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View Poll Results: Has your DM called you and asked your store to buy Sales Bank units?
No, our vehicle inventory is based 100% on Dealer Orders 3 25.00%
No, but I've heard from other dealers that Chrysler has Sales Bank units again 2 16.67%
Yes, our DM has called us and asked our store to buy Sales Bank units 7 58.33%
Voters: 12. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 07-19-2011, 12:31 PM   #1
XDCX
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Default Is Chrysler resorting to Sales Bank again?

Is Chrysler resorting to Sales Bank again?




The practice of building vehicles without orders and placing them in "Sales Bank" has long been part of Chrysler's culture. Two years ago, shortly after the takeover by Fiat, Auburn Hills stated they weren't going to build a vehicle unless there was an order for it - Sales Bank was officially dead.

Rumors in the dealer network seem to suggest that Sales Bank has made a reappearance at Chrysler. Has your DM contacted you and asked your store to buy Sales Bank units? Please take our confidential poll and share your thoughts.
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Old 07-20-2011, 06:26 AM   #2
crowe
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If the sales bank is back it’s a lot different than before.

Our DM sent an “unassigned” list in early June & we took a few but there was no pressure. The funny thing is I thought the units were already built. We took the assignment in June, but the orders are dated in May & we’ll be lucky to get them before mid August.

In the old bank there was lots of pressure & the units were here not long after hanging up the phone. I also remember seeing odd packages like a SWB Caravan w/o tinted windows w/ alloy wheels & NAV. It was like they cleaned out the parts bins.

This time the “unassigned” are mostly generic slow sellers.

Last edited by crowe; 07-20-2011 at 06:32 AM.
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Old 07-20-2011, 10:14 AM   #3
jayhawk
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a truck appeared that we thought was a courtesy delivery, nope, they just shipped one to us. didnt even ask permission, just shipped it. our dm said the bc thought we needed one. the more things change--------
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Old 07-20-2011, 12:41 PM   #4
XDCX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crowe View Post
If the sales bank is back it’s a lot different than before.

Our DM sent an “unassigned” list in early June & we took a few but there was no pressure. The funny thing is I thought the units were already built. We took the assignment in June, but the orders are dated in May & we’ll be lucky to get them before mid August.

In the old bank there was lots of pressure & the units were here not long after hanging up the phone. I also remember seeing odd packages like a SWB Caravan w/o tinted windows w/ alloy wheels & NAV. It was like they cleaned out the parts bins.

This time the “unassigned” are mostly generic slow sellers.
Thanks for the update.

Like you, I assumed the new Sales Bank units were built and waiting for shipment.

Concerning the old days, I couldn't agree more about the way Chrysler equipped some of their bank units - they were virtually sell-proof.
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Old 07-20-2011, 12:52 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jayhawk View Post
a truck appeared that we thought was a courtesy delivery, nope, they just shipped one to us. didnt even ask permission, just shipped it. our dm said the bc thought we needed one. the more things change--------
In my day when that happened it was almost always the result of a DM who caved under pressure and just started to ship his bank units to make them go away. It didn't happen a lot but it did happen.

I also remember the VON numbers of the Sales Bank units were unique and easy for dealers to identify when they ran their inventory on DealerConnect. It wasn't easy to get a dealer to take more Sales Bank units when he could see the ones he took four months ago still hadn't sold.
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Old 07-21-2011, 07:49 AM   #6
steve_biegler
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Did you notice the STOP sign in the upper left of the picture.....I thought that was kind of funny for some reason.
.

Last edited by XDCX; 07-21-2011 at 08:23 AM. Reason: Moved post to this thread - Originally in "Days to Delivery" thread
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Old 08-15-2011, 11:01 AM   #7
XDCX
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Default In fairness to Chrysler.....

I've been getting tired of the "Sea of Durangos" on the Home Page and I've been thinking of new topics I could use to replace the current poll concerning Chrysler and their use of Sales Bank.

Before I replace this thread with a new one I wanted to take a moment and offer some perspective.

As an ex-Factory Guy I'm not 100% opposed to Sales Bank and I've known a lot of dealers who sold a lot of cars and made a lot of money back in the days when Sales Bank was a way of life at Chrysler. To be clear, Sales Bank to excess can be a cancer, but I much prefer a Sales Bank mentality coming from Auburn Hills instead of one that's focused on "hibernation."

I sense that all is not well at Auburn Hills. While the PR machine continues to boast about increased vehicle sales there's always the looming question about what percentage of Chrysler's vehicles go to fleet. Hell, I even heard some Fiat 500s have been going to the rental fleets.

Chrysler needs volume and I hope the new Sales and Marketing team headed up by Canada's Reid Bigland comes up with some new ideas. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the year holds for Auburn Hills.
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Old 08-15-2011, 11:24 AM   #8
steve_biegler
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Sales bank CAN be a good thing if the vehicles are equipped correctly. I remember I took a Liberty one time that didn't have cruise and there wasn't a kit available. I suppose I should have noticed but didn't.
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Old 08-15-2011, 01:27 PM   #9
crowe
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W/ the 90+ days to get shipped I’ll take some sales bank units if they’re not too odd.

AN reported on 8/08 Chrysler’s July ’11 fleet sales were 16% vs. 25% in ’10.
I also read 2014 is the target for a Fiat based CJD subcompact. That seems like an awful long time from now.
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Old 08-17-2011, 10:20 AM   #10
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Quote:
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AN reported on 8/08 Chrysler’s July ’11 fleet sales were 16% vs. 25% in ’10.
I also read 2014 is the target for a Fiat based CJD subcompact. That seems like an awful long time from now.
Thanks for the update - I've gotten behind on some of my reading and must have missed the article in Automotive News.

It's good to hear Chrysler has reduced their reliance on fleet sales - I remember not too long ago it was a challenge for Auburn Hills to keep their retail sales at 50+% of the total mix.

Concerning future product, I need to spend some time and study Chrysler's product plan more carefully. Back in the old days I remember our member Ralph used to go crazy when he saw how quickly Marchionne was able to bring U.S. vehicles to Europe and how slow the process was to bring Fiat based models to the U.S.
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