GM Dealer Jack Fitzgerald: "What the Task Force Missed"

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

GM dealer Jack Fitzgerald is not happy about losing some of his franchises. Unlike GM CEO Fritz Henderson, Fitzgerald has set forth a graphic-laden argument (PDF viewable online here) defending his position on the dealer cull. Here’s why Jack reckons we need H.R. 2743, mandating car dealer-protection:

As Congress and the Administration consider various proposals to restore the rights of affected auto dealers, I want to share with you the context for making such decisions. We believe that there was a fundamentally flawed analysis of the domestic auto industry that led to a misguided decision to close numerous dealerships and which will add to the nation’s unemployment misery.

Right now, Congress has before it a legislative proposal that would restore dealers’ economic rights and permit a case-by-case assessment of our dealerships. It is the best way to correct what has occurred and to put our industry on a path to growth and employment opportunities instead of the path of cannibalism, economic dislocation, and a downward spiral for the U.S. auto industry as a whole as consumers react to being abused.

This map depicts very expensive data. It was provided free of charge this past Friday, by R.L. Polk, as a public service. It depicts Domestic and Import cars in operation in each state as of December 2008 (VIO means passenger cars and light trucks in operation). It explains graphically why Toyota has fewer dealers overall, but more in the densely populated coastal areas.

The yellow boxes are by me. Careful study of this map shows that the Task Force was significantly off base in its decision to reduce dealer counts. They are exacerbating the east and west coast Domestic brand losses and potentially dissipating the Domestic lead in the rest of the country.

This is a recipe for failure. I have attached data showing state by state reduction and the results including potential job losses, etc. But the ultimate loss will be the failure of the ‘Plan’.

Reducing dealers in the blue states amount to conceding those extremely high volume markets to Import cars forever! Detroit can not rise again without reclaiming some of what it has lost there. They can, “yes we can, and yes we can”! The maps show the potential, 40 to 65 percent of all the cars on the road even in the blue states are Domestic brand cars (trucks too). Most of these owners will buy another one if Consumer Reports recommends it, but not if you reduce service for the cars they already own and if you make it easier for them to buy an Import. And not if you overcharge them on purpose. Main St. doesn’t work like Wall St. People know more about cars and they will not be deceived. Consumers deserve better treatment and they know how to get it.

Please do what you can to save the country from this bad plan! Time is running out. We must act now. A first step is prompt enactment of H.R. 2743.

H.R. 2743 has over 120 House co-sponsors, but we need more. And, we want to develop the same support in the U.S. Senate. So, on Monday, June 15, please contact your Congressman/Congresswoman’s offices in your town and in Washington (202-224-3121 main number) and ask specifically that he or she co-sponsor H.R. 2743 and that he or she tell Speaker Nancy Pelosi to schedule the Bill for consideration. Please contact your two Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Auto Dealer’s Economic Rights Restoration Act as soon as it is introduced in the Senate.

Congress will leave Washington in 12 days for its Independence Day recess – we can’t let them leave without restoring our economic rights as automobile dealers. July 4 is a celebration of the perseverance of our forefathers, who fought for their rights, primarily economic rights. How timely would it be for Congress to restore our rights and to permit us to continue our tradition of consumer service and employment throughout the nation.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Carguy Carguy on Jun 17, 2009

    If the administration should have enlisted the dealers to sell the auto bailout to the American taxpayer: "So you want a shiny car industry? How much do you want your payment to be? Hey, we'll even 'pay off' what you owe from our existing bailout."

  • Patrickj Patrickj on Jun 17, 2009

    I have bought a Subaru from a Fitzgerald dealership in Maryland and would buy another from them. I suspect that Chrysler decided that his Dodge dealerships in Rockville were a bit too much of a sideline to selling Subarus and Hyundais nearby. As for Wheaton, MD, the changing demographics would make selling any new cars difficult right now. Those residents left with the money to buy new cars gave up domestics after the second transmission failure on the '92 Caravan.

  • Ted “the model is going to be almost 4 inches longer and 2 inches wider than its predecessor”Size matters. In this case there is 6” too much.
  • JMII Despite our past experience with Volvo my wife wants an EX30 badly. Small, upscale, minimalist EV hatch is basically her perfect vehicle.
  • Dukeisduke Is the Volvo EX30 even on sale yet? It was pulled from the NACTOY awards because they were having software problems with the vehicle.
  • Wjtinfwb If you've only got 5k to spend on transportation, I cannot imagine a worse way to spend it than on a GM orphan from Sweden that's 15 years old with 150k on the clock and limited plus expensive parts availability and dwindling techs who'd even want to work on it. Go find a similar vintage Camry or Accord with 150k miles or even a Ford or a Chevy, whatever. Hell, even an old Jaguar is less of a crapshoot than a Saab. At least you can still get parts.
  • Kwik_Shift Brands that were considered from China include BYD, Dayun, Great Wall Motors, Maxus, Nio, Omoda/Chery, Seres, XPeng, and Zeekr. KG Mobility from South Korea also made the list of candidates.That's a lot of car companies from there ready to head here.
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