AD #3243 – GM Sends Warning to Dealers; IIHS Creates ADAS Rating System; Ford Reveals All-New Mondeo
January 20th, 2022 at 11:43am
Listen to “AD #3243 – GM Sends Warning to Dealers; IIHS Creates ADAS Rating System; Ford Reveals All-New Mondeo” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:20
0:07 GM Warns Dealers About Overcharging
1:08 IIHS Coming Out with ADAS Rating System
2:24 Stellantis Partners to Fix Used Cars
3:39 GM Shows More Uses for Fuel Cells
4:56 Airstream & THOR Develop e-Camper
5:35 Winnebago Debuts e-RV Concept
7:22 Ford of China Reveals All-New Mondeo
8:09 Help Save the Bonneville Salt Flats
9:16 Bugatti Chiron Owner Tests Its Limits
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM WARNS DEALERS ABOUT OVERCHARGING
Some dealers in the U.S. are taking advantage of the chip shortage and tight inventory to jack up prices of new cars by thousands of dollars. Not only are customers mad, so are the car companies. Last week Ford shot off a letter to dealers telling them to cut it out. Now it’s General Motors’ turn. Steve Carlisle, the President of GM North America, sent a letter to dealers warning them to not raise prices above the MSRP. And he told them not to work with brokers. He pointedly warned them about the upcoming Corvette Z06, Silverado EV, Hummer EVs, Sierra EV and Cadillac Lyriq. GM will not allocate vehicles to dealers if they don’t comply. On Autoline After Hours last week, Tim Jackson, the head of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association was critical of dealers who engaged in this practice. Thankfully, he said, most dealers are not doing this.
IIHS COMING OUT WITH ADAS RATING SYSTEM
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety isn’t happy with partially automated driver assistance systems. It says automakers are over-selling the technology, and criticizes drivers who deliberately misuse it. And it says that there’s no evidence that it makes driving safer. So it’s creating a new ratings program for ADAS and like its other safety ratings, it will rate them as good, acceptable, marginal or poor. To earn a good rating, the system must monitor the driver’s eyes and hand position, use multiple types of warnings to get the driver’s attention, and have a number of other emergency procedures if the driver doesn’t meet those conditions. The IIHS says none of the current ADAS systems on the market meet its requirements and it plans to come out with its first ratings sometime this year. Consumer Reports will also begin awarding points for partially automated systems but only if they have adequate monitoring systems. It will factor in the IIHS ratings once they’re available. Currently, only GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise comply with Consumer Reports.
STELLANTIS PARTNERS TO FIX USED CARS FOR RESALE
A few months back, Renault announced plans to convert a factory in Spain to refurbish and recondition used vehicles. Now Stellantis is doing the same. It partnered with a company called Stimcar to recondition used cars in France with plans to expand the service throughout Europe. They’re aiming to sell 100,000 used vehicles a year. And this makes us wonder. Could refurbished used cars become the new entry level car for automakers? By refurbishing used cars, the factory makes money, the dealers make money, and the customer gets a good car at a lower price.
GM SHOWS MORE USES FOR FUEL CELLS
General Motors sees lots of opportunity for its Hydrotech fuel cells that goes well beyond trucks and cars. It’s coming out with mobile fuel-cell power-generators that can be used for three applications. First is the Mobile Power Generator which can provide fast charging for EVs on the go. GM will demonstrate it in the middle of the year. Then there’s a palletized version for military use. The U.S. Army is testing it to power heavy-duty military equipment and camps. It’s about the same size as a 60-kW diesel generator, but produces 70% more power. The third application is a fast DC charger for EVs that can be installed at retail gas stations without having to hook up to the grid. It can power up to 4 vehicles at a time starting at 150-kW and fully charge them in 20 minutes. It can charge more than 100 EVs before it needs to be refueled with hydrogen. A company named Renewable Innovations plans to install 500 EMPOWER stations across the country by the end of 2025. Each of the HYDROTEC generator outputs range from 60-kW to 600-kW.
