HUMMER Dealers Ready To Sue GM
Well, they will be after they read Richard Sox’s article in Dealer Magazine. According the bottom blurbette, Sox is “a lawyer with the firm of Myers & Fuller PA, with offices in Tallahassee, Florida and Raleigh, North Carolina. The firm’s sole practice is the representation of automobile dealers in their quest to establish a level playing field when they deal with automobile manufacturers.” Now where have I heard the term “ level playing field” before?” Anyway, if HUMMER is Gox, Sox has got his Gox box socks. “If GM were to give up on the franchise and simply discontinue the manufacture of Hummer vehicles, then as I have described in this column several times before in discussing Pontiac, Buick and Mercury, among others, dealers will have a claim against GM for wrongful termination under the franchise laws. Hummer dealers who either recently acquired the franchise or recently constructed a Quonset hut facility have easily-quantifiable damages resulting from the termination. If GM’s handling of the termination of Oldsmobile is any indication, with the right pressure, GM will settle with dealers that fall within this category.” Maybe after the federal bailout…
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I say sue away. Panicking and ending HUMMER is a dumb idea. It's only driven by SUV hate. Once the panic is over HUMMERs will be back to selling strong. I say keep the brand going, keep new product coming, keep the vehicles the same but introduce new ones, all with strong off road capability and a bit of luxury. Barring all that and if the brand and models disappear off the map. I say that Saturn needs a few more dealers. And remember, despite the seemingly low total numbers for Saturn that Saturn has the best per dealer numbers of any domestic brand.
I'm just curious how many Hummer dealers are left to take the just introduced, brand-new Hummer H3T. While it's unlikely that they'll actually be selling any, I just wondered where the relatively few they'll be building will be going. The H3T has got to be one of the worst timed new model introductions in automotive history. Hugely discounted Hummers are lanquishing on lots, dealers closing left and right, and here comes a brand new model that has a snowball's chance of selling any better. In fact, can we maybe get a 'Question of the Day' on what might be considered the most poorly timed new vehicle introduction?
Hummer is a brand that got its start playing the conspicuous consumption bubble and had a healthy tax incentive catering to small business owners. It all was rolling along fine until the "Panic" over fuel prices set in and the economy tanking when the credit bubble popped. So, Dealers didn't see the handwriting on the wall over a year ago, neither did GM and now it is all GM's fault.
Hummer dealers will get paid the same as any bankruptcy sale. $.10 on the dollar. The oil export crunch is just starting. Indonesia is now and oil importer and officially left OPEC. Next year the UK. In 7 years, Mexico. We will never run out of oil. We will be running out of petro dictator exportable oil. Good luck Hummer.