I can't believe how these people manage their (our) business. If our business was in the red every month for the past 30-months, heads would roll, everyone would be aware of what we were doing to fix the problem, or we would be out of business. From what I can tell, this is being treated as an 'oh by the way' message.
To make up for the shortfall, the retail community will increase their fees into this account as well as a larger dollar per vehicle increase (nearly a 40% increase) will be funneled in from now until the debt is paid off. Kindly, Saturn will cover the interest expense and not charge that back to us as well - thank you for looking out for us in these difficult times.
In addition, in the letter it tells us that we are still on track to getting a new in-house system but now the date is January of 2008.
It is so sad to me that we can't seem to get anyone to listen. It is really simple, start making vehicles that people want in quantities that satisfy demand and we will be happy. You can stop focusing your time and attention on my business (like forcing a new set of computer systems and equipment into my stores) and allow me to make those decisions. What we have today works well and you can't beat the price compared to other systems on the open market.
Maybe if we wait long enough, Nissan management will bring some sanity to the table and will save the day for us.
P.S., the letter seems to elude to some payment that is due at the end of the contract with the current system. I have called a good friend of mine at EDS/ADP that is in know on htese things and he advises there is no payment due at the end of the contract. In fact, they send a monthly invoice to Saturn that has remained in essence exactly the same for the past 5-years and they collect their money from Saturn who in turn rebills us. Sounds like a pretty steady and predictable expense model to me.
[This message has been edited by JKcars (edited 07-17-2006).]