AIRSTREAM & THOR DEVELOP E-CAMPER
A couple of the biggest names in camping are going electric. First, let’s start with Airstream which partnered with THOR Industries to develop the eStream. Based on THOR’s exclusive chassis, it features an all-electric drivetrain that can be used to assist the tow vehicle’s fuel economy and/or range or guide the camper into place via a remote control. The battery of the system can also be used to power the accessories. If you ever wondered how a BEV could make a camping trip without depleting battery range too fast while towing, this could be the answer.
WINNEBAGO SHOWS E-RV CONCEPT
Now we shift to Winnebago who revealed the e-RV concept. It’s based on a Ford Transit and features an electrical system from Lightning e Motors. That system includes an 86 kWh battery pack, which returns up to 125 miles or 201 kilometers of range. But that battery also powers all the appliances and the range factors in the water heater, AC, cooktop and fridge. Winnebago says the e-RV is meant to be its first offering in the electric camper space but didn’t say when it might come out.
Full size pickups always have a separate cab and bed to allow for torsional bending. But that’s not the case with the Chevrolet Silverado EV. Its giant battery pack adds so much structural rigidity that they don’t need a separate body and bed. That allowed for a mid-gate, a pass-through opening between the cab and the bed. With the mid-gate open you get 9 feet of length to store things. And you get ten feet, or three meters, with the tailgate down. There’s a lot of fascinating features on that truck and we’ll be going through them on Autoline After Hours this afternoon when our special guest will be Nicole Kraatz, the chief engineer of the Silverado. So join John and Gary, and Joanne Muller from Axios, to learn about GM’s first full size electric pickup.
FORD OF CHINA REVEALS ALL-NEW MONDEO SEDAN
We know some of our American viewers miss Ford’s passenger cars and here’s what would have been the next-generation Fusion, which is sold in Europe and China as the Mondeo. The new model, which debuts Ford’s new design language for China, was created in collaboration with the new China Design Center in Shanghai. In addition to being wider and longer than the previous model, it features a number of design elements made with Chinese consumers in mind, including the flush-mounted door handles, touch-sensitive logo that opens the rear trunk and an animated lighting display that activates as the driver approaches. The all-new Mondeo will be built by Changan-Ford and deliveries to Chinese customers start later this year.
HELP SAVE THE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS
Every automotive enthusiast knows about the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. They’ve been used for speed record runs for over 100 years, thanks to miles and miles of smooth, flat salt beds, which are the remains of an ancient lake bed. But mining companies have been pumping out salt for decades to mine it for potash which is used in fertilizer. And that mining is destroying the flats. They’re about one-third their former size and continue to shrink. So SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, is supporting an effort called Restore Bonneville, to rebuild what’s been destroyed. This year alone they’re going to pump 500,000 tons of salt back onto the flats. The federal government is paying for the restoration. So is the state of Utah. Corporations and the land speed racing community are kicking in. And you can too. You can make a contribution at www.savethesalt.org. And your contribution is tax deductible.
BUGATTI CHIRON OWNER TESTS ITS LIMITS
Of course, some speed people just want to go as fast as they can out on the open road. Here’s a guy who drove his Bugatti Chiron to 414 kilometers an hour on the autobahn in Germany. That’s 257 miles an hour. The driver is a Czech millionaire who just wanted to see his car stretch its legs. Even though he drove on a part of the autobahn where there is no speed limit, the German authorities were not amused. And the Green Party wants to impose a national speed limit of 130 kilometers an hour, or about 80 miles an hour.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for joining us.
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Comments (45)
January 20th, 2022 at 12:18 pm
There are so few areas where you can get to a high rate of speed on the autobahn these days, a 130KM/Hr limit is not going to make much of a difference in everyday life. Everyone pretty much drives at that rate, even in the few unlimited speed sections. It is the perfect balance point between getting somewhere quick, but not breaking the bank on fuel expense.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:22 pm
The used vehicle reconditioning concept may work well in times of normal vehicle pricing. Given today’s zany pricing, its hard to believe that two companies can work together to refurbish a vehicle, each make money on the car, and still offer the car at a price low enough to be compelling to a consumer versus buying a new vehicle.
It seems like this is a slightly different take on the certified used vehicle concept that is now a permanent part of used vehicle retailing in the U.S. Maybe that doesn’t exist in Europe?
