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Truth…Justice…and
the American Way
What
an incredible weekend! I have just returned from a
grueling road trip, doing five speeches and seminars
in five cities in ten days, and this is the first time
that I have been able to relax and unwind…a chance
to spend some quality time with my family. It is 10:30
on a Sunday night, April 16th, and I am
sitting here alone in my home office.
My
wife and her mother spent most of the day shopping
while Zach and I did some of that genuine male
bonding…you know, "man stuff".
First
thing we did, we took the cover off the Corvette and
cranked it up for the first time in several months. We
just sort of drove around wearing our sunglasses and
baseball hats with the hatch top off. You know, being
cool. It was a beautiful day. Nothing is more gorgeous
than Atlanta when the dogwoods bloom.
Then
we threw the baseball in the front yard for about an
hour. Tell me you can’t smell the strong scent of
testosterone in the air about now.
As
if it couldn’t possibly get any better than
this…guess what? There is a marathon weekend on the
nostalgia channel on cable television. It’s Superman
weekend. You got it! They are running back-to-back,
twenty-four hours a day, one after another, old
television episodes of The Adventures of Superman
starring George Reeves. Wow, could you believe that!
They don’t make television like that anymore. The
good guys were really good and the bad guys were
socially unacceptable and the strongest profanity you
hear is Perry White saying "Great Caesar’s
Ghost".
Here
we were, a fifty-three year-old father and his eleven
year-old son, watching television shows dating back to
when Dad, himself, was only eleven. Every episode
opened the same with Superman standing in front of the
waving American Flag as the announcer said those
immortal words…
"Faster
than a speeding bullet…more powerful than a
locomotive…Able to leap tall buildings in a single
bound.
Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird…It's a plane…It's Superman!"
"Yes,
it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet
who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond
those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the
course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare
hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered
reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights
the never ending battle for Truth,
Justice and the American Way."
Wow!
Even now, just remembering those words sends several
tears splashing into the snifter of Remy Martin cognac
beside my keyboard.
When
you were a kid did you ever wish you were Superman?
Did you ever run around the front yard wearing a cape
made out of a towel, jumping up in the air every three
or four steps? Well, if you said no, you’re either a
liar or a whuss…unless you were a girl.
(If
you were a girl then it’s okay that you didn’t do
this, it was a boy thing)
I’ll
tell you one thing though…I bet Superman would clean
up this car business.
There’s
a lot happening of a sudden and I have been carefully
meditating and putting my personal spin, my personal
opinions on recent news and ongoing events.
First
of all, did you read where Jac Nasser made like ten
million dollars last year? That’s absurd. Even Bob
Rewey is reported to drawn a paycheck of more than two
and one-half million in 1999.
(Memo
to self…Call Bill Ford and tell him I have an idea
on how Ford can cut expenses by about twelve and
one-half million dollars while increasing sales,
product quality and dealer morale)
First
of all let me thank all of the dealers and executives
for the flood of mail and email I am receiving. There
is not a week that goes by that I am not hearing from
at least a hundred of you…it is overwhelming.
Although the vast majority of the mail I receive is
supportive; I appreciate those of you who write or
email expressing other points of view. (www.ZieglerSupersystems.com)
Last issue I was blasted by several dealers who are
friends of mine for questioning Ford quality.
Well
Guys (Gals) everything I wrote is documented in the
mainstream press. And, the truth be known, I predict
that you haven’t seen the end of it yet. Every
manufacturer is having a field day squeezing the
suppliers tighter and tighter. Ford is at the
forefront of this movement. Does it occur to anyone
besides me that these suppliers are taking shortcuts
under pressure? These problems with quality were
inevitable. On top of that, Ford has reduced warranty
hours for repairs and squeezed the dealers to the
point where I believe that customer satisfaction has
got to suffer when the mechanics/technicians don’t
have time to properly fix or road test the cars to fix
factory defects. Does the owner of a brand new car
have the right to expect brand new replacement parts
to be used in warranty work as opposed to rebuilt junk
parts and assemblies?
This
is where I get some of my research. If you really want
to see something eye-opening go to www.lemonaidcars.com
on the Internet. This site, which has won some
prestigious awards, lists all of the hidden warranties
and defects of every car for the last couple of years.
(Check out Saturn while you’re there) I also get a
kick out of visiting www.blueovalnews.com.
This is the website that Ford is in court with on a
regular basis.
These
are several concerns I have with the new Ford
"Blue Oval Certified Dealer" Program
(Lincoln Premier Experience)...a customer satisfaction
and operating standards program, which is supposedly
modeled after the Daimler-Chrysler Five Star Program.
Once again, is the factory shifting blame for its
declining customer satisfaction to the dealers?
Tell
me it’s not so? Someone told me that J.D. Power and
Associates created the concept and is going to be
hired by Ford to inspect the dealerships and somehow
regulate compliance with the alleged standards.
I
will make a real quick prediction here…right off the
top of my head…it’s going to take about three
months of this crap before Dealers start to stage a
full-scale revolution. There will be some
attorney-rattling and loud noises.
J.D.
Power and Associates, excuse me if I regurgitate. Is
there a dealer out there who doesn’t have their
number? In the immortal last words of John Dillenger…
"I smell a setup!"
Its
like Jason fighting the Hydra…You cut off one head
and this monster grows ten more. They just don’t
back off do they? Are they really saying that they
will redistribute the profits to dealers that floor
plan with the factory and that sell factory service
contracts and use factory training (factory training
is an oxymoron). Are they going to hold the dealers to
the same standards and procedures that have put their
Auto Collection Dealerships in the toilet?
