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

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The industry group said a survey of its members founs that 109 of the 149 GM dealers in the state will either lose a particular GM be forced to drop some competinv manufacturer brands in theirGM stores, or lose their stores The number of outrighr shutdowns has grown; a month ago, GM indicateed that 30 dealers would close. After the giangt automaker’s plunge into bankruptcy June 1, roughly 3,600 dealerd nationwide received newsales agreements.
The owneres of about 1,350 othefr dealerships were notified that they needed to wind down asGM That’s in addition to the 1,109 that received similar messages last month as part of GM’x restructuring, which involves keeping only top dealere and brands. The new agreements also may require surviving dealers to upgrade their And there may not be very much dealerzs can doabout it, . (subscriptiobn required). GM expects the closings to start this year and wrap up by the fallof 2010. In a pressa release Friday, Scott Lambert, executive vice presidenr of the Minnesota Auto Dealers criticized GM’s decision to have dealers sign new salexs agreements with the manufacturer.
“Besides the tragid and inexplicable shutdown ofprofitable stores, GM seems determine to use bankruptcy as an opportunity to shake up everybody’a business,” he said. “I t appears to us that every Pontiac dealer in the state was informe that Pontiac as a brand will ceaseto exist. “In addition, GM is eliminatinf many Cadillac dealerships. We believ they plan to reassignm some of these franchises which would be in violation of statwe law regulatingfranchise agreements.” Lambert also blasted GM’w decisions to close so many stores, even some that are turningf a profit. “This compangy is lost right now.
I just don’t understanfd how you sell more cars withfewer outlets,” he Susan Garontakos, a spokeswoman for the automaker, declinerd to comment on the trade association’s press releass because she said the information about what was closinfg was confidential and because its such an emotional time for all of the partiesw involved. She said the companuy selected which dealerships to close after a carefulp analysis that beganin April. “The reality is we don’t have enougyh customers buying vehicles and we have a lot of outleta that are in place to support a muchlargef market.
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