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Auto sellers get a boost By GREG STILES General Motors this week slashed interest rates on all 2001 cars and trucks to reinvigorate demand after last week's terrorist attacks, but Medford dealers said Thursday they were already surpassing previous monthly records on pace to better annual marks. GM dropped interest for all 2001 cars to 0 percent for contracts up to 60 months and for trucks financed for 36 months - even top-selling SUVs. The program runs through October. The move figures to perpetuate what already has been a banner year at Airport Chevrolet, Dollar GMC-Oldsmobile and Skinner Buick-Cadillac-Pontiac. Dollar General Manager Todd Worcester said the company is having its best year ever. "To be honest with you, I was concerned (the terrorist attack) was going to shut business down completely," Worcester said. "The day of the attack, we sold five cars. We sell 90 new and used cars a month, and five in a day puts us on pace for 150. "Based on GM industry statistics, our sales are as high anyone in the Western region. We're already the No. 1 Oldsmobile dealer in the state of Oregon. This is going to give us the edge in getting more product and selection." While import dealers are doing well, dealers of American-made cars across the country reported sluggish sales even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Data collected by J.D. Power & Associates from 5,000 U.S. dealers reported in the Wall Street Journal showed sales on Monday were down 23 percent from the average of the previous four Mondays, but Tuesday's sales fell 38 percent from the previous four, excluding Sept. 11. But Dollar expects to double last year's sales volume, Airport expects to outstrip its previous unit and revenue records and John Skinner said profits at his 80-year-old business are up for "sales, service and everything." "My estimate would be a very small percentage of GM dealers are doing well," said Dennis DesRosiers of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. of Richmond Hill, Ontario. "That's the oddity, not the norm. General Motors is having a very difficult year across North America. There are sporadic areas where light trucks are selling." Nationwide, he said, new vehicle sales projections, pegged recently at 16.4 million units for the year, have dropped to 16 million. Nonetheless, Jackson County buyers have found their way to showrooms and struck deals. Mills believes economic diversification in a community where small business has succeeded timber as king has propelled consumer activity. "We're so diverse now that if anybody has a bad year, it doesn't affect everyone else," Mills said. "We ranked second in the nation for small business (by Forbes magazine). After all the troubled times 15 to 20 years ago, when we depended on the mills, we're finally better off. Since we had to go through those tough times, it's nice to go through smoother times." Skinner points to the Rogue Valley Manor as a reminder of steady business and economic stability for the area as a whole. Indeed, Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealers benefit from repeat business from older customers, who tend to buy American-made vehicles. "The retirement community has never been wealthier," DesRosiers said. "All that wealth generated by the baby boomers from the 1960s to the 1990s is represented in the consumers who are retired today. What else do they have to spend their money on besides vehicles and travel?" The area's biggest auto player, Lithia Motors Inc. of Medford, owns Chevrolet dealerships in Redding, Calif.; Spokane, Wash.; Boise, Idaho; and Sioux Falls, S.D. A company spokesman declined comment. GM national sales chief Bill Lovejoy said the new sales-incentive program, called "Keep America Rolling," won't substantially cut into profit because it replaces other discounts GM already offers. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.