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Gary Brackeen has seen a lot of changes in the automotive industry in his four decades of selling cars.
Earlier this week when General Motors announced it would axe its Pontiac line of automobiles, well, that was just one more thing to add to the list.
Brackeen, the second-generation owner of Brackeen Motors in Shawnee, said Thursday that while it’s unfortunate Pontiac will cease to exist in the very near future, he doesn’t anticipate the move by GM will hurt his business much.
“Most people who buy a Pontiac will buy a Buick from me,” Brackeen said. “You hate to see something that’s been around as long as it has go away, but it’s fact of life.”
Brackeen said the move to eliminate Pontiac was similar to GM’s decision to phase out the Oldsmobile brand back in 2000.
“The volume of cars that are sold in North American is down dramatically,” he said. “They just don’t need that many car brands anymore.”
Brackeen said the car market in North America is the worst he’s seen since he began selling cars back in 1970. And things have gone from bad to worse in a hurry.
“In 2007 there was around 17 million vehicles sold in North America,” he said. “This year, there’s expected to be around nine million sold.”
Tight-fisted banks - afraid to part with money after the lending crisis erupted late last year - aren’t helping car sales, but Brackeen said consumer confidence is also a major problem for dealerships struggling to move new autos.
“It’s just a general attitude out there right now,” he said. “People, for a variety of reasons, are just scared to death to buy anything.”
GM, which also announced earlier this week it would cut 21,000 jobs, has until June 1 to come up with a restructuring plan that satisfies the Obama administration and the auto giant owes tens of billions to bondholders and the United Auto Workers labor union, both of whom the company is struggling to come to terms with out of court. Further, if not for the nearly $16 billion in bailout funds issued by the federal government in recent months, GM would more than likely be headed to bankruptcy court by this point.
Brackeen said he’s uncertain of how things will work out at GM. He’ll keep selling Pontiacs until they quit coming and he expects GM to keep producing the brand into 2010. But he said he’s certain about one thing, at least in the larger sense.
“All of these things happening in the industry are unprecedented - it has never been like this before,” Brackeen said. “When all of this is settled, this industry will never be the same. That much I’m certain of.”
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Andrew Knittle may be reached at 214-3926.
Gary Brackeen has seen a lot of changes in the automotive industry in his four decades of selling cars.
Earlier this week when General Motors announced it would axe its Pontiac line of automobiles, well, that was just one more thing to add to the list.
Brackeen, the second-generation owner of Brackeen Motors in Shawnee, said Thursday that while it’s unfortunate Pontiac will cease to exist in the very near future, he doesn’t anticipate the move by GM will hurt his business much.
“Most people who buy a Pontiac will buy a Buick from me,” Brackeen said. “You hate to see something that’s been around as long as it has go away, but it’s fact of life.”
Brackeen said the move to eliminate Pontiac was similar to GM’s decision to phase out the Oldsmobile brand back in 2000.
“The volume of cars that are sold in North American is down dramatically,” he said. “They just don’t need that many car brands anymore.”
Brackeen said the car market in North America is the worst he’s seen since he began selling cars back in 1970. And things have gone from bad to worse in a hurry.
“In 2007 there was around 17 million vehicles sold in North America,” he said. “This year, there’s expected to be around nine million sold.”
Tight-fisted banks - afraid to part with money after the lending crisis erupted late last year - aren’t helping car sales, but Brackeen said consumer confidence is also a major problem for dealerships struggling to move new autos.
“It’s just a general attitude out there right now,” he said. “People, for a variety of reasons, are just scared to death to buy anything.”
GM, which also announced earlier this week it would cut 21,000 jobs, has until June 1 to come up with a restructuring plan that satisfies the Obama administration and the auto giant owes tens of billions to bondholders and the United Auto Workers labor union, both of whom the company is struggling to come to terms with out of court. Further, if not for the nearly $16 billion in bailout funds issued by the federal government in recent months, GM would more than likely be headed to bankruptcy court by this point.
Brackeen said he’s uncertain of how things will work out at GM. He’ll keep selling Pontiacs until they quit coming and he expects GM to keep producing the brand into 2010. But he said he’s certain about one thing, at least in the larger sense.
“All of these things happening in the industry are unprecedented - it has never been like this before,” Brackeen said. “When all of this is settled, this industry will never be the same. That much I’m certain of.”
---
Andrew Knittle may be reached at 214-3926.