January 20th, 2022 at 12:25 pm
Sean, Ford has apparently said that the Mustang will be their only car. Any chance that this could be a new 4 door Mustang variant?
January 20th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
The GM fuel cell concept is just one of many initiatives that will reduce the overall burden on the electrical grid as vehicle charging volume grows over the next 20 years.
The fuel cell stationary powerplant has also been suggested as a way to power homes in brand new subdivisions. No need to hook up to the grid and it would reduce the amount of wiring needed to power the homes as well as potentially save the homeowners money. Scaling this technology would mean that it would be feasible to power 20 – 2,000 or more homes.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
The German Green party has been asking for that for a long time but I can’t see it happening. From my experience most drivers drive about 140ish Km/hr but many go much faster. Like most places in the world when you get close to cities traffic gets heavier so speeds are reduced but once you get away from those areas things usually open up. In those areas speeds creep up and 170-190km/hr become more common.
250 mph does seem a bit much though, when you drive on the autobahn you expect that some might be going extremely fast but I don’t think many would expect that kind of speed.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:45 pm
4. Where are you going to get the hydrogen from? 95% of all hydrogen made in the US is make by burning natual gas. So much for zero emissions.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:58 pm
GM asking dealers to not overcharge. What a load of hypocritical crap!
1. Dealers for decades overcharged for SERVICE, that’s where they made their $, not from selling new cars, and not even from selling used cars, as their o w n data prove (NADA graphs for 10 years I got) but the hypocrites at GM never uttered a complaint, right?
2. Last time I ch3ecked, we had Free Markets. A Dealer should charge as much as the market can bear, ie, how much the greedy, spoiled idiot consumer is willing to pay to buy his precious new car. Nobody put a gun on his or her head, if he finds the price too heavy he can always walk, and there are 100 other makers and 1000s other dealers he can go instead. If he or she is also wise, they will WAIT a year or two until the lunacy subsides, and buy then at much better prices.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Stellaaa! Fixing cars for resale. Mercedes is already doing it, of course at a far higher plane. They got a center in CA, a small museum and a place where they restore and refurbish used Mercs, not all of them very old, some are 20 and 30 year old cars (a classic must be 40 or over by some definition I have seen), and sell them at such high prices, a new $200k S600 Maybach would seem a bargain vs paying the same amount for a restored 90s E500 or whatever.
So I strongly disagree with you that the consumer will get a good car at a low price. Quite the contrary, he will pay a higher price, but will have peace of mind, as one usually has by buying used from a dealer vs buying the SAME car used from an owner, where he saves a bundle but the car usually needs all kinds of work.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:04 pm
6 Just so. On the other hand, I know that say California already has surplus green power at some times of day.
Another alternative might be flow batteries like those now being installed by ESS in significant quantities. Charging at off-peak hours should alleviate the strain on the local grid connection.
See https://essinc.com/
Going 400kph on the Autobahn is insane, moreso when there’s some traffic and you’re not a racing driver. The margin for error is tiny, and noone expects a car approaching at that speed.
Nevertheless, I hope that there will continue to be some stretches of Autobahn that do without a limit.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:06 pm
E campers: the ones you tout today are utter dogs, especially that Winnebago with the LUDICROUSLY tiny Range, which will be even tinier when you (as you will have to!) use the appliances inside. 105 miles is a JOKE, and even 405 miles, the EPA range of the Tesla S long ranger, will NOT make me buy one of these.
