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April 15, 2005

A Solstice Mess

Although I had once briefly considered it, I was not foolish enough to try to get in on the Pontiac Solstice early order program. Last week I met with a salesman at Kirkland Pontiac... they would have a maximum allocation of 5 cars. But only 1000 early order cars would be made, and over 2000 dealerships were participating in the program.

Still, this seemed like a good deal. You get the car for MSRP, instead of the expected $3-5K additional price that the dealers will tack on. Thanks a lot, dealers.

I figured not that many people were interested in purchasing a car sight unseen. I was wrong. Kirkland Pontiac had SEVEN people who were already interested and in line when I talked to them. This seemed like a bad idea. On average, every dealer is only going to be able to order 1/2 a car. Somebody is going to lose out.

Granted, Kirkland is an affluent area with lots of overly rich and technologically savvy consumers who would already know about the program, and be interested in a fun roadster. Perhaps it had an unusually high level of interest.

So at 11AM today, when the program was starting, I was curious, and logged on to the Solstice forum I frequent for news of the car. Lo and behold, people couldn't even get their orders in. The server was jammed. A lot of frustrated people who had put deposits down months in advance couldn't even get a car. It came down to who had the best internet skills... who was best able to refresh dozens and dozens of times. If your dealer was a moronic idiot without the mental ability of a chimpanzee (and most of them are) then you were out of luck.

In the end, they sold 1000 cars in 42 minutes, and created a waiting list with 2000 people on it! Yikes! The demand for this car is going to be a little scary.

I leave with two thoughts. One, the people at Kirkland Pontiac were real nice. Last time I walked into a dealer I left slamming my hand on a table and shouting at them. These guys weren't pushy or anything... they gave me the info, showed me a DVD, and even gave me a free poster. If I decide to buy a Solstice, I will certainly consider them. On the other hand, it depends on what the dealers are doing in regards to markups. The guy at Kirkland Pontiac said $3-5K, hopefully lower. I understand that this price gouging is out of his control. That's sad, because that's still a lot of money, and he might lose out on a sale because of it. On the other hand, he might be the only guy who can order me a car too.

Second, if they ramp up production to meet demand, my interest in this car will definitely wane. It leaves me, once again, without a car that I have any interest in. But I like unusual cars, as you all know. And the Solstice is unusual, which is why I prefer it to, say, a Miata. The Miata is a GREAT car, but everybody has one. If anything, I would say it is superior to the Solstice, at least technically. But the Solstice speaks to me. I mean, it would just be a blast to drive.

Maybe that will be the ultimate deciding factor. Who cares is everybody else has one. It's just too much fun to care.

UPDATE: There are already 4000 people on the wait list, for a car with a production run of 20,000. So basically I might as well start looking at other cars.

Posted by March at April 15, 2005 06:20 PM

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