Put a dealer on General Motors' board of directors
(Editor's note: A veteran Florida dealer asked us to publish a letter he wrote to GM CEO G. Richard Wagoner. The following are excerpts. The dealer wishes to remain anonymous.)
I have seen “our” corporation regress from the industry giant and leader, with 56% market share, to a floundering 28%.
How and why did this occur? It began with an attitude of arrogance and complacency, putting people in management positions who had neither the qualifications nor the experience to handle their particular jobs.
It's time we quit playing games with our future, with incompetent people making inept decisions.
A start in the right direction would be to appoint at least one successful dealer to the GM Board of Directors. We need someone who is solely and genuinely interested in the future of GM, and can contribute to our overall product development and marketing strategy.
Rick, I have followed your career and have the utmost respect for you, and am confident you have the ability to accomplish what needs to be done. I also realize you inherited most of the problems we face today.
Knock, knock. Who's there? The Nissan Maxima
I look forward every year to reading about the top 10 engines that Ward's picks every year. However, this year I was upset about seeing the Nissan VQ series listed.
The reason is that myself and many other owners of 2000 Maxima's are having some disturbing knocking/pinging issues that Nissan refuses to fix. Every trip to the dealership adds to the frustration.
They tell us to use premium, which we do. They tell us that knocking/pinging is normal! I gently remind them that the VQ is the one of the “smoothest” V6's on the market (reinforced by your award and other automotive magazines reviews) and engines should not ping/knock.
Even though the VQ is a great engine, strong and smooth, it is not perfect and may have some issues.
Eric Blum
Yardley, PA
A dealer's wife pens ode to those loveable car guys
There are old car guys/And new car guys/And young car guys with their sons.
There are white collar car guys/And blue collar car guys/And the no-collar guys at all.
You see new suit car guys/And blue suit car guys/And never-a-suit car guys as well.
And we have blue jean car guys/And dockers car guys/But the shorts car guys take the prize.
There are fat belly car guys/And small belly car guys/And then no-belly car guys, too.
There are the long, the short and the tall./But car guys are guys, and we love them all.
Ruth Auge
Auge's Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep
Belen, NW
P.S. My husband Lee Auge has been in the car business for 50+ years. I am sure you publish very little poetry, but thought you might like this one.
Ward's Dealer Business welcomes letters to the editor. Such correspondences are subject to editing for length. Mail to Ward's Dealer Business, 3000 Town Center, Suite 2750, Southfield, MI, 48075; fax to 248-357-0810 or e-mail to [email protected]
