Friday, May 15, 2009

Bad news for the car industry continues....

First and I am not shocked, was the news from Chrysler and the closing of almost 800 dealerships.

Now comes General Motors (GM) and the closing of about 1,100 dearlerships throughout the United States.

General Motors Corp. is telling 1,100 dealers across the nation their franchises will be shut down next year.

The cuts will come just a day after crosstown rival Chrysler announced it was dropping 789 of its roughly 3,200 dealerships by around June 9. Both companies have too many dealerships for too few sales are slashing costs as they race to restructure.

Dealers around the country had nervously awaited news Friday morning, with some saying they were in the dark about how they would be notified. In Richmond, Va., Royal Chevrolet co-owner Del Mugford was slightly relieved when he sifted through FedEx packages Friday morning and hadn't received any bad news from General Motors. But he knew his future could be determined by a phone call or a piece of mail.

\"This is absolutely nerve wracking. It's like a death sentence. It's the worst feeling in the world," said Mugford, 45, who bought the dealership with his younger brother in 2002 after owning an Oldsmobile franchise down the street. GM closed its Oldsmobile line of cars in 2004.

GM's dealer cuts are part of the company's plan announced last month to cut more than 2,600 dealers by 2010. The remaining cuts will come from closed Saturn and Hummer dealers, along with 400 dealers that the company expects will close voluntarily. Another 500 would be consolidated into other dealerships.

The GM dealer cuts are likely to have a much greater impact than Chrysler's. While many Chrysler dealers also sell other brands and will stay open after losing their franchises, a large number of GM dealers sell only GM vehicles. So if their franchises are revoked, they run a greater risk of closing for good. read more here....

My thing is this, if you have a GM car does it not make it more difficult for service? Another caveat, it makes selling a GM car easier because the competition from other dealerships are not as demanding. At any rate, this is tough all over and expect unemployment rate to shoot through the roof.

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