Chrysler-GM merger- from a dealer’s perspective.

October 27, 2008- Las Vegas, NV

     I’ve been selling cars for two decades. Domestics and imports, I’ve driven and sold almost every make and model produced from around the globe. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the men that stood at the helm of Detroit’s Big 3 and Europe, Japan and Korea’s finest.  I am angry at the automotive industry in this country, as I am furious with Wall Street and most of all at myself.  We have sealed our own fate through ignorance and greed.  While this bailout will likely keep the country from experiencing a Depression like nothing I have ever seen in my lifetime, I ask myself and my collegues, what could I have done differently?

As a car dealer, I directed my customers to buy the best built, highest quality products they could afford, regardless of heritage.  If THAT didn’t send a message to Detroit to wake-up and pay attention, twenty years later, neither Chrysler nor GM can make a car that blows cold air like Toyota, Nissan or Honda.

The only saving grace to that lament was the Cummin’s diesel, yet Dodge struggled with the transmissions and now hides behind EPA mumbo-jumbo instead of taking care of the thousands of unhappy Ram owners suffering from DPF problems.

In 2000 when Detroit automakers had the chance to step forward and initiate the transformation from gas to alternative fuels, they pushed President Bush to roll back CAFE standards, and here we are today, paying 5x the price of a gallon.  Yet Honda and Toyota stayed the course and have successfully eaten our lunch while we choke on our smog.

I want everyone to have a job they can be proud of, but this time can we all stand-up and make decisons because it makes sense not because we need instant gratification?  This bailout to the automakers is a ton of money from each of us, let’s spend it wisely, we may not get another chance.

SLM…