Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ford Plans Slow Closing Process

Employees of the local Ford dealership received word Wednesday around 2pm, their jobs would be lost, as the dealership is one of many under company control that has been targeted for closure.  

A press release was to be issued Thursday from Ford Motor Company about the company closing  Steve Williams Ford and possibly other dealerships but as of Thursday evening no press release has been forthcoming, only a brief statement made by request giving little details on how the Lawrenceburg dealership was targeted.  

In an article published May 1 of this year The Columbus Dispatch  reported,  “Don't expect Ford Motor Co. to announce plans to close a significant number of dealerships the way General  Motors Corp. did this week, a top Ford executive said.

"Working with our dealers, as opposed to making an announcement in the press, we will proactively work through any consolidation efforts that we have," said Ken Czubay, Ford's vice president of sales and marketing.

 “He said any announcements about dealers merging or closing will come one at a time, and not as GM did, announcing that it would reduce its dealerships from 6,246 in 2008 to 3,605 by the end of 2010.

The GM announcement, amid a historic sales slump, was part of the company's attempt to get more government aid and stave off bankruptcy.”

In May, as part of their reorganization in bankruptcy, both Chrysler and General Motors announced that they would terminate their contracts with many local auto dealerships.

Chrysler terminated nearly 800 dealers the following month, while GM informed 1,100 dealers that their contracts would end next year.  

Recently, Lawrenceburg waited on word about two other automobile dealerships and their future. 

Landmark Automotive, a Chrysler dealership, and Heritage Automotive, the local GM dealership, faced possible closure. Employees there were relieved to learn they had avoided the chopping block. 

  Employees of Steve Williams Ford, on the other hand, were surprised to hear from Ford about the closing of the Lawrenceburg dealership Wednesday.

  All automobiles were to be pulled from the lot by Thursday evening. The doors closed Wednesday afternoon for the final time.   

General Manager Joe Colvet told Lawrenceburg Now that a formal announcement was to come from Ford sometime Thursday. He was as surprised as anyone. The dealership had a good sales record.  

15 year employee and office manager at Steve Williams Ford, Kim Risner, was sad and surprised. "It's gonna hit the community hard, it's gonna hit us hard. It's an emotional time, but we'll make it though."

  Employees were to work through final sales of pending vehicles purchased prior to the announcement and other business matters.  

The local closing affects an estimated 25 employees.

Despite respectable automobile sales folks are still scratching their heads why Steve Williams Ford was closed.

  Analysts have long recognized that the Detroit-based automakers have an outsized dealer network. The excess dealerships are in part a legacy of earlier times when Detroit sold many more cars than today, and in part the result of demographic and business changes that have made fewer dealers necessary.

  Lawrenceburg Now will post any formal announcements issued through the  Ford Motor Company as they become available.

 

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