dilemma. I wanted a performance coupe, and I absolutely was not going to go foreign. Chrysler didn't, and still doesn't, have anything that interested me.

Then came the GTO. I wasn't impressed (still not, although its looking more and more "OK") by the looks. However, the LS2 coupled with a Euro feeling suspension sounded decent. I repeat, it was not the car I really wanted, but I was willing to "settle", just to stick with a GM vehicle. Pontiac, I figured, was close enough to Chevy.

Well, I couldn't find a decent price and I couldn't even get a test drive in one of the damned things.

Soooo, I bit the bullet, and made a decision to buy a Ford Cobra. I've never owned a Ford, but the dealership let me test drive their $50k cars all day long.

Well, fate stepped in, and I found myself at the end of a model year for Corvettes. Dealers were trying move them out. GM was offering a zero interest financing. I also an fortunate enough to get what is a discount equivalent to employee pricing, because of who I work for. I ended up buying the Vette, simply because it was affordable...I won't say how much I paid for it, but I'll let you know it was considerably *LESS* than the new GTO that I couldn't even test drive.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Vette...its a dream car...but again, its not what I was originally looking for. The car I was looking for simply didn't exist. It still doesn't.

Here's my demographic, with some finer details left out:
Age: 38
Sex: Male
Income: Between 50k and 75k per year

I came --->| |<--- close to being a Ford owner, had not the planets perfectly aligned. Technically speaking, I am out of the Vette price range. The car I want doesn't exist. I even tried to stay loyal to a brand, by going to its sibling, Pontiac. But I couldn't, for they didn't seem interested in selling cars. I was willing to jump ship.

I am sure that I am not alone in the above scenario. There is a lot of talk about the unions killing the auto industry, and I tend to agree with most of the arguments. However, the above scenario is pure GM management responsibility. As little as a year ago, I would have waited for a coupe to come out. But today, my loyalty doesn't exist. It is further tarnished when I witness the GTO/Solstice mess. I am and always will be a Camaro fanatic, but GM has lost its guarantee of my purchase. In fact, there's little chance of such happening.

I kinda wish the bean counters would read posts like these.

greg

 

Does anyone remember my old post about the dealership that wants $1,500 over MSRP for their H3s? Well, they STILL have the same ones 3 months later...with the same asinine $1,500 sticker "adjustment" on them.

How much you wanna bet H3s will have $3k rebates on them next summer, with dealers crying for help selling them? I've said it many times, and I'll say it again...I flat hate car dealers. All car makers have crooked dealers...but why is it GM dealers, as a group, seem to be the worst?

 

As long as there are idiots out there willing to pay the asking price, dealers will keep gouging people for as much as they can. As much as it irritates me to see an assinine sticker markup on a new model car, the dealerships aren't the only ones to blame. People with too much money and not enough sense are at just as much/if not more fault.

By the way, I don't know if it is Pontiac dealerships specifically, but closest Pontiac dealership to my house is run by a bunch of idiots, that most of the time don't seem to know what they are talking about, and hike the prices up on everything. There is an 02 Trans Am sitting out on there lot with 30K miles on it, and they freakin want $25k, last I checked. That is absolutely absurd, so its no wonder that it is still sitting there, after months.

 

Not the bean counters. They get to keep their jobs no matter what. Since Rick Wagoner is also running North America marketing, he probally needs to be aware of this. CEOs are often pretty insulated. Don't shoot an e-mail or letter directly to him, he won't answer it. It would have to go through Mark LaNeve (sales & marketing) and if he's still there, Bill Powell who handles (or used to) dealer affairs 1st.

If anyone is serious about contacting someone on this, Roger Adams is general manager of Pontiac & CJ Fraleigh handles Pontiac's marketing. If you're going to aim high, these are the guys you probally want to contact.
c/o General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
P.O. Box 300
Detroit MI 48265-3000


Greg, I underwent a similar situation last year. I was ready to lay a down payment on a GTO last February. They were going for 32K, I was going to finance through my credit union (pre-approved at 7%), and I was ready to buy. But I went through a series of clowns that either wouldn't let me test drive the thing or were charging 40 grand plus! Even though I drove a Monaro before, I wanted to get a good feel for the car 1st.

Because of the jacka**es I encountered, I came close to buying a Mach1 and one particular 1 year old SC Cobra a dealer was willing to let go for 28K. I realized that instead of buying the car I set out to buy, I was getting "New Car Fever", simply being wrapped up in getting any new car that was close to what I set out to buy.

In the end, I cancelled the loan request, and put my down payment towards doing some more rehab to my Thunderbird SC and took a trip to Hawaii instead.

 

You are wrong. A dealer had the option of opting out of GMS. If the dealer himself advertised a car for a given price (not gm) then you would have something. But usually when they do that, they quote MSRP minus rebates or make sure to not * only 2 at this price.

As has been stated, GM cannot tell dealers what to sell product for.