[Shotimes] cutting vent holes in the header panel

[Jim Heaton]

Ron,

I am not sure about Visteon and Deplhi getting
employee discounts, they may still.

Even more than what you stated, though, Ford can pass
their employee discount on to anyone the want, and GM
has cupons for this they have issuesd and then
extended. There is also the effect of mandated vehicle
purchase or lease. For example I have to have a
current or past model year GM vehicle in my name at
all times. A buddy of mine at Ford gets additional
incentives on top of employee discounts for his
company vehicle that he has to have every other year.
There are a lot more people this applies to than you
might think due to the large number of white collar
workers in the area.

Since there are so many plants in Michigan (GM has at
least 10 vehicle, powertrain and stamping plants in SE
Michigan alone), there are far more cars sold ver
capita (because of discount), cheap late model
American used cars, and percentage of American cars
than any other region this size.

I have seen a similar micro effect where a large
vehicle plant exists in a smaller town and employs 50%
of the local work force - same idea on a much smaller
scale and with a far shorter list of vehicles.

------
you really aren't familiar with the Detroit area,
there is 
no
other car market like it in the country.

I have had the comment from MANY people personally
over the years, and 
it
has also been written in the press. The Detroit area
has a rather low
percentage of foreign cars versus much of the country.

It isn't just the direct Ford-GM-DC employees (of
which there are more 
here
than anywhere). It is also any of their direct family
members, as well 
as
in-laws, that can get A & B-Plan cars. And all of the
retirees (hourly 
&
salary) and their immediate families!! Then, there are
all of the 
suppliers.
Tier Suppliers have the "X" plan deal to also get cars
more cheaply. 
IIRC,
Delphi and Visteon have the same deal as regular Big 3
employees (Jim
Heaton...true??). Hell, since my dad is a GM retiree,
I'm eligible to 
buy GM
cars on the A plan (if they had something I wanted),
and if my company 
gets
some business with Ford again (we were a different
corporate entity 
when we
did work for FMCC a few years ago), I will be eligible
to buy Ford 
products.

This isn't stuff that I make up, this has been the
case here for ages. 
Even
in the local Ad sections of the papers, there are
deals pitched 
directly at
the "Plan" car buyers, since there are SO many people
that qualify.

It is not like a city that has a plant or two, this is
a much larger 
scale.
I was even surprised in Louisville, with a metro area
of 1 million or 
so,
how many Ford vehicles are around. Again, when you
take into account 
company
exec cars, company pool cars, and all the people who
are eligible for 
deals
as employees, family members, or suppliers, it is
quite surprising.

I have lived in other places, and the car market
around here is NOT a
reflection of the rest of the country. Probably a part
of the reason 
the L/M
set up the design studio on the west coast, and why
Detroit has been 
accused
of not being tuned in to what is happening in the car
market across the
country.

Ron Porter 



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