Word: carly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Automobile dealers have traditionally been a loyal lot, sticking by their carmaker through ups and downs. If a new-car dealer sold Ford Motor Co. products, buyers had to shop elsewhere for a General Motors car. But after the auto recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when some 5,000 dealers closed their doors, the survivors tried to reduce their dependence on a single company by carrying a host of different cars. Today so-called megadealers sell many makes, sometimes out of one-stop auto supermarkets, where customers can buy either a Mercedes-Benz or a Jeep. Other...
Reigning champion of the new breed is New York City's Victor Potamkin, who last year sold $722 million worth of cars, including 3% of Cadillac's production line. Potamkin will not sell competing makes in the same store, but his 29-dealership empire, spanning the East Coast, has a total of ten different brands. In Denver, Leo Payne sells cars built by GM, Ford, Chrysler, AMC, Volkswagen, Volvo, Daimler-Benz, Subaru and Nissan. San Francisco's Martin Swig explains the megadealer's credo: "I don't care where a car comes from as long as it meets the needs...
...automakers recognize that many small auto lots are going the way of the corner grocery. While megadealers represent only 11% of the 25,000 car dealers in the U.S., they account for 30% of the industry's profits. Explains Auto Consultant Leonard Sherman of Booz, Allen & Hamilton: "It drives Cadillac nuts when they hear Potamkin advertising Cadillacs by emphasizing lower prices. They don't want that image. But the company dares not try to stop him because they'd be shooting themselves in the foot...
Customers like the megadealers because they generally offer lower prices and a staggering supply of cars. At Robert Ciasulli's 14-acre Arrow Auto Mall in Little Falls, N.J., shoppers can select from cars made by GM, Chrysler, AMC and Renault. The experience, though, may be disorienting for those accustomed to traditional showrooms. Some megadealers are like assembly lines. One floor person shows the car, another closes the deal, and still another handles paperwork after the sale. Also, local dealers' repair shops may be less helpful to customers who bought cars from out-of-town megadealers. Many car buyers, however...
...salamander angle gained credibility the following day when another pipe bomb critically injured Hofmann as he was climbing into his parked car half a block from Salt Lake City's Temple Square. In the Toyota's blackened interior, investigators found pipes and other equipment for bomb manufacture, as well as rare books and valuable documents relating to the Mormon Church. Hofmann, it seemed, had accidentally set off a bomb of his own making. After eight hours of surgery, Hofmann, who was expected to survive, maintained from his hospital bed that he was a target, not an assailant. But police...