Just because you avoided the kiss of death from GM this time doesn’t mean your store is going to carry on and prosper for the next hundred years,” says CADA’s Michael Hatch. “The industry as a whole has to evolve like any business, to adapt to the reality that we’re in, which is a reality in which people are not buying as many cars as they did even two or three years ago.”
Whether that new reality will support reincarnations of Alberta’s terminated GM dealerships remains in doubt. Though Pat Priestner sympathizes, he’s not confident about their futures. “It seems to me that GM dealerships in Alberta are going to have very few options, if any,” says the CEO of Edmonton-based new and used vehicle retailer AutoCanada GP Inc. Going the parts-and-service route will be complicated by warranties, focusing on used cars won’t likely support big-dealer overhead and signing on with the competition might run up against market saturation. “There will be the odd market where they can rebrand, but I don’t think all of them, by any stretch,” says Priestner. “I think, in general, it’s going to be difficult.” The automotive retail business, in other words, is going to shrink.
Back in Lacombe, Dave Weidner has struggled too, performance awards and reprieves notwithstanding. After a few tough months at the start of the year, business picked up, but “it’s not full out like it was; we’re probably down 20%” – in keeping with July’s year-over-year auto sales decline of 17.8% across Alberta. And after having heard that other dealers have rallied slightly, he believes Weidner Motors has lagged in comparison. He almost doesn’t need to say as much. On a sunny summer Friday, the showroom and lot are largely bereft of customers, the service bays nearly empty.
“I guess the fact that it happened once makes you concerned,” he says of the dealer closures, echoing Hatch. “It could happen down the road again.”
If you press him on what he’d do if it did, ask if he’d finally retire, Weidner’s thoughts turn to his car collection. There’s always body or engine work to do – something he says his dad was better at, but he’s capable. And there are auctions to attend for new acquisitions or to sell a duplicate. But he’s not ready for that yet. As Paradee says, Weidner’s an old car dealer. So he, along with his brother Robert, will conduct business just as they did once the recession hit, during the boom and through the bust before it.
“All that I can think that we’re going to do is concentrate on what we know best,” he says, “and that’s to try to provide good service and sell the product.” And stay optimistic in the face of an uncertain future.
“Overall, we’re going to come through it.”
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