GM to force more than 1,000 dealers to close

[madmom]

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. says it will force 1,000 to 1,200 underperforming dealerships to close their doors as the automaker tries to thin dealer ranks to make the remaining outlets stronger.

Dealers were told of the move in a video conference Tuesday.

In addition, the company expects to lose 500 Hummer and Saturn dealers when the brands close or are sold, and it expects 400 dealers to close voluntarily. Another 500 would be consolidated into other dealers.

A dealer who watched the conference told The Associated Press about the changes, and company spokeswoman Susan Garantakos confirmed the numbers.

The company announced Monday it plans to reduce dealerships by 42% from 2008 to 2010, cutting them from 6,246 to 3,605.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights
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This is the entire article.

[endless october]

1. sucks.

hope they don't close the one in my town. our Ford dealer is gone. got several cars there. will miss it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. EFFECTS down stream will NOT be fun

[blue_onyx]

3. When Pontiac closes

the GMC/Pontiac dealer near my house will be down to one brand. Since GM has been trying to put Buick and GMC into one dealer network, I bet they'll try to merge this now only GMC dealer and the Buick dealer in to one. Sad since that means more job losses.

[excess_3]

4. the whole idea of creating different tribes of dealers ...

the whole idea of creating different tribes of dealers
(that are effