Re: Comments on 156

["Scott Johnson" <scott@mail.nami.org>]

Breach of contract mostly. It is my understanding that most state's laws regarding
car dealership licenses heavily favor the dealer over the manufacturer. It's been so
blasted long since I read the articles my opinion is based on, I can't give you much
more specifics than that. If you are a lawyer who deals with state contract law, or
know someone who is, perhaps you would know better than I. You also may be able to
get to the actual articles I read by searching:

Magazine articles in Road & Track, Motor Trend, or Car and Driver between 1982-1986
dealing with Renault's failure in the US. Be sure to include editorials in said
magazines.

Maybe the magazines were wrong. But I do remember reading about this in the car
magazines of the time, because I was doing research into how litiginous (sp?) our
society had become in the 80s. Also, even if the laws don't favor the dealer THAT
much, always remember how seriously european car manufacturers take lawsuits here in
the US. Another article, this time I believe in Road and Track somewhere around 1988,
mentioned that German manufacturers did not introduce ABS to the US for many years
because they were afraid they would be sued for making cars that stopped TO WELL.

Scott Johnson
Alfa Spider FAQ Author

Colin Verrilli wrote:
> 
> "Scott Johnson" <scott@mail.nami.org> writes:
> > Fiat couldn't
> > even *try* to do it "right" by starting their own dealer network now, since every
> > Chrysler dealership in the country would hop on a class action suite that could take
> > years and cost millions.
> 
> Please explain this. What claims do they have?
> 
> --
> Colin Verrilli     Raleigh, NC     verrilli@vnet.ibm.com
> '84 GTV6        '87 Milano Gold         '94 164LS Auto
> Mid-Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club (MAARC) Treasurer
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