Those
of you who believe in the integrity of the
manufacturers are the same people who bet that
"Mr. T" would win the rematch in the movie
Rocky II.
In
my last article you may remember that I said that
Daimler Chrysler has entered a new era that I will
call "The Age of Constipation". Well no
sooner said than done. I read that those wacky Germans
are going to discontinue the Cummins Diesel and start
marketing Mercedes Diesels in Dodge trucks. To me this
is a contender as one of the most incredibly stupid
miscalculations in retail automotive history. Dodge
dealers are grabbing their heads with both hands and
screaming. The Cummins Diesel is a winner…it’s the
transmissions stupid. That engine is such a
torque-monster that they didn’t build the proper
transmissions.
On
the other hand, I have always admired Chrysler so I
will throw them a bone here. I have had an incredible
idea. With Ford reintroducing the
"retro-Thunderbird" why doesn’t Chrysler
reintroduce…are you ready…the "Hemi-Cuda
Convertible". Talk about brand equity. Retro
design it to look similar to the early seventies Cuda.
It would outsell the PT Cruiser and the Prowler. What
a great idea for the new Hemi.
Did
you hear that Consumer reports is now going to be
publishing net invoice less holdback…they are going
to be disclosing dealer cash back and stair step
bonuses and all hidden moneys in the deal, directly to
the consumers for ten or twelve bucks, by phone or
internet.
Speaking
of things that really suck…did you hear that NADA is
going to start publishing dealer invoice on the new
NADA website? Okay…okay, I know everyone else’s
already doing it, but this is the NADA, they’re
supposed to be on our side. This does not sit well
with me.
"And
the walls came tumbling down" (Joshua at the
Battle of Jericho circa 1000 B.C.) Well there is a
real war brewing and this time I am supporting the
manufacturers. You knew it had to happen. Well the
"Web Wars" are going to be hot this summer.
I have been expecting this. Ann Doyle at Ford is
making it clear that companies like Carsdirect.com and
Carorder.com are e-brokers. Doyle was quoted as saying
"We wanted to remind dealers that it is a
violation of their sales and service agreement to sell
new vehicles to anybody except direct customers."
This
is wonderful! I love it! It’s about time that the
manufacturers starting pushing around somebody besides
their own dealers. I support and applaud Ford and I
hope they will kick these "Dot-Communists"
butts all the way back to the holes they crawled out
of.
Let’s
see if Ford has the guts to go all of the way here.
Memos from Jim O’Conner seem to pointedly threaten
that a dealer who violates these franchise policies
would lose their turn and earn credits, the ability to
buy more dealerships, and Ford would charge back all
incentives when brokered sales were involved.
There
are rumblings that General Motors may make a similar
muscle. They have already required dealers to payback
more than $200,000 of incentive money they had already
collected on brokered sales.
Of
course Autobytel.com has indicated they would like to
be in the arena of direct sales. I believe they
referred to it as a "Dealerless
Transaction". This might jerk a knot in their
tail.
Mark
Lorimer, Autobytel.com's President and CEO issued
several quotes in press releases that indicated he was
proud of their progress in that they only lost $.43 to
$.45 a share last quarter, beating "Street
Estimates" of $.48 a share loss. Of course with
AutoByTel stock currently in the toilet at 6 7/8ths a
share down from 44 a share a year ago, I assume Wall
Street isn’t swallowing the Snake Oil.
Before
year-end we will see the battle move into the courts
and the legislatures in a First Amendment Battle.
I
still want to see the factories go after the
"Storefront Brokers" who are setting up sham
dealerships with no facilities or service to pirate
sales from legitimate dealers who have made an
investment in their customers. I would like to see the
factories go back to requiring that the customers have
their cars serviced at the selling dealership if the
breakdown occurs within twenty-five miles of home.
Where
is Superman when you need him anyway? How the heck
should I know, I’m just a reporter and a columnist
fighting for Truth…Justice…and the American Way.
More
Food For Thought
Wow!
Arizona just passed a franchise law with teeth in it.
I have been talking with several of the architects of
this law for months now. I was sworn to secrecy and I
kept my word. As a matter of fact there are parts of
the finished product that are trademark Ziegler. I was
privileged to have some input that was incorporated
into the final content.
This
law limits the factories ability to redistribute
Internet referrals unfairly or disproportionately.
Dealers must get factory leads from all inquiries that
live in their sales areas.
The
law also severely limits the factories ability to fix
prices or limit dealers’ profitability. And it
requires factories to fairly and evenly distribute
inventory and "Hot Sellers". This law is the
premier dealer franchise protection legislation in the
country. It is good for the dealer and for the
consumer.
I
could write an entire article about how insightful
this legislation is. I hope your dealer associations
have not for a moment let their guards down. This
battle outside is still raging…Ford is still in
court in Texas to overturn state franchise laws…and
Ford and General Motors still have factory stores and
other dealerships operated by factory puppets.
Peter
Brown editor at Automotive News recently speculated at
the possibility of a Toyota-General Motors
merger…The "Mother of all Mergers"
so-to-speak. Well, I gotta say…I am seeing the same
movement that he is. There is a lot of fire somewhere
under that smoke and it may not be as farfetched as it
sounds on the surface. Toyota would be the perfect
"Poison Pill" to stave off a hostile
takeover of GM. General Motors is ripe for a
raid…with weak management…erratic policies…and
repeated failed marketing plans (marketing Czar). The
Hughes division alone is a plum.
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