Campers and RVs are the last vehicles to go Electric. Families who use RVs to visit the national parks drive Great Distances, AND cannot afford to recharge every hasf hour, usually in very popular recharging stations, and have to wait in line 2 hours to recharge, which takes an other half hour. This is a NIGHTMARE, and note that I am a proponent of successful EVs for appropriate uses, BUT this is surely NOT one of them. Very Unwise of Winnebago.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:08 pm
The recently introduced Ford Equator Sport already features elements of the new Mondeo’s look. Quite the nifty SUV: https://carnewschina.com/2021/10/12/ford-equator-sport-is-a-stylish-new-crossover-suv-for-china/
Also, the pretty attractive Chevrolet Menlo EV is posting extremely low sales numbers. What’s up with that? If someone has a clue, I’d be happy for more information.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:11 pm
“On Autoline After Hours last week, Tim Jackson, the head of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association was”
I started watching this AAH and listened to the above guy, who at first made a very good impression on me, but I had to end listening after a few minutes, when he started lying like a dog. I am not exaggerating, and mayb4e you caught his big lie (and slander too), when he claimed, with a straight face, that the well known consequence of the shift to EVs (which is, both thousands less jobs will be needed to make them, and thousands less will be needed to service them, compared to ICE cars), is an “urban legend”. This is laughable. Outfits far more serious than these dealers, such as the biggest automakers in the world, such as the VW group and all the others, have already mentioned that “myth”, which is ABSOLUTELY TRUE, no matter what any liar and slanderer says, and are TAKING STEPS to live with it, and Dealers, if they are good businessmen, should also plan ahead for this too.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:16 pm
9. Yes, California has some surplus renewable electricity on some days during late winter and early spring. But it would be much more efficient to use that electricity to charge batteries or for pumped Hydro storage than to make hydrogen.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:24 pm
you cover a lot of cars made in china, but they are not sold here, is it because of us standards?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:38 pm
@7 – You may want to switch to decaf.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:39 pm
I see some Nissan Altima inspiration in the Mondeo.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:01 pm
It’s about damn time that the manufacturers start cracking down on these greedy dealers . Too bad they are 20 years too late. I watched them destroy car sales doing that crap.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
Hey #7 Walk away is what many potential buyers do when they simply can’t afford ridiculous prices. I watched Ford dealers kill the enthusiasm for the early 2000s T-Bird by charging as much as 4 K over sticker. Demand was there at the MSRP not at 4K above. Perfect example my local dealer has a GT500 on the showroom floor. I went home and looked up the price inline. 1st I couldn’t find it listed because it wasn’t in the NEW inventory . I found it in the used inventory for 90K !!!! the sticker was 75K new. That is pure BS.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:23 pm
7. What about the buyer who can’t walk away,e.g., their car was stolen or totaled. They can’t wait until this situation has passed.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:44 pm
THOR Industries Has a good idea with the Airstream battery power assisted drive. A longer range should be made available. This could be made available for utility trailers, boat trailers motorcycle trailers etc. A much larger version could be used under the bed of long range tractor trailers. A Mini enclosed trailer with only a battery could be used to extend the range of any EV. It could be be swaped out in a few minutes at many places such as U-Haul and any place with ample parking space.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:05 pm
As an avid camper I would say the EV options on todays show would be an attractive offering if you already owned an EV. I take many weekend trips that are less than 100 miles away so the range would be sufficient. however it does basically limit you to those type of trips. I wouldn’t want to try and go 400 miles away knowing I would need 3 extra long stops to recharge along the way. Also wonder how campgrounds will feel about people plugging in using the site power to recharge their batteries.
7 Dealers being able to take advantage of the free market and charge over MSRP. I believe it certainly can ruin some of the specialty cars. Leaving the manufacturers to wonder why such sluggish sales on a vehicle with so much interest.
12 As for the myth or no myth of reducing staff needed for EVs. I tend to believe they will maybe see a slight reduction. You’ll still have work that needs done like electrical systems not operating correctly. Say a window or wiper or even a ball joint fails those are no different in an EV.
Cars crash and get vandalized and have hail damage regardless of being an EV or not. Body shops will probably not see any reduction due to EV and be more affected by AV.
Most modern ICE vehicles are built pretty well anymore and typically don’t need much of anything well into 100,000 miles. At that point they are off warranty so dealers basically see vehicles that need regular service, warranty work or damage.
So you don’t need guys doing oil changes.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:08 pm
#7. Well…yes and no. It’s only easy to, “…walk, and there are 100 other makers and 1000s other dealers he can go instead” until all the other dealers have decided to do the same thing too.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
@15, S65AMG is the latest name for Larry. It will only get worse.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:18 pm
17 Being treated fairly, as I was when buying my Corvette, has resulted in my recommending them to people in the area wanting to buy a Chevy. From my recent experience with looking into buying a new Toyota, I haven’t found any dealer that I’d recommend. All of them add hundreds, or thousands of dollars to the MSRP in “doc fee,” “elec. filing fee,” “Doc stamp,” and other BS. That’s worse than just being honest and calling it “additional dealer profit.”
