According to a Madison TV station this morning, Miller & Darrow are going to merge their four dealerships and make two, one on the east side and one on the west side of Madison.

Hannah, any GM dealer can repair a Hummer. H2's are basically a Tahoe and H3's are rebodied GMC Canyon 4dr pickups. Also Berstroms is a Caddy dealer also. Havent heard that Hummer is officially done, just that its up for sale.

But heres a question. Why close ALL the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep dealers in Madison? Darrow and Miller are the only ones in Madison.

hannah, Rock County Buick-GMC-Honda plans to build a stand-alone Honda store at the Everhart-O'Leary site next year.

80% of the Chrysler dealers left will sell all three brands (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep). You'll note that most of the dealers above currently sell only one or two of the brands. Consolidation is necessary. To bad it took Chapter 11 for consolidation to happen.

metromilton,
When so many dealers are so close together, they compete against each other for a limited number of customers. This drives down sales prices, which drives down resale value, which hurts the brand.

Also, the manufacturers employ dealer reps. More dealers means more reps. Toyota has about 1,200 dealers, Chrysler about 3,188, and GM 6,400!

About 50% of the Chrysler dealers generate 90% of retail sales, so losing 25% of dealers isn't going to hurt Chryslers (dismal) sales.

wheres The Jokers pointless comments? If this said GM instead of Chrysler he'd be all over it.

This is the same dealer consolidation/elimination scenario that happened in the Farm & Construction Equipment Industry 25+ years ago. This was driven by manufacturing over capacity and reduced sales. A dwindling customer base factored in also.

Distressed manufactures, eliminated retailers and consolidated others.

Now.....looking back 25+ years later, the OEM's admit this was the wrong approach. The OEM's lost droves of customers who quit their "brand" when the "local dealer" was terminated. They were never able to regain the market area again.

What they should have done (take note Detroit) is let the dealers "settle this" themselves. The innovative/adaptive dealers will survive, its those who are inept or resistant to change that will fail.

Frank Boucher is laying off Techs

Hannah: Bergstrom has Cadillac also. Our H3 has had minor issues--mostly the windshield wiper motor/timing. But, my husband didn't like it because it was underpowered. No "balls" as he says. LOL

vly: The showroom has been empty--but Bergstrom Hummer is still open and there are still Hummers on the lot. I was just there yesterday.

apparently they think that the hyundai store is a nicer location. building..maybe, location..don't think so. look at the track record of customer that have actually walked in the door down there. not a popular location.

btw hannah...what dealership do you work at?

hannah..the reason that the "lists" were out today as to which Chrysler Dealerships were SLATED to close is only because of the bankrupcy. Chrysler had to have the list of the dealerships that MAY be closed to the courts, and bankrupcy is public knowledge...which is why the lists have been all over the internet.

As regards to Indy's comment...totally not true..there are AMAZING deals out there right now on all the Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge products.
hannah...where are you getting some of your info from...the Bergstrom Hummer store has been empty for quite some time now. As far as Hesser..there will not be two empty dealerships on milton ave...they are switching the locations of the stores, Toyota is moving to Hyundai and Hyundai is moving to Toyota

Bergstrum doesn't Cadillacs anymore? If they do, they won't close just because of Hummer.

So does this mean that these dealerships will be liquidating their inventory, and if so would they will be offering some good deals? I'm looking for a Jeep, but I don't know if it's a good idea to buy one anymore because of all this.

What about the dealers who sell more than just Chrysler?

and they cant CLOSE the dealership. they can take away the chrysler franchise...but those employees could possibly remain if those stores have other franchises...or maybe just turn to selling used cars only.

the crap part of this is that the dealerships DONT COST THE MANUFACTURER. they are an outlet to sell the product only. the dealer pays for the cars BEFORE they get to the lot. parts before they get to the store. dealers are a source of revenue for the manufacturer. not a cost. the only peeps who lose dough on a dealership is the owner of said dealership.

Just because there are dealerships names on the list does not mean that they are absolutely going to close. This is the list that had to be in to the courts for the bankrupcy case. The talk is that neither dealerships will be closing. I love how the news doesn't really dig into this...they just report what people will react to.

Chrysler is probably picking and choosing the strongest dealerships in an area, in addition to announced criteria such as low-volume franchises in rural areas.

WOW! Absolutely speechless. Didn't see Russ Darrow or Don Miller as even being threatened.

Just noticed... Is the AP writer unable to read? THREE dealerships in Madison will close. The Don Miller dealerships are two different locations owned by one entity. I am truly surprised that Don Miller will be closing. Russ Darrow I can understand.

The unfortunate part is that even more people are now losing their jobs...