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Automakers Differ in Ideas on Factory-Owned Dealerships

21 November 1999

Ward's Dealer Business magazine examines the issue of manufacturers owning retail outlets in its November issue.

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. seem to think 
involving themselves more intimately in the retail process will help them 
increase sales.  DaimlerChrysler Corp., on the other hand, is content to leave 
well-enough alone.

    In the November issue, Ward's Dealer Business relates that General Motors 
recently announced it intends to buy up to 800 of its 7,700 dealerships in 
130 markets in the next decade.  It created GM Retail Holdings and put former 
Oldsmobile General Manager Darwin Clark in charge of the operation.

    GM dealers, such as Russ Shelton of Shelton Pontiac-Buick in Rochester
Hills, MI, were dismayed.  "I'm shell-shocked to say the least," he said.

    And while Ford has stopped moving so aggressively in acquiring dealerships
for its Ford Retail Network, it insists that the Ford Collection program will
continue.

    DaimlerChrysler President James P. Holden says his company has tried all
those fad diets in the past and decided that the secret of sales success lies
with the old-fashioned, local entrepreneur-owned, private dealership.

    The seven-page series looks at the history of factory-owned dealerships,
the legislative hurdles faced by the automakers and includes the reaction of
several dealers.

    Other articles included in Ward's Dealer Business in November cover
Cadillac's chances of a return to prominence and the 2000 models from Asian
manufacturers.

    Ward's Dealer Business is the management magazine for auto dealership
professionals, which reaches every franchised new car dealership in the United
States.  It is published by Ward's Communications, the recognized leader in
automotive publishing.