When you squeeze vendors, you get what you pay for. I'm hoping that they are trying to fix problems, not just cheapen everything up. It would be really interesting to get him on record talking about the Jeep brand. Does he even know how popular the JK is?

 

He probably knows how popular the 4-door JK is. Wouldn't it be something if he had the 2-door dropped because the Unlimiteds are doing so much better?

 

Though talk of dropping the 2dr is sacrilegious and I don't think it would happen, it's something that wouldn't surprise me out of a numbers guy like him.

 

I saw numbers not too long ago and the 2 door wasn't selling that bad. Obviously, the utility of the Unlimiteds is attractive to many buyers, but the people that made the Jeep popular in the past are still there.

 

Just wondering. Do you think I should push my dealer to pay less $ on my Rubi that after 5 months should be arriving in about a week? They sell all 3 Chrysler products at 3 dealerships.

Is there any threat that they might be under the gun to close their doors? I hope not, but wouldn't mind taking advantage of the situation to pay the price I want to.

Is there a way to find out which dealers are under threat of being cut off? Or is it still pretty general and they are all a little nervous?

 

I think we are going to see some hard times in most of US industry. Chrysler is just one being illustrated on this forum. For 23 years I have been a maintenance leader for one of the largest insulation manufacturers in the US. I remember when going to work was fun and income went much farther. Now it is miserable to go to work and watch attitudes, compensation, and benefits slowly dwindle away.

 

There is a well known (in the motorcycle industry anyway) parts distributor called Custom Chrome which was part of a larger company called Global Motorsports. which was bought by Cerberus a few years back.
I forget the exact details, but Custom Chrome was at one time a profitable, well run, fast growing company that found itself in danger of a hostile take over. Money had to be borrowed, debts piled up and Cerberus ended up buying the company.
The first thing Cerberus did was fire all the good people and advance all the losers.
Then they cut out major incentives that some of their top producing dealers had enjoyed for years with no warning, notification, or even as much as a phone call. (We are talking dealers with yearly sales in the millions here).
But it didn't really matter to the dealers that much because Custom Chrome's order fill rate had dropped from the high 90's to probably down in the 40's or less. Who needs incentives when you can't get the parts anyway?
Part of the reason there were no parts to sell was because they managed to ruin many well established relationships with some of the major parts manufacturers. I have heard rumors from good sources that they are now on a cash only basis with many of them.
Basically, Cerberus ran the company WFO, throttles to the stops, right into the ground. Custom Chrome is still around and who knows, they might look healthy on paper, but they have gone from a major player and innovator to pretty much a minor leaguer in the industry.
Unfortunately, I see Cerberus doing the exact same hatchet job on Chrysler.
I don't think it will be pretty.
Magnum Bob