wdb

I hope you all realize that new car dealers in the US are a stupendously powerful group of individuals. They won’t be easily tossed to the curb.

GC996

I hope so. Hate to see anyone or any business give up unless they are socialists.

pulpo

if I could painlessly order a new 911 at MSRP to spec and have it delivered to my house that would be hazardous to my bank account

so slimeball stealerships are wealth preservation for me, in a sense.

mixed feelings.

Formerly996fried

I do not believe that they will be tossed quickly to the curb, but judging by the difference between the ICE and electric, the latter requires fewer mechanics which takes away a larger share of generated profits. Look, less than fifteen years ago, some of these auto companies were bailed out of bankruptcy, and that handshake began the alignment between government cash, the insistence on the latest trend of moral preening, and all of those glorious politically correct institutions within government bureaucracies and other related entities buying vehicles in bulk. With the advent of the internet marketplace, purchasers can deal directly with the manufacturers instead of a dealer sales network that, over the years, has been never been that sterling, to begin with, no matter how many times they have rehabilitated themselves with gimmicks

What enhancements can dealerships offer when the entire marketplace is slowly being changed by the government in collusion with the auto industry, especially with bribes of $7,500 tax credit for purchasers of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles ($4,000 for used vehicles). How can dealerships compete when purchasers are given government handouts in collusion with lenders and the auto industry itself?

Then, couple all of that with the concept that Henry Ford created a vehicle that was practical and somewhat inexpensive to own, nor could Ford’s internal combustion engine rely on one form of fuel vs. the current, expensive, utterly fragile in extreme conditions and diminishing functionality vehicle whose batteries cannot be fully repaired even by dealerships. Regardless of dealerships, their networks, or the industry itself, here, we are satisfying the gods of climate by fiat while tying our hands to the weakness of relying on one sole energy source, just like the 1979 Arab Oil Embargo.

GC996

Yeah, I am not pro or con dealerships. I am pro productive innovation and evolution. But quite frankly, I can't stand the sales side of dealerships. My relationships have always been on the service side.

Musk has certainly changed the sales model for dealershops, just like Henry Ford single handedly eliminated the need for buggy whips.

capitalism = adaptation and innovation

brontosaurus

I think the jury is still out on this one, but I think you are likely right. The maintenance burden for an electric car will largely be in the parts that need to be replaced and not quite as much in the labor. Swapping a battery pack doesn't take long, but the cost is crippling.

plpete84

Taking anything political aside here, but NIO, a Chinese EV company just entered Germany and I think another Scandinavian country. The big thing they are offering are swappable battery packs. I've seen a video of the process and it literally requires zero user involvement besides driving into the battery swap "pod". The rest of the process is automated. I know Elon promised this for Tesla but there has been nothing on it. Although anything he promises needs to be taken with a grain of salt - and that's an understatement. I don't know the details but the a potential negative is that it's yet another subscription you maintain. The good part is that you never need to worry about the battery as they are maintained by manufacturer and swap takes minutes.

brontosaurus

If you believe Elon about anything at this point I have bridge with your name on it

Porschetech3

Yes they really are... The Dealers have organized into groups like the "the Greater Chicago Dealers Association" ect. But are they more powerful than Ford Global? I think not...I think the Auto Manufactures have a plan, probably take them down small group at a time, or maybe even "trick" them like the Dealers did the Techs by offering an incentive to make the change and the incentive only last a short time while the change allows the Manufactures to get what they want in the long run...

wdb

Y'all need to do some background reading on state franchise laws and how they came to be.

Dr_Strangelove

Do you have a good resource wdb?

Formerly996fried

I also believe that Equity, Diversity, and Justice along with ESG, Environmental, Social, and Governance will be used to eliminate some of the dealerships. These will become the pillars on which global corporations are expected to report. Just what federal, state, or government entity would challenge the restructuring of their business model if they used those metrics?

Porschetech3

I know a little about Ford Franchise but certainly not everything...

The Dealer I worked for for two decades back in the 70's 80's was the largest in the state selling about 300 new cars a month (by contrast the Porsche Dealer I retired from was happy to sell 30 a month ).....had 13 techs and ran 50-100 cars a day through the shop with about 50 left over every day during peak months..

They had a separate Heavy Truck Sales and Service but didn't have a Heavy Truck Franchise because there was another dealer within 50 miles who had one, and in the Heavy Truck Franchises there couldn't be another one within 50 miles. ( Ford new car sales had 5 dealers within 50 miles) So we just bought Heavy trucks from an out-of-state dealer and brought them in and sold them and serviced them and were able to get around the franchise barrier..

I agree...but FoMoCo always gets sued for just about anything, so there will be litigation..lol

wdb

I was aware of the existence of state laws specifically protecting auto dealerships that have been on the books for a long time. A recent google search turned up some stuff that might be more timely.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...e-of-consumers

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...ranchise-laws/

https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi...ntext=articles

Formerly996fried

Franchise laws, state laws, federal laws or whatever does not translate into protecting when most of the current manufacturers have become big-time drones who are far too timid to utter a peep of disapproval or at least acquiesce to every egregious policy demanded. Yet here is a case in point of the direction in which California and possibly the rest of us is headed:

A close friend farms over 10,000 acres of corn in the Midwest. The property is spread out over three counties. His operation is a “partnership farm” with John Deere… He recently received a phone call from his John Deere representative, and they want the farm to go to electric tractors and combines in 2023. He currently has 5 diesel combines that cost $900,000 each that are traded in every three years. Also, over ten very BIG tractors. JD wants him to go all-electric soon. He said: “Ok, I have some questions. How do I charge these combines when they are 3 counties away in the middle of nowhere? How do I run them 24 hours a day for 10 or 12 days straight when the harvest is ready, and the weather is coming in? How do I get a 50,000+ lb. combine that takes up the width of an entire road back to the shop 20 miles away when the battery goes dead?” There was dead silence on the other end of the phone…

So how much protection will state laws, federal laws offer franchises when the Darwin principle is alive and well......