January 20th, 2022 at 3:26 pm
21 The motorized trailers we’ve seen mentioned would extend the range of a towing EV, but still, would be good only for shorter trips like yours. If you had a 30 foot trailer with 200 kWh battery, you might get 250 mile range towing it with an electric SUV or pickup, but then you’d need about two hours of charging to get going again. Then, the charging stations are not even remotely set up for charging something like that. You’d need to unhitch the trailer to charge the vehicle, and it’s anyone’s guess how you might charge the trailer.
As far as charging at camp grounds, they could just meter the power used with existing hookups. Don’t some places do that now?
January 20th, 2022 at 3:55 pm
18 – So, the dealer should sell the GT500 for $75k to a guy who then turns around and sells it privately for $90k because that is what they are going for? Its called supply and demand folks.
Like anything else, if there is a limited supply and a lot of people want it, the price is going to go up, thereby limiting the number of people that can afford it and solving the excessive demand issue.
It happens constantly in the used vehicle market. Why would you think it would not apply to new cars? And I must point out at least one more time, that the people whining about this would not ask the dealer if they could pay MSRP on a slow-moving sedan or coupe that the dealership is keen to get off the lot. They take the nicely discounted price and go home happy. Again, supply and demand at work. I guess it just depends which end of the equation you happen to be on.
One final thought: Don’t let the manufacturers off so easy. Remember the Cadillac ELR? It was a nicer and more stylish version of the Chevy Volt. With a price tag of $76,000 or $41,000 more than the Volt. That was so laughable that only one year later Cadillac dropped the price by $10,000 and regularly offered aggressive lease deals and quiet $10,000 incentives to current Cadillac owners. They really miscalculated what the market would bear and had to adjust their pricing just to move the cars off the lots. And that is just one example. It happens frequently. Remember the Lincoln Blackwood? And how about the Chrysler TC by Maserati?
People like to badmouth the car dealers and yet this happens with most products every day. Gas prices fluctuate, but people only whine when they go up. No one blames the greedy gas station owners. They blame the oil companies or OPEC. As they should. So, give your local car dealer a break, or shop at another dealer, or buy a less popular model, or keep driving the one you have for another year. That’s what I am doing. Maybe two years.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:02 pm
26 Wish I could drive mine for another year. My lease is up in July and I’m hoping things get back to normal by then but I doubt it.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:13 pm
Kit I thought the same thing . He’s baaaaaack.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:21 pm
26. As far as I’m concerned they can eat the car at that price just as I would say to anyone selling at that price. As far as your gas comparison. , when you know you’re being ripped off and can’t o anything about it is BS as well. I can walk away from any car that is to expensive . I HAVE to pay whatever price the gas companies decide to rape us for . Last time I checked a gasoline powered only runs on gas or even more expensive fuel options. They have you by the balls. Supply and demand is mostly a myth in fuel. They create the supply and the demand artificially to pump up profits. Answer this if it’s not the case how come you can’t take a price of a barrel of crude and come up with the same price for gas every time.
January 20th, 2022 at 4:46 pm
IIHS President David Harkey said, “Partial automation systems … no evidence they make driving safer.” Yet Tesla reports AutoPilot is 8x safer than the NHTSA rate of accidents per million miles.
I sent a note to Chamelle Matthew, Senior Communications Specialists, “What evidence did he look for?”
Anyone else curious? The web link is to the IIHS press release,
January 20th, 2022 at 4:57 pm
27 Can’t you buy your lease vehicle for what would be a bargain price in today’s market?
26 You have a point, sort of, with the GT500. I’m surprised all of those aren’t customer orders, like my Corvette that took 13 months to get, but if the dealer has it, maybe they should be able to sell it for what the market will bear. What some dealers are doing, though, with the F-150 EV is taking customer orders, presumably for MSRP, and then planning to add on $10K when they arrive. I would have had a big problem if I’d been told when my Corvette arrived that it would cost 10 or 15K over MSRP.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:32 pm
