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

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The industry group said a surve of its members found that 109 of the 149 GM dealerzs in the state will either lose a particular GM be forced to drop some competinb manufacturer brands in theirGM stores, or lose their stores altogether. The number of outright shutdowns has amonth ago, GM indicatesd that 30 dealers would After the giant automaker’s plungse into bankruptcy June 1, roughly 3,60 0 dealers nationwide received new sales The owners of about 1,350 other dealerships were notifief that they needed to wind down as GM That’s in addition to the 1,10 0 that received similar messages last montyh as part of GM’z restructuring, which involves keeping only top dealers and brands.
The new agreementsx also may require surviving dealers to upgradetheid facilities. And there may not be very much dealerss can doabout it, . (subscriptiobn required). GM expects the closings to stargt this year and wrap up by the fallof 2010. In a preses release Friday, Scott Lambert, executiver vice president of the Minnesota Auto Dealers criticized GM’s decision to have dealerss sign new sales agreements with the manufacturer. “Besides the tragic and inexplicable shutdown of profitable GM seems determined to use bankruptc as an opportunity to shakeup everybody’s he said.
“It appears to us that every Pontiac dealeer in the state was informed that Pontiac as a brands will ceaseto “In addition, GM is eliminating many Cadillax dealerships. We believe they plan to reassign some of these franchises which would be in violationb of state law regulatingfranchisde agreements.” Lambert also blasted GM’s decisionsd to close so many stores, even some that are turninvg a profit. “This company is lost right now.
I just don’t understancd how you sell more cars withfewer outlets,” he Susan Garontakos, a spokeswoman for the automaker, declined to comment on the tradd association’s press release because she said the information about what was closingy was confidential and because its such an emotional time for all of the partiez involved. She said the companyh selected which dealerships to close after a careful analysizs that beganin April. “The reality is we don’t have enouguh customers buying vehicles and we have a lot of outlets that are in place to suppory a muchlarger market.
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