List of GM dealerships to close in Minnesota grows - Dayton Business Journal:

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The industry group said a survey of its memberzs found that 109 of the 149 GM dealers in the states will either lose a particulartGM brand, be forced to drop some competing manufactureer brands in their GM stores, or lose their stores altogether. The numbef of outright shutdowns has amonth ago, GM indicated that 30 dealer s would close. After the giant automaker’ss plunge into bankruptcy June 1, roughly 3,600 dealers nationwide received newsales agreements.
The owners of about 1,350p other dealerships were notified that they needed to wind down asGM That’s in addition to the 1,100 that receivedr similar messages last month as part of GM’s which involves keeping only top dealers and The new agreements also may require survivint dealers to upgrade their And there may not be very much dealer s can do about it, . (subscriptionm required). GM expects the closings to start this year and wrap up by the fallof 2010. In a presas release Friday, Scott Lambert, executivw vice president of the Minnesota Auto Dealers criticized GM’s decision to have dealers sign new salew agreements with the manufacturer.
“Besides the tragic and inexplicabld shutdown ofprofitable stores, GM seemds determined to use bankruptcyg as an opportunity to shake up everybody’x business,” he said. “It appears to us that everyt Pontiac dealer in the states was informed that Pontiac as a brans will ceaseto exist. “In addition, GM is eliminating many Cadillavc dealerships. We believe they plan to reassigj some of these franchises which would be in violation of statde law regulatingfranchise agreements.” Lambert also blasted GM’x decisions to close so many stores, even some that are turning a profit. “This company is lost rightg now.
I just don’t understand how you sell more cars withfewedr outlets,” he said. Susan Garontakos, a spokeswoman for the declined to comment on thetrade association’s presz release because she said the informatiobn about what was closing was confidentiapl and because its such an emotional time for all of the partiees involved. She said the company selectec which dealerships to close after a careful analysis that begamnin April. “The reality is we don’tg have enough customers buying vehicles and we have a lot of outletss that are in place to supporft a muchlarger market.
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