As a result of the 2010 Census, dealers are beginning to receive notices of changes to the Areas of Responsibility from manufacturers.  Do not ignore these notices.  Study them and make sure you aren’t being assigned territory that should not be your or having territory removed that should remain in your AOR.  

I am hearing that Volvo dealers are at an all-time low with regard to receiving allocation from the factory.  Instead of providing much needed inventory to U.S. dealers, Volvo is shipping product overseas.  This shifting of allocation away from U.S. dealers could be a violation of the Volvo dealer agreement and state franchise laws.  Anyone [...]

American Honda Motor Company has issued a new set of policies governing dealer sales performance evaluations.  Honda will give dealers 2 warning letters before issuing a formal notice of default.  Any dealer receiving a “warning letter” should respond immediately explaining unique circumstances in the dealer’s market which are skewing the sales performance calculation.

Mercedes Benz is riding a fine line between legal activity and price-fixing with their Brand Communications Guidelines’ requirement that every dealer advertise at no less than MSRP.  If dealers don’t comply they lose substantial per car incentives.  We have Mercedes Benz dealer clients who want to be able to advertise a realistic, market-driven price.  Those [...]

The battle over Mercury terminations isn’t over just yet.  BSM has filed a lawsuit against Ford on behalf of a Pennsylvania Mercury dealer claiming a violation of Pennsylvania franchise laws resulting in damages in excess of $1,000,000.  Ford’s reaction to the lawsuit was to attempt to get us to a mediation.  After finding out that [...]

Toyota, Honda and Nissan have all notified their dealers of expected limitations on vehicle allocation and the domestic manufacturers have suggested that without another source for certain components they may have vehicle shortages as well.   A limited vehicle availability scenario is ripe for abuses by manufacturer representatives who may favor certain dealers over others.  Dealers [...]

I spoke on a panel at the AutoTeam America CFO Forum in San Francisco on Friday.  The room was full of dealers and dealership CFOs.  One of the speakers was Dave Zuchowski, V.P. of Hyundai, who said that “bricks and mortar don’t sell cars anymore.”  I have been arguing this on behalf of dealer’s pushing [...]

Some of the dealers who successfully arbitrated for reinstatement with Chrysler remain, as yet, unable to reopen. For some, the status results from Chrysler’s delay in implementing the terms of the letter of intent the automaker offered. While for others, they simply refuse to sign Chrysler’s onerous letter of intent. Many of these dealers (eighteen [...]

We have known for sometime that Ford plans to reduce the number of Lincoln dealers around the country. Ford representatives have met with Lincoln dealers and informed them of whether or not they fall within a preferred market. Ford has stated that preferred markets will be generally metropolitan markets that include other high line brands [...]

Mercedes Benz has announced the details of its holdback incentive program which will apply to all dealers. The program involves payment of a 3.5% performance bonus where 1% is tied to a facility component. Of course, not all Mercedes Benz dealers are in a position to upgrade their facilities to the Autohaus image desired by [...]

Don’t Fall For the Bluff Car manufacturers have made a habit in recent years of using the expiration of a dealer’s sales and service agreement as a threat to non-renew the agreement unless the dealer agrees to certain things. Those “things” have involved potentially costly items such as a commitment to build an upgraded facility [...]

We have seen a major uptick in proposed new dealership points for both Kia and Hyundai around the country. This is certainly not a surprise considering the increased U.S. sales both companies have enjoyed this past year. However, these increased sales opportunities don’t always justify a new dealership into an area currently served by a [...]