Best selling vehicles
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
This is a conclusion reached with no business knowledge or experience.
A business cannot pay the overhead for a dealer network if they don't have sales to justify that network. A company that reduces their number of dealerships did so because their sales no longer justified having that many dealerships. It becomes a vicious cycle, because like you say lack of dealers keeps customers from being able to buy the product...but if customers were buying enough of the product they never would have closed the dealers. A business can only pay non performing overhead for so long hoping for a turnaround until they have to make hard decisions and reduce that overhead. Also bear in mind that carmakers don't own and operate dealers, they are independently owned and operated. With nobody wanting to buy Mitsubishi cars, those owners decided not to continue with their Mistubishi franchises and closed them down. Again...no buyers...no dealers.
"Hope" is not a strategy.
A business cannot pay the overhead for a dealer network if they don't have sales to justify that network. A company that reduces their number of dealerships did so because their sales no longer justified having that many dealerships. It becomes a vicious cycle, because like you say lack of dealers keeps customers from being able to buy the product...but if customers were buying enough of the product they never would have closed the dealers. A business can only pay non performing overhead for so long hoping for a turnaround until they have to make hard decisions and reduce that overhead. Also bear in mind that carmakers don't own and operate dealers, they are independently owned and operated. With nobody wanting to buy Mitsubishi cars, those owners decided not to continue with their Mistubishi franchises and closed them down. Again...no buyers...no dealers.
"Hope" is not a strategy.
What I outlined was pretty much the case in former times, when most of the buying and trading was done at formal dealerships. But, with more people buying on-line today and having vehicles delivered to their homes, this is less of a case...what you say has some merit.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: May 2012
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From: Maryland
How many businesses have you owned and operated? I'm at 4. So yeah, what I say about how a business operates in regards to overhead has merit lol
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,422
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
First, no one here, me included, is taking about how you run a buisness....that is your concern. Second, I'm not talking abut overhead....I'm talking about how well vehicles sell (the thread topic) and the public's access to sales outlets.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: May 2012
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From: Maryland
What is a sound business strategy is to build a great product and slowly increase the number of sales outlets that are out there as your product's popularity expands. Thats smart growth. I can tell you about many businesses that were very successful but opened up too many sales outlets and those outlets put them out of business.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 8,386
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From: Las Vegas
Yes you are talking about overhead. You ignore the very real business reality that sales outlets are overhead, they require buildings and employees and utilities and taxes, those things cost money. Thats O V E R H E A D. You want manufacturers to pay the overhead of having dealerships in the hope that might make people want to buy their unappealing cars. Thats not a sound business strategy. Plus like I said, you need independent businesses (dealership owners and conglomerates) to want to open dealers for your product, which they don't want to do because they are smart enough to know its not viable economically.
What is a sound business strategy is to build a great product and slowly increase the number of sales outlets that are out there as your product's popularity expands. Thats smart growth. I can tell you about many businesses that were very successful but opened up too many sales outlets and those outlets put them out of business.
What is a sound business strategy is to build a great product and slowly increase the number of sales outlets that are out there as your product's popularity expands. Thats smart growth. I can tell you about many businesses that were very successful but opened up too many sales outlets and those outlets put them out of business.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: May 2012
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From: Maryland
Right, and if only they had mmarshall running their company they would still be selling tons of cars lol
Lexus Champion
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: California
. Now I'm no expert on Mitsubishi, but that's two strikes, one more and I'm out
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 68,631
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From: Maryland
The reason people don't buy Mistubishis is they don't make good cars, and haven't for a long time...not because they have closed dealers. There was a time when Mistubishi made some compelling cars, The Galant, the Eclipse, etc...
Lexus Champion
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: California
I liked the 3000GT, but don't know if it's any good. I think I've only seen one or two on the road in the last 10 years
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 17,083
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From: Knoxville, TN
Other than being death-trap-slow it was a decent car, I don't remember any issues with it at all. Back then the Diamante was legit, ES300 competitor.
About the topic of this thread, I have noticed that GM is starting to take the lead with truck sales and last year it was very close, I think
I think GM is doing so well with its trucks because they still offer V8s in all their trucks. Most people who buy the 5.3 just want 8 cylinders under the hood, and don't care than an Ecoboost will beat them. Truck owners especially love their V8s. 5.3 isn't as fast but it's certainly enough.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: California
We had a Galant with 102hp!
Other than being death-trap-slow it was a decent car, I don't remember any issues with it at all. Back then the Diamante was legit, ES300 competitor.
About the topic of this thread, I have noticed that GM is starting to take the lead with truck sales and last year it was very close, I think
I think GM is doing so well with its trucks because they still offer V8s in all their trucks. Most people who buy the 5.3 just want 8 cylinders under the hood, and don't care than an Ecoboost will beat them. Truck owners especially love their V8s. 5.3 isn't as fast but it's certainly enough.
Other than being death-trap-slow it was a decent car, I don't remember any issues with it at all. Back then the Diamante was legit, ES300 competitor.
About the topic of this thread, I have noticed that GM is starting to take the lead with truck sales and last year it was very close, I think
I think GM is doing so well with its trucks because they still offer V8s in all their trucks. Most people who buy the 5.3 just want 8 cylinders under the hood, and don't care than an Ecoboost will beat them. Truck owners especially love their V8s. 5.3 isn't as fast but it's certainly enough.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Oct 2019
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From: California
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,422
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
I never was a big fan of the Eclipse. The turbo and (later) V6 versions provided some bang for the buck in terms of power-to-weight ratio, and it was reasonably priced, but its reliability and and assembly-quality was atrocious for a modern vehicle (probably because of the many different problems at the Diamond-Star plant in Normal, IL). I sampled the latest convertible version before it was dropped, and it was even less impressive.
Last edited by mmarshall; Apr 23, 2024 at 06:55 PM.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 17,083
Likes: 512
From: Knoxville, TN
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,422
Likes: 249
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
The 3000GT VR4, for the time, was a rolling technological marvel on wheels. It came with the folding hardtop roof you mentioned, AWD, all-wheel-steering, ABS, traction/stability control, a turbo V6, and even an adjustable exhaust-note which the driver could control with a console-switch.