VeeDub Eyes GM and Chrysler Dealers, Happy at Home

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: June 13th, 2009

veedub eyes gm and chrysler dealers happy at home

A faint silver lining in the dark clouds brewing over Chrysler and GM dealers who have received “Dear John” letters: Volkswagen’s sales chief, Christian Klingler, said he will try to turn many into Volkswagen dealers, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. With a market share of 2.1 percent for VeeDub in the US, unbridled growth would be practically assured. Meanwhile at home, Klingler expects 2009 to become “the best new car sales year since 1999.” The cash4clunkers Abwrackprämie is bringing Germany record sales. Klingler and other analysts believe that 2009 will end with more that 3.5 million cars sold. Looking at the fact that nearly 1.6 million applications for Abwrackprämien money have been filed already, and that nearly half of the applicants never had bought a new car before, the number could reach 4 million.

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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4 of 17 comments

Ronnie Schreiber on Jun 14, 2009
How is it that manufacturers with a small local market, high costs, generous vacation policies, agressive labor unions and that oh-so-evil universal healthcare have been able to prosper on the global stage? You mean like Saab and Volvo? Fiat's prosperity on the global scale remains to be seen. As for Germany, Daimler's muddled management shows that company management is still probably the determining factor in company success. In any case, as the great philosopher P.J. O'Rourke pointed out, socialism works when socialist countries are rich, i.e. they have successful business enterprises that create wealth that the welfare state can tax. In any case, my daughter and my ex are both UAW members and I don't think they'd trade their health benefits for a government run health plan (but then they both work for Blue Cross).

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SCE to AUX on Jun 14, 2009

If VW wants to become the next Fiat in the US, go ahead and take over those defunct dealerships. It's not like people don't know where to go to buy a VW.

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Grog on Jun 15, 2009
This is probably not good news. VW needs a dealer network that is responsive to customers, and understands how to sell sometimes quirky European automobiles. Which is everything VW's extant US dealership ain't.

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Lemonaid_nt on Jun 17, 2009

Having a strong dealer network can't be overlooked. If you want to keep your consumers happy then you will need to be able to support the them when they come back for service. When it comes to warranties- consumers should be able to take their vehicle in right away. Having a dealership in their vicinity can help consumers get repairs completed in a timely manner.

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