My biggest hope for the auto industry is that they transform their selling model to something more based on immediate demand. Wal-Mart did the same thing with cereal, why can't we do the same with cars? OK that's oversimplified and apples vs. tow trucks but personally I liked the online custom-order process. I've never once seen that option for Toyota, Honda or GM. Instead, it's, "come browse the lot for a day, think about it, let us hard-sell you something you don't want." No, my time is far too valuable to me.
I did that just a month before picking up my Smart. Saturday, I browsed four lots. Three hard sells, one with no interest once they found my budget. The next day I get a call from the Smart dealer saying I'm within 30 days. The whole time I was on the lot I was thinking how easy it was to get my own custom configured vehicle. Sure, I'd prefer to test drive and kick tires, etc... so now that there are actual dealers with demo models, selling a Smart should be a breeze compared to the competition.
GM's nearly bankrupt. What if instead of having millions of cars waiting on the lots, they only produced the cars people expressed interest in, with most of them reserved and a few 'orphans'? Make people wait a week or two... it's a long-term investment, not a doodad on a shelf. Cars don't need to be an impulse buy or hard sell.
A2Jack
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