ORIGINAL: kramtrah
While I see what you are saying RLSH in needing every sale, its the ability to be effective and effecient in the process. Get this on Toyota vs GM. While GM continues to sell more cars, they do so with many more dealerships. Sure Toyota is feeling the pinch right now and wont take over the number one slot from GM, but they still are better at selling than GM.
As of Aug 1st:
GM maintained 6,776 Dealers and had sold 1,822,575 vehicles, or about 269 /dealer
Toyota maintained 1,234 dealers and had sold 1,437,509 vehicles, or about 1,165/dealer
So while GM/Ford/Chryler need every sale, building, marketing , and selling high quality vehicles has to be done more effectively by the three.
Yes; however, there is a factor that has not been taken into consideration. Part of the reason why GM has so many dealerships is because they also have them located into more rural areas. The advantage of keeping them in the rural areas is it maintains a loyal customer base. Even if people purchase their GM product at a larger dealership, they will choose one over a Toyota simply because they have a dealership in town. Believe me, I've studied this. As soon as GM leaves the town, they will say, "If GM doesn't care enough about me, I'll go buy a Toyota instead." The problem isn't the dealerships, it is the models they have produced. Even though GM has some of the best models currently on the market. Years of horrible efforts such as the FWD Grand Ams, Malibu (all before this model), Alero, Achieva, Cutlass Calasis, Cutlass Ciera, FWD Cutlass Supreme, Lumina, Aurora, Sunbird, Sunfire, Cavalier, and quality problems in their truck line is why GM is having trouble bouncing back.
For Chrysler not educating their customers about the need to flush the transmission fluid every 30K and inform them about only using their transmission fluid was the first strike. The head issues with the early Neon based engines and 2.7L oil sludge problem was the second strike. The way Daimler destroyed their product line-up is the third strike.
For Ford, the problems they had for years with the Essex engine, AXOD, SHO V8, 2.5L, teething issues of the Modular, drop in Cologne quality in the SOHC transfer destroyed their reputation for quality. Letting cars like the Taurus which were good when they first came out, turn into a car only fleets wanted destroyed their image. Keeping the Crown Vic forever without updating did this as well. Putting a bad effort in the Contour didn't help.
Toyota's time is coming when their mistakes will start erode their reputation.