The future of Mitsubishi in the U.S.?

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by chryslersrt8

I remember when good Chrysler salespeople and managers were in strong demand by the import dealers when the import market got sluggish. Theory was Chrysler people were use to selling average or worse cars and, as a result, were perceived to be much better than the "order takers" that worked for the import stores.

I totally agree.

I remember back in the days when Hondas were so hot customers had to put deposits down so they could get a car from the next shipment. There's no question that a lot of the salespeople and managers at the Honda stores were nothing but high paid "order takers" who had no idea what to do when the supply/demand equation turned to the customer's favor.

The Chrysler guys just got used to the fact that the supply/demand equation was almost always in the customer's favor.

I remember an Assistant Zone Manager who used to comment "If we can built it we can bank it" and he was right. Even the hot cars like the PT Cruiser eventually turned cold and resulted in a glut of inventory.

Originally Posted by chryslersrt8

Mitsubishi has to come up with some "outside the box"thinking QUICKLY if they want to survive in U.S. Since new product isn't going to come flooding into the market they have to rethink marketing. This is local dealer specialty. I would venture to guess they don't have budget for big national market push so put dealer cash on product,give the dealers cash to advertise product, then get out of the way.

I agree and that's one of the primary reasons I don't think Mitsubishi has any plans to stay in the U.S. If Mitsubishi was serious about staying in the U.S. they'd hire a high horsepower Sales VP and engage their dealers in developing a marketing/incentive plan with Dealer Cash and Co-op advertising. That's not happening and there's nothing to suggest that Mitsubishi is doing to anything different then what they've been doing. It's just a slow death spiral.