Canada ordering/quota etc.

[deluke]

Originally Posted by RC0310

Just talked to Mike, Sales Manager of Richmond Saturn, and found out the following information..

- there's a total of 7 orders, 2 of which are sold orders (ppl who have put deposit down)
- I'm #2 in line as sold order (in the dealership
- there's 0 allocation for the Redlines for the 2007 Redline

Ricky

Whe the Red Line starts back up I will bet your dealership will get at least one allocation. I don't know for sure but I don't think they know if they can order a Red Line untill the allocation comes in. Sky Spy could give more input here.

[CenterIce]

I thought I would go right to Saturn Canada to "ask" why a Toronto dealer has three Red Lines whereas neither dealer in Vancouver (according to the sales manager at the one where my deposit is) has received an allocation, let alone a delivery.

The first response was pretty formulaic: "..We have based allocation allowance on size of market, in additon to overall Saturn sales, and western Canada has recieved a fair share of the total allocation, as explained to our western retailers. Orders for the Saturn SKY REDLINE are just now starting to "preference," based on retail orders..."

So I fired off a second email commenting on how the definition of "fair" depends on which province you're in. As expected, the response to that one was only slightly less friendly: "...we wish to advise that vehicle allocation is based on a number of factors, as analyzed by sales data received and processed through our internal sales and distribution resources. This internal information is not available to the general public...".

It seems to me that if Toronto is three times the size of Vancouver (although it's only twice the size), then for their three, Vancouver should have had at least one?

My guess is the actual formula is something like :

Red Lines orders available = ((dealer sales / Canada sales) x # of Red Lines available for Canada) * (1/distance from Saturn Canada's head office)

(Am I a crabby whiner or what )

[skybright]

Centre Ice I know how you feel! Remember I waited 19 months for a base and wasn't prepared to wait another year for a Redline even though I would have preferred it. So instead I bought base, added the magnaflow (which added some speed), adding dual air intake which should add some more speed, added a state of the art alarm and for the price of a redline I have everything I could want on my base model. The best part is I get to enjoy it a year ahead of time. And boy am I enjoying her. She is a real head turner and handles incredible. So if anyone asks me if I would rather have waited for a redline, I say no way! I'm having too much fun. The only thing I held out for was the colour. For some reason I couldn't get my head around having a silver one (sorry to all the silver owners, only colour I don't like).

[CenterIce]

I'm glad to hear your so happy with your car although I still haven't crossed paths with you on the Mary Hill yet. We must go to and from work at different times. I did see a graphite Sky last week on Boundary near Lougheed, though. He was waiting to turn in front of me when I was crossing the street. I almost stopped dead in my tracks staring at it so I'm surprised he didn't honk at me. He must be used to it, I guess!

Despite my grumblings, I realize I'm in for a wait and I'm still hanging in there. (It's only been three months, mind you.) It's just very frustrating when I see such extremes in the length of time it takes some people compared to others with no logical reason why. One guy orders on Sept 27th and takes delivery on Oct 17th? There's the waiting list of 34 people in Detroit while other people walk in off the street and find one available in the showroom. Some people have two Skys. It's all over the map. I'd like to be a fly on the wall when they do the allocations (my theory has to do with monkeys and buckets http://www.skyroadster.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8589)

The good thing for me is that I have two vehicles and the Red Line will be a replacement for my '96 Sunfire, which is still running great. I have the same reasons for waiting as long as it takes. I've never ordered a car with the options/colour I want so it will be a really great experience.

(BTW, I don't like the Silver Pearl either, which is what they seem to make a lot of. It must be the default).

[skybright]

CenterIce I get on at Shaugnessy at around 7am but mind you when it rains I take hubbies Vue as I really don't want anything happening to my baby! Hopefully the nice weather comes back.
As for the allocation system it really sucks but not as much as our USA forum owners being able to track their orders and us lowly Canucks not even able to get an order number. That is what I found very frustrating. But like I said in a previous link, it is all worth the wait in the end. But for others that are waiting for a redline and a base comes up in the colour you want try taking it and adding the extras, it works!