Here's my tale of witnessing doom and destruction in the dealership world...
My local Dodge dealer, Westoaks Dodge, is one of the west coast's largest Mopar performance parts dealers, with displays at the Mopar Spring Fling, etc. I drove by there two days ago to happily plunk down full pop for a loaded new Challenger when I heard the order bank was open for the SRT8 Spring Special in B5 blue, only to find them CLOSED. Out of business. Goodbye. Ohhhh-kayyyy....
So I drove around the block (this is in an auto-mall-type area of Thousand Oaks, CA) to Courtesy Chevrolet to see what Z06s they had lying around... and.... GONE. Out of business after 40 or 60 years or something. With a name like "Courtesy Chevrolet" you just know they had to have been there since the 1960's, and now... poof.
Local paper said the loss of these two dealerships represents a loss of $6m per annum in local sales tax revenue.... whoa.
I know that Westoaks had been bought out by Rusnak (a dealership chain) about six months ago, and would re-open quickly as a used car lot, but I don't know the story behind Courtesy Chevrolet.
I drove by another local dealer, Dependable Dodge (the owner's pink 1970 Challenger convertible resto-mod sits in the showroom, and was on the cover of Mopar Muscle a couple months back...), and chatted with a salesman who assured me that they were okay, as they were family-owned and had relatively small and "safe" (mostly basic work trucks) inventory. He did reveal that they've only sold one or two cars a week for the past few weeks, instead of 5-10 a day, and most of these have been scheduled purchases of work trucks and fleet vehicles and so forth. Walk-ins are non-existent. He couldn't believe someone (me) had driven up and started looking at all the Challengers. Woke him right up.
You know, I just bought my SRT8 Magnum at the end of a 3-year lease for only $22k. In 24k miles it's been a great car, with no rattles or problems, wife-scaring power, smoky burnouts, brick-on-rails handling, 4-person ski-weekend capability (heated seats!), good NAV.... call me a sucker but I thought it was a steal at $42k sticker three years ago, especially when compared to the much more middle-to-low-range models of German steel that the same money would have bought. Not like I was trying to be cheap and avoid spending $80k on a German DD, but something about the big honkin' black wagon with a 6.1 hemi, Brembos, and 20's just appealed to me. I reckon it's a good car for the bucks; I think the same about the Challenger, and I'll happily pay full pop ($43k-ish) for a loaded SRT8, especially in a cool color. Besides, a base Magnum or Challenger is like $22k new... not too bad a deal either.
More and more lately, I feel like saying (or maybe singing?) to people that bash the big 3, "Have you DRIVEN a Ford/Chevy/Dodge lately?" I have minor issues with plasticy Chevy interiors, but... so what? GM knobs are big on purpose, so Minnesotans can work the stereo with mittens on!
I will be absolutely heartbroken if any one of the 3 fails or is forced to merge to stay afloat. I think the industrial landscape comprised of sturdy, prudent Ford; cheaper, bigger, slightly dumber GM; and the mad-genius-slash-drunken-uncle that is Chrysler, is a great environment for invention and competition.
I know that the landscape will inevitably change, but, in the words of cute internet kitty pics....
I has a sad.
:frown
okay, sad rant off. Back on topic, $40k for a GT500 is a steal! Maybe the blue Challenger will have to wait a couple of weeks.... Galpin's only a couple of miles away, I'll report back on what colors they have in stock...if they're still in business by the time I get there. Then again, maybe I should stay away... 2 out of 3 dealerships have gone out of business as I drove up, maybe I'm jinxed!