Boating-Industry Insider » Auto Industry

Get ‘em OFF the keyboard!

Contributing Blogger — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:53:09 +0000

By Jeff Scherer, Associate Partner, Callbutton LLC – Many years ago, before the Internet was “cool,” I was the Internet sales manager for one of the largest automotive retailers. This was a very interesting time because prior to this, no auto entities had really stepped out to try to market vehicles through this new budding medium known as “the Web.” To say that many of the old-school general managers in our dealer groups were skeptical would have been a tremendous understatement. They said over and over that this Web thing was a fad, and would never work to sell cars. Our team was often looked at as the “geek squad,” (no offense to the Best Buy’s guys) and as competitors to the retail sales team. Much of this doubt and fear was understandable as we were jumping quickly into territory that was undefined and unknown. Read more >>

How Social Marketing Helps Dealers: A View from Outside the Marine Industry

Contributing Blogger — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:57:08 +0000

Let’s see how the auto industry handles social media and take some lessons away from another market that was “forced to change.”

Just thinking

Contributing Blogger — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:54:20 +0000

By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Ever notice how some leaders look at things individually rather than as a whole? They look at the numbers of the business but not the business overall. They focus on the problem, not what is causing the problem. They look at the way things have always been done in their industry but not the way other industries are accomplishing their goals. It’s called “not seeing the forest through the trees.” Read more >>

Brunswick joins automakers in paring down offerings

Jon Mohr — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:09:34 +0000

As in the auto industry, where companies like GM are narrowing their focus by eliminating brands and models to help lure customers back – which the New York Times discussed in a story today – Brunswick has made the decision to discontinue its Maxum line, which has been around since 1988. You can read the details here. Read more >>

Finding the right answers

Matt Gruhn — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:25:09 +0000

Denny Hecker is widely known in the Minneapolis/St. Paul-area. A long-time auto dealer based here in the Twin Cities, Hecker’s career changed abruptly this year when, under the pressure of the economy, his numerous area businesses collapsed dramatically. Over the course of the last few months, Hecker’s empire has come crashing down around him in unimaginable fashion. According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, this is a short list of his experiences: he’s been sued by Chrysler, Ford and GM (the latter of which eventually dropped the case); 21 of his stores were foreclosed on; he’s the subject of a criminal investigation; he’s being sued for alleged fraud; several of his properties have been raided by investigators; and he has been charged with DWI. Read more >>

Boating’s silver lining in the auto crisis

Contributing Blogger — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:16:40 +0000

By Chris Kourtakis, Owner, H20 Limos Marine Service — With the recent announcements of Chrysler closing up to 800 dealers and GM a possible 1,500 dealerships, will this hurt of help the marine industry? More people keep focusing on the negative, but as we all know there is a silver lining to everything. Read more >>

What can we learn from the auto debacle?

Matt Gruhn — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:46:02 +0000

Gerard Broshart is one of hundreds of dealers with a glum outlook this morning. He, according to an interview with CNN, was one of the nearly 800 dealers who received a letter from Chrysler yesterday, notifying him that his business must be shuttered by June 9. Today, GM is expected to follow suit by notifying 1,100 “underperforming dealers” that it will not renew their franchise agreements when they expire in 2010. Read more >>

The Beige Book’s outlook

Jon Mohr — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:17:48 +0000

At the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo last November, Brunswick CEO Dusty McCoy said [and I'm paraphrasing here] that while many of the recessions the U.S. economy has endured in the past are V-shaped (the economy drops quickly, bottoms out, then rebounds steeply as well) he expects our current recession will be more U-shaped – meaning we won’t experience that quick bounce back. McCoy also said at the time that the economy was still on the left-hand side of the “U” and had not yet bottomed out. Where the economy stands today, some five months later, is a matter open for debate (if you would like to weigh in, please post a comment below), but if the latest Beige Book report issued the U.S. Federal Reserve is any indication, there are signs the economic freefall we’ve been in seems to be slowing, at least in some parts of the country. Read more >>