26 I remember the ELR, and couldn’t believe the pricing.
They used two or three different engines in the TC, one with some Maserati DNA, but the others derivative of what’s in my minivan. The TC was not one of Iacocca’s better ideas.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:25 pm
26: and don’t forget the Cimmaron, an overpriced Citation. 23, Kit,I hope you are wrong. Larry was much more insulting. This guy’s biggest sin seems to be that he takes up too much space on the forum. But, like with Larry, I often skip his comments.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:33 pm
For what it’s worth, Thor is Airstream’s parent company.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:35 pm
I foolishly paid 3 grand over sticker for a Honda S2000 when they first came out. Most dealers would pack the car with overpriced fairings and spoilers that I did not want, but a few just brazenly added their own mark up to a clean car. As badly as I wanted that car I should have waited. The depreciation will not take into consideration the cost of the extra pack. Of course, had I waited 15 years to sell it I could have made out find on Bring A Trailer. The buyer of a marked up SUV will not be so lucky.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:48 pm
35 If you still have the S2000, you should come out well selling it.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:49 pm
33 The Cimarron was a Cavalier, but yeah, not a bright spot for GM. The first ones had that lethargic, not-too-reliable 1.8 liter four that my 1982 J2000 had. Interestingly, after some remakes, that engine grew to 2.2 liters, got port fuel injection, and was a very good engine. A friend has a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire, the same as a Cavalier, with 250K miles, which has had no powertrain problems since new. It has had very few, and minor other problems.
I hope I am wrong, but there are several clues that this is Larry.
January 21st, 2022 at 4:17 am
35 Dan – I have fond memories of the S2000.
30 Bob – Well done. Even though I think Tesla suffers from setting their autonomous agenda around an erroneous expectation of success being just around the corner, the company’s own data shows that Teslas with Autopilot engaged are safer.
Cadillac – When I hear about a car costing $76’000, I always think of one precise model.
Conversely, if Cadillac had actually built an EV with features meriting that price, they would have had a true competitor to the Model S so far ahead of anyone else the brand might now actually be re-established as a globally recognized (and sold) luxury marque.
Incidentally, I wonder if 4-ton EVs are just part of an internal delaying tactic by those who fear going up against Tesla’s volume sellers. Seeing as the Bolt and Menlo are signal failures.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:49 am
37, Kit, yeah, Cavalier, not Citation. I get those names mixed up, especially 40 years later. Yikes, can it be that long?
January 21st, 2022 at 10:58 am
One of my biggest complaints with Cadillac is their bean counters involvement to rebrand other GM products with a Cadillac crest and throw 10+k on the hood thinking it will help the bottom line. Maybe it does. Then they wonder why they cant shake the image that they are not a true luxury brand. They struggle to be just a bump up from Buick. They have distanced themselves more in recent years and tried to take the MSRP up with it. Which I am okay with as long as its exclusively a Cadillac but when there are other vehicles sharing the same sheet metal skin with just a different bumper and grille well, it cheapens the brand.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:01 pm
40 Cadillac’s two cars are exclusively Cadillac, unfortunately, as with other cars, are not selling well. The various XTs look substantially different from the Chevy and Buick crossovers, but maybe they aren’t enough different to justify the price difference. I think they look good, for crossovers.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:02 pm
39 Yeah, it’s been a while.
January 21st, 2022 at 12:05 pm
I believe that every dealer should charge what they want. It will aways come back to bite them and I personally would not pay for a marked-up car. As said, no one is holding a gun to their heads. People don’t have a problem with paying less than MSRP, so why the big uproar in paying over? Remember it should be a free market and leave our government out of it, as they have messed up enough already.
Now, when they “move the goalpost” and try to charge more than the agreed price for an ordered car, that is not right!!
January 21st, 2022 at 2:07 pm
43 No one said the government was getting involved . The Manufacturers are the ones telling their own dealers to stop gouging the customers. They have every right to tell them that. It is the BRAND that gets damaged more than the dealer.
January 21st, 2022 at 2:24 pm
@44 There has been more than one time that someone posted that the government should do something to solve the situation. I do agree that representees from the manufacturer do have the right to tell the dealers what they should do, but not what to do as far as pricing goes. And yes, maybe the gouging does hurt the BRAND more than a particular dealer, but nothing should be done. At least that is the way I see it.