SW17LS

I drive around the area multiple days a week, I'm on the road a lot. Really, you can get a lot of places in 45 minutes. For instance, I can leave my house in North Potomac and be in Chantilly in 45 minutes. I can be in Baltimore in 45 minutes. I can be in Annapolis in a little more than that. I can be in Alexandria in 35-40 minutes. Now, you have to be smart about timing. I can't do that at 9:00 AM or 5:00 PM, but in the middle of the day you can get around. Weekends you can get around.

You have to understand the financial realities here...what would you have a Lexus dealer down the road from another Lexus dealer? Bottom line is anywhere in the area you are, there is a Lexus dealer within 20 minutes of you. If you're out in Howard County or near Baltimore, even Frederick you have Owings Mills and Towson. Up and down the 270 Corridor, Rockville. Up and down 29/95? Silver Spring. Downtown DC? Northern VA? Alexandria. Out 66....Pohanka. PG County, Bowie, Annapolis area, Severna Park? Annapolis. How much more covered do you want them to be? Understanding that its not a high volume brand. When shopping, I'd travel to any of these dealers to save $1,000. To get my buddy's Miata we went to Frederick because it saved him $1,100. Took 45 minutes by the way. For service? I'm going to use a more convenient dealer.

Now when you get more rural, yeah there are less luxury car dealers. We have members here that are 2,3, 4 hours from a dealer. My insurance agent lives in Salisbury on the Eastern Shore, he has a Lexus and a Range Rover. He services them in Annapolis but is about 1.5 hours. Guess where he bought his latest Lexus? Rockville...because they had a great deal. 3 hour drive but it is what it is.

IMHO Lexus dealers are more convenient in our area than Ford dealers...Cadillac dealers are a little less convenient, but not by a whole lot. Have the same sectors of the area covered. If you're up 270, you have Fitzgerald in Frederick, down 270 Jim Coleman in Bethesda, DC or NoVa, Lindsay in Alexandria. Out 66, Moore. South of town, Waldorf. PG County out Annapolis...Fitzgerald in Annapolis. Again...within 25 minutes of pretty much everybody.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not sure if you read it all?

dealers selling 50 vehicles or less have no business being a dealer for that brand.

not a bad idea, but i doubt ford/lincoln will want them either.

SW17LS

And the crazy thing is dealers selling 50 or less vehicles make up 40% of their dealers!! Remember this doesn't include dealers that sell 51!

mmarshall

Hyundai might be looking for some, possibly, to move their new Genesis Division into. We've going to have to assume that they don't plan to operate out of the existing Hyundai shops forever. Ultimately, of course, except for the Tesla company-owned shops, most dealerships are privately-owned franchises, and it will probably end up being whichever automaker (besides Cadillac, of course) the owners of each business decide to go with.

SW17LS

You don't get it. These dealerships are in rural locations, and they are part of existing dealers selling other GM models. Why would Hyundai want to sell Genesis vehicles in rural locations that can't keep the doors open selling Cadillacs? That doesn't make any sense.

These dealerships will simply stop selling Cadillacs and continue selling other GM vehicles as they already do, and as the bulk of their business already is.

mmarshall

That's assuming they DO sell other GM brands, besides just Cadillac. Most of the local ones here don't, though you have a point that rural locations may have different set-ups.

I get what you are saying............but I just don't think it is necessarily the only option. We'll see, though.

SW17LS

No car dealership can operate selling less than 50 cars per year, in other words since they are only closing dealerships that sell less than 50 Cadillacs per year those dealers MUST also sell other nameplates.

Think about what this article is saying logically for a little bit. Let's say they make $5000 per car which is probably full boat. If they sell 49 cars that's $245,000 a year in revenue. Sorry, but you can't operate a car dealership on that, no matter where it is.

Even if they do service, if they're only selling 49 or fewer Cadillacs, how much service can they do?

So logically these dealers cannot only sell Cadillac.

S2000toIS350

I purchased my son's 2009 Vibe AWD from a store called Vermillion in Tilton IL.

Back then they sold Chevy, GMC, Buick, Caddy, Pontiac.

These were the nicest folks to deal with imaginable.

They were very honest with me and mentioned that in their market, folks just don't have a bunch of coin.

Pontiac went bye bye and they no longer sell Caddy.

Extending that to what GM is trying to do, I imagine that there really are a lot of Caddy stores in places where the market does not justify having the brand there.

Toys4RJill

I think your comments are wrong. Cadillac makes some fine cars, but people seem unwilling to pay a premium for a Cadillac but instead they are willing to pay for a less performing car and that is because of the badge. Take the CTS-V and and GS-F, both are about the same MSRP the Cadillac is offering up Ferrari levels of power, what is the GS-F offering?. And for what its worth, YTD the CTS is outselling the Lexus GS and Cadillac sells more Escalade than Lexus sells GX/LX combined.

Toys4RJill

I agree with you and I also don't agree with you. I have always like how you could see different brands and models within the same complex at a General Motors dealer. This is GMs biggest strength, there is so much exposure gained when one person walks into a GM dealer, having Chevrolet, Buick, GMC etc all under the same rough is their advantage. People forget that GM sells over 3 million cars a year in the United States and having them under one roof is an advantage.

Now, for Cadillac, I understand why one would want the brand under its own roof, but Cadillac has an average transaction rate that is 2nd highest coming in a $51,000 so I am not sure what that will do. I could see the brand being more accepted if it were on its own, but I am not sure that is going to happen.

mmarshall

Part of the problem is image.....Cadillac is still perceived by much of the public as Grandpa's brand, and some aren't even aware that Cadillac does V-high-performance products that compete with the Mercedes AMG, BMW M, Lexus F, and Audi S and RS lines.


I don't think that's as much a matter of the CTS's popularity, though, as much as the GS un-popularity. And part of that comes from the fact that the GS has a FWD mid-sized stablemate sedan (ES) that siphons of some of its sales.....the CTS doesn't.

It will be interesting to see, though, how much the RWD/AWD CT6 impacts future CTS sales.

As I see it, though, the Escape sells mostly on two factors.....first, its sheer bling-level inside and out, which few other SUVs can match, and second, the excellent towing capacity from its huge truck-based frame. One can not only ride around in that ostentatious interior, but carry a big family and tow a heavy boat while doing so. But I'll admit that the GX and LX both offer better reliability.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i doubt the gs-f sales are much to brag about.

cadillac just has to take the long view - keep improving product, keep improving dealers, keep marketing the brand. the xt5 is doing fine. the escalade obviously is a cash cow. the ct6 is an excellent vehicle the market's still trying to figure out (size/position/value) and it will only get better. ats/cts need upgrades/refinement of interiors but are certainly not 'bad'. when i see them about i always think they look really sharp.

back to the dealer problem - they simply have to weed out the dealers selling hardly anything - it's a waste of time/effort and distraction.

Toys4RJill

That is not why IMO. The Escalade sells well because its perceived by the wealthy as a vehicle with prestige and cache. People know and respect the Escalade even though it is essentially a reworked Chevrolet Tahoe

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

please be more respectful. i don't think you'd like it if someone else wrote that toward you.

mmarshall

Yes, some of what you say is true. But part (not all) of the prestige and cache you speak of comes directly from its high level of bling. Probably no other SUV on the road, except maybe for the Buick Enclave, has an interior like that....though the Yukon Denali, the Escalade's sister, is also impressive inside.