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Thread: New 21 Mirage owner and a car guy shares his thoughts

  1. #11
    Senior Member Dodge Aries K's Avatar
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    Three new Mirages at once? Definitely got me beat haha. Nice. I really like the 2021 redesign.


    -Karl B. No Mirages currently...

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    Quote Originally Posted by allrock View Post
    thats a lot of mirage you got there i bet your sales agent is very lucky to have you as a customer, cant wait to finish my payment to get a manual,..welcome to the forum..
    Actually- I had to talk to the sales manager to assure them I was not purchasing to re-sell them. On a per-car basis, at $4,400 off the $15,565 sticker price- they are loosing thousands. I'm sure the salesperson gets a small $X per each car, or just retires a monthly unit target. The only reason the dealer would sell at the price they did is to hit a monthly store incentive or step target from Mitsubishi. Sell X cars over Y threshold, receive a $Z thousand dollar bonus for the store. Those bonuses can be tens of thousands- so worth loosing money on a small number of cars if you hit the target.

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    Quote Originally Posted by M81 View Post
    Actually- I had to talk to the sales manager to assure them I was not purchasing to re-sell them. On a per-car basis, at $4,400 off the $15,565 sticker price- they are loosing thousands. I'm sure the salesperson gets a small $X per each car, or just retires a monthly unit target. The only reason the dealer would sell at the price they did is to hit a monthly store incentive or step target from Mitsubishi. Sell X cars over Y threshold, receive a $Z thousand dollar bonus for the store. Those bonuses can be tens of thousands- so worth loosing money on a small number of cars if you hit the target.
    When I decided to buy a 2017 Mirage, I called Richard Herod III (general sales manager at the time). Richard never handed me off to one of his sales people. He took care of the deal. The salesman became the guy who delivered my Mirage to my home (4-hours away in SW Wisconsin).

    Richard has become the owner of White Bear Mitsubishi since my purchase. It's my honest opinion, that poor dealerships are the biggest obstacle to Mitsubishi being successful not the product itself. If more dealerships were like White Bear, Mitsubishi would become a more popular brand again.

    Richard has been recently appointed to the Mitsubishi Motors of North American National Advisory Board. I hope he has some impact on that board, because Mitsubishi as a company could really use some work!

    https://www.whitebearmitsubishi.com/...visory%20Board.
    Last edited by Mark; 08-01-2021 at 05:21 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark View Post
    When I decided to buy a 2017 Mirage, I called Richard Herod III (general sales manager at the time). Richard never handed me off to one of his sales people. He took care of the deal. The salesman became the guy who delivered my Mirage to my home (4-hours away in SW Wisconsin).

    Richard has become the owner of White Bear Mitsubishi since my purchase. It's my honest opinion, that poor dealerships are the biggest obstacle to Mitsubishi being successful not the product itself. If more dealerships were like White Bear, Mitsubishi would become a more popular brand again.

    Richard has been recently appointed to the Mitsubishi Motors of North American National Advisory Board. I hope he has some impact on that board, because Mitsubishi as a company could really use some work!

    https://www.whitebearmitsubishi.com/...visory%20Board.
    White Bear Mitsubishi did a very good job, kept their commitments, and followed through taking care of a couple delivery issues. They are further away from me than another Mitsu dealer- but they earned and deserve the service business for the fleet. It also looks like it has been worth it for people on the forum out of state buying their cars from WB. I can't speak for the dealer experiences elsewhere being a cause for low market share- but I can't remember seeing any kind of national advertising campaign for the brand. I think they have a pretty solid line up now- and they look good too. That is also to say, if they do have a national advertising campaign... it missed me or my demographic (52 year old guy with teenage and adult children who still watches network and cable tv).

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    Quote Originally Posted by M81 View Post
    White Bear Mitsubishi did a very good job, kept their commitments, and followed through taking care of a couple delivery issues. They are further away from me than another Mitsu dealer- but they earned and deserve the service business for the fleet. It also looks like it has been worth it for people on the forum out of state buying their cars from WB. I can't speak for the dealer experiences elsewhere being a cause for low market share- but I can't remember seeing any kind of national advertising campaign for the brand. I think they have a pretty solid line up now- and they look good too. That is also to say, if they do have a national advertising campaign... it missed me or my demographic (52 year old guy with teenage and adult children who still watches network and cable tv).
    My local Mitsubishi dealership was so bad that they were eventually shut down & investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle in March/April of 2020. Even COVID couldn't hide the fact that were shut down by the state and being investigated. I am led to believe things were so bad that they had to sell their dealership to someone else & leave the state of Wisconsin. The two former clowns who owned the local Mitsubishi dealership are now back to selling used cars in northern Illinois.

    The local Mitsubishi dealership was by far the worst car dealership I have ever seen in my lifetime (age 58). If they were my only Mitsubishi experience, I would have never bought one. By comparison, White Bear was the complete opposite. I got the deal that I wanted without negotiating or ever visiting the dealership. No money down ahead time, & we did the paperwork on my kitchen table. No surprises or pressure at all!

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    Quote Originally Posted by M81 View Post
    On a per-car basis, at $4,400 off the $15,565 sticker price- they are loosing thousands.
    No way, no how. Perhaps you believe it, I know better. Perhaps they might have explained it to you that way, but they were either a) not telling the truth, or b) not telling the whole story.

