Think you're the car company's customer?

Both the dealer and the end-user are the customer. It is most definitely possible to have multiple customers for one item. For example, I work in a shop where we rent lighting equipment for shows. For some of our gear, the manufacturer has 3 customers they need to keep happy: The dealer we purchase through, us, and the shows that rent our equipment. If you don't keep the renter happy, they don't spec the gear. If you don't keep us happy, or our dealer happy, we find alternative products to try to convince our clients to purchase instead. Nowhere in that article did they say that the end user (aka You and I) weren't their customer. The article is simply talking about what Chrysler is trying to do to improve their customer relationship with their dealers.

 

I disagree. GM made their profit when the dealer bought the car. They don't give a dam* about the car after that. The only time they care to even talk to the end user is when a complaint is filed with the BBB.

 

There is a feedback loop. The dealer will complain bitterly to GM as their sales continue to fall. It's just that GM can ignore the dealers as well as individuals.

 

I think GM are fully aware that if the cars don't roll out of the showroom on a regular basis the dealer isn't going to purchase replacement stock. I think manufacturers care about their customers they just try to manipulate them rather than produce for them.

 

Chrysler's answer to my neighbor's diesel fumes in the cab is to add rose scent then delete the data contained in his trips to the service dept.

GM's reply to my complaints is "it's supposed to do that".

Ford tells owners "don't park the vehicle in the garage so if it catches on fire it won't burn your house down". IMO domestic manufacturers don't give a rat's a$$ about the consumer.

 

Oh sorry I was thinking like everyone is like Toyota.
Toyota Australia send a letter to every new purchaser asking if they were happy with the salesman the dealer and the car. I can only assume they want to know if they ask.

 

The manufacturer's customer is the dealer. The dealer's customer is the car buyer. If the car buyers don't buy car from the dealer, the dealer won't buy them from the manufacturer. Then the manufacturer has to go to the government and beg for a bail-out, paid for by our tax money.

Businesses that can't make a profit are supposed to shut down, but modern monopoly capitalism has come a long way since Adam Smith. If you get big enough, you no longer need to make a product anybody wants to buy.