Comments on: TTAC Called It: GMAC Ceasing Leasing Tomorrow. Employee Car Discounts Next to Go?

By: SAAB95JD

SAAB95JD — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:12:48 +0000

Man, if GM dealers have a glut of trucks and SUVs on their lots now, this is only going to make things worse…

Not really. Since GM owns GMAC they are negatively exposed to the hideous resale value of their own products. Since they cannot give them away new, the used “end of lease” residual value will be so low they will lose money again.

This is actually kind of a smart move.

By: Buickman

Buickman — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:26:06 +0000

GM has lost over $50 Billion since I first called for Wagoner’’s resignation. the man is a crook. the UAW has been bought and paid for. the dealers are an endangered species. and Wall Street banks are succeeding in their quest to relocate an industry and rape the middle class. too many blind followers and sound asleep fools.

how much worse does it have to get before people wake up and realize there is a reason GM management refuses to listen to their best salesman of all time? the American public just doesn’t get it. wouldn’t listen to Ron Paul about the value of US currency and foolishness of a war that can’t be won by a greedy military/industrial complex hell bent on feeding off an out of control, privately owned, printing press called the Federal Reserve.

GM’s Board of Bystanders doesn’t want to win anywhere near the present time frame. they could never get away with this crap if cars were selling. WAKE UP PEOPLE! It’s time for a revolution and I’m in the mood to lead one.

more soon from your friendly neighborhood Buickman…
__________________

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:10:20 +0000

Hmm… My dad is a GM salary retiree (non-union) so I’ve always had a soft spot for GM cars. I’m in the market for a new car to replace my Golf, and since it would at least symbolically help my dad’s retirement, I was thinking of the new Cobalt SS turbo sedan when it comes out later in the year. First, GM cancels his healthcare, and now they’re going to cancel the employee pricing?

That employee pricing was the last reason I had to consider that Cobalt, or any other GM product.

By: netrun

netrun — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:57:51 +0000

@opfreak: dude, let it go!

+2% on a Caddy is a LOT of money! That’s like +$60 a month without getting the navi!

Might put a crimp on sales, not good.

And I don’t think leasing is coming back. Cerberus via GMAC won’t let them throw any more money out the window while they call the shots.

Anybody still think it’ll take Red Ink Rick three years to slow down truck production? I think there’ll be suddenly all sorts of ways to shutter/stop production. Heck, the cost of renting space for all those trucks will soon exceed the value of the trucks themselves!

By: jwltch

jwltch — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:03:37 +0000

I’ll be interested to see how bad July was. The local Chevy dealer is still prominently displaying trucks and SUVs. You can’t even see the Cobalts and HHRs because of all the trucks right in front. Makes no sense to me. Until these last few articles on TTAC, I never realized that so many people lease.

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:00:49 +0000

Should I bother waiting on that CTS wagon that was supposed to come out in 2010, or scoot on down to Caddy and lowball the shit out of a manual CTS?

By: NickR

NickR — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:04:15 +0000

“black Friday”, here we come

Oh yes, it’s the end of the month. Yes, it will be interesting to see how the figures shake out this month. I think a great many manufacturers (aside from the GM, Ford, and Chrysler) had a nasty surprise. In particular, I see Nissan suffering badly.

By: Redbarchetta

Redbarchetta — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:54:10 +0000

OK so GM stops the leases for the fatass trucks on the first of the month. Then at the end of the month when they haven’t sold any and the ‘09 are about to come the super fire sale starts, smart. Do these executive think more then 15 minutes in advance, haven’t they leaned that almost all their snap and react ideas backfire bigtime on them. Looks like the Labor Day toe-tag sales are going to be huge this year. So goes the GM rollercoaster ride of sales.

By: frizzlefry

frizzlefry — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:30:26 +0000

Wow. They just don’t get that they are losing money because no one wants their garbage product. Making them, in effect, more expensive sure ain’t going to make GM more money. The fact that GM vehicles are usually much less expensive then their japanese and german competators (for good reason) was the only real selling point.

Raising the rate for Caddys by 2% is pretty stupid considering how cheap a lease can be for a BMW.

Dummies.

By: Lichtronamo

Lichtronamo — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:28:21 +0000

The bigger news may be cutting GMS pricing – you have to wonder how many sales GM generates from within. In my experience, GMS pricing not only leads to sales, but more frequent sales as the beneficiaries are able to trade cars more often.

By: opfreak

opfreak — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:25:14 +0000

called it?

is there a difference between ‘ceasing leasing’

and ‘ceasing leasing on a few models’?

apparently not anymore.

By: jaje

jaje — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:51:09 +0000

Honestly…I’m not sure why GM didn’t do this long ago. You can only have so many clearance sales (seems weekly!) for so long before these bad business practices come to roost. GM makes too many cars and trucks than the market wants – plain and simple. They’ve been stuffing every channel – doing every pricing gimmick – putting all their customers upside down with trade in values – stuffing every fleet channel – selling cars to credit risk customers – having these fire sales every week, etc. for the past 8 years. It has to end as you cannot sustain literally selling your over produced wares for a loss (b/c you have to discount them entirely too much).

By: SherbornSean

SherbornSean — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:50:46 +0000

N85523,
Or, you could go to your local SAAB dealer and get a 9-7x, although you’ll have to bend slightly to get the key in the ignition. Or maybe you could visit the local BPG dealer and see if there are any Buick Rainiers or GMC Envoys left. And if you are really lucky, maybe you can find an Oldsmobile Bravada to lease.

Dealers are standing by to take your order….

By: N85523

N85523 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:39:06 +0000

Holly crap!? You mean to say that I will not be able to lease a that gorgeous Trailblazer that I’ve had my eye on for weeks after next Friday? I better get down to my Chevy dealer quick!

By: nevets248

nevets248 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:36:07 +0000

“black Friday”, here we come. will be curious to see what spin LaNeve puts on this slow motion train wreck.

By: snabster

snabster — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:31:23 +0000

Saab?

By: Michael Karesh

Michael Karesh — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:18:01 +0000

Sajeev,

Last time I checked, that was the incentive on the CTS.

By: Sajeev Mehta

Sajeev Mehta — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:16:18 +0000

A 2% increase on the money factor is huge, pretty much negates the best part of leasing. Then again, with 0% financing for 60+ months (that’s still going on, right?) on a purchase its not such a big deal.

By: paradigm_shift

paradigm_shift — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:14:38 +0000

Man, if GM dealers have a glut of trucks and SUVs on their lots now, this is only going to make things worse…