    But I won't argue the point. If you believe that, well that's fine. This doesn't mean I think I'm superior ... I certainly do not think that. But I was in the industry, on the inside, saw what goes on behind the curtains.

    I do agree with you about the manual transmissions. All 3 of my sons (21, 18, 16) drive manuals. 2 of them of 6-speed G35 coupes. The 3rd may get the same.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    No way, no how. Perhaps you believe it, I know better. Perhaps they might have explained it to you that way, but they were either a) not telling the truth, or b) not telling the whole story.

    But I won't argue the point. If you believe that, well that's fine. This doesn't mean I think I'm superior ... I certainly do not think that. But I was in the industry, on the inside, saw what goes on behind the curtains.

    I do agree with you about the manual transmissions. All 3 of my sons (21, 18, 16) drive manuals. 2 of them of 6-speed G35 coupes. The 3rd may get the same.
    I think you are a bit off base here?

    If some customers are paying full price ($15,565) for Mirages these day & he got the 3 Mirages for $11,165 each, White Bear did potentially lose thousands of dollars.

    Does that mean WB lost money on the cars? No! They are not paying someone to take new cars off their lot.

    The math seems pretty simple to me ($4,400 discount x 3 =). If these cars can be sold at full prices these days, WB potentially lost $13,200 on the deal. One could almost say, he bought 3 Mirages for the price of two!

    White Bear is very up front & honest with their pricing. How they get too that price can be a mystery, however. In the end, what really matters is the out-the-door price.

    For example, some of the best advertised prices in the past have been in Florida. That means very little, because Florida's OTD prices tend to be extremely high.

    This past April, I could have bought a brand new Mirage ES manual for $9,999 @ White Bear, because WB had some ES manual listed @ $10,999, and Mitsubishi was offering a $1,000 loyalty rebate. I know WB well enough to know, a Mirage could be bought at those prices ($10,999 - $1,000) without doing any negotiating.

    In just a few short months, pricing has changed. That's true of all cars, not just Mirages. Given the current market, he did quite well on his WB purchase. WB currently has a used 2018 ES manual with 46,461 miles on their lot, & the price is $12,011. Even used Mirages are priced quite high these days.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark View Post
    I think you are a bit off base here?

    If some customers are paying full price ($15,565) for Mirages these day & he got the 3 Mirages for $11,165 each, White Bear did potentially lose thousands of dollars.
    Oh, ok. If that is what M81, then YES, I was off base. Because YES, I agree with you as you have explained it. I was thinking that the meaning was that WB was losing thousands on each vehicle, not thousands off the SALE.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    Oh, ok. If that is what M81, then YES, I was off base. Because YES, I agree with you as you have explained it. I was thinking that the meaning was that WB was losing thousands on each vehicle, not thousands off the SALE.
    Interesting debate on the profitability of new cars. As there are countless articles looking at every aspect of this, and since we are all friends here, I’m happy to say that my statements are just my opinion. I do however have a kind-of related story to share.

    In 2017 my son and I went to Detroit to tour the Viper assembly plant. There were about 80 assembly workers building somewhere between 2-3 cars per day. Hand built- the only robot at the factory-checked tolerance on the frame. Keep in mind there were fewer Vipers built for the entire production of 1992-2017 cars than there are Corvettes built in one year. I asked the floor manager who was giving the tour how it was possible for FCA to make any money (already knowing the answer) he laughed and confirmed they never had, but that was not the point. It was to have a Halo car for the brand, to excite and drive people into Dodge dealers to buy a Ram or Charger. The same is also true on the other end of the spectrum (not the Halo part). Cars like the Mirage, and formerly Aveo, Spark, Fiesta, and a few others exist to get people into the brand or even just into the store. They may also exist to help a manufacturer balance out fleet MPG requirements (CAFE standards) so that they can sell a lot more $70,000 pickup trucks. Building a Mirage has all the same basic processes as building an F150. It is my opinion that it costs a whole lot more to keep lights on at the factory and dealer, pay the workforce (even in Taiwan) turn raw materials into a car, put it on ships-trains-and trucks, than for anyone to come out ahead selling it to me for just over eleven thousand dollars, like the Viper example. Dealers make most of their money on service, your trade in, protection plans, and financing- to name a few. I chuckle when I hear people say “I’ll pay cash” at a dealer. That’s the last thing they want. That said, yes- they usually do make money on the new car its self, and they deserve to.

    I’ll end by saying that we want dealers to be profitable- we want them to employ our neighbors and be there when we need them. I’m really happy WB sold me three at the price they did. I hope they got an accelerator on their total month sales to make up for me paying a low price, not buying extra services, and writing a check.

    One more thing- we went to the F150 plant after the Viper plant. I think a truck came off that assembly line every 30 seconds. Those sell for 30 to 80 thousand dollars. That’s were you make money building cars.

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    Quote Originally Posted by M81 View Post
    One more thing- we went to the F150 plant after the Viper plant. I think a truck came off that assembly line every 30 seconds. Those sell for 30 to 80 thousand dollars. That’s were you make money building cars.
    That's also why Ford's current line up of cars is quite thin! Same goes for Chevy & Dodge (RAM).



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