The News Review:
- Dumped GM Chrysler dealers endure grieving process
- GM looks to China to bolster US sales
- Prius Insight face off to make the other green with envy
- Small businesses must break mold to survive grow
- Boulder-area sales tax revenues decline
Dumped GM Chrysler dealers endure grieving process
USA Today
Legally it’s hard for an automaker that’s not in bankruptcy to break its franchise agreements with dealers. The automaker says the 1100 dealers closing are the company’s worst performers. Mark LaNeve vice president of sales service and marketing for GM says the group made up just 7% of GM’s sales last year. The automaker scores dealerships not just on sales volume but also according to customer service satisfaction rates and how much working capital they have available. Some on the list sell just 35 vehicles a year he said. Before the recessionary collapse last year dealerships were averaging more than 650 new-vehicle sales a year according to the dealers’ main trade group the.
Related from Wtgmarketingsummit: Chrysler announces St. Louis dealer eliminations
GM looks to China to bolster US sales
msnbc.com
set up its first factory here in a brand new industrial zone in Shanghai just over a decade ago. With monthly vehicle sales topping those in the U. so far this year China is now an auto power in its own right ? though foreign joint ventures still dominate. A reported move by GM to export cars built here to its home market in the U.
Prius Insight face off to make the other green with envy
USA Today
But the timing stinks. Thanks to the recession auto sales are in the tank overall. And the drop in gasoline prices since last summer has deflated demand for gas-electric hybrids which can have higher prices than equivalent traditional vehicles. As the two Japanese automakers launch their latest hybrids both are using upbeat ad campaigns that try to position hybrids as green but mainstream vehicles not just niche products for a green elite. “Honda and Toyota are very competitive.
Small businesses must break mold to survive grow
Chicago Tribune
But he also knows that with effort and smarts it’s possible for a small business to make a comeback. That might put Berthold in the minority among small manufacturing firms in the middle of the worst economy in recent memory experts said. Reversing a downward sales trend through new products or a marketing strategy can be overwhelming for many small firms said Pam McDonough president and chief executive of the Alliance for Illinois Manufacturing. “Many second- or third-generation family-owned companies have been doing the same thing for 50 to 100 years” she said. “Trying to bump to the next level” can be challenging she said. New growth often means doing something different. When sales dropped from $20 million in 2001 to $10 million in 2002 and then $5 million in 2003 after a project for a major telecommunications firm was completed Berthold Electric began a focus on innovation and profitability.
Boulder-area sales tax revenues decline
Colorado Daily
The recession has brought out bargain-hunters and fixer-uppers to the store at 2525 Arapahoe Ave. in Boulder said Randy Barker McGuckin?s marketing manager. The recession has brought out bargain-hunters and fixer-uppers to the store at 2525 Arapahoe Ave. in Boulder said Randy Barker McGuckin?s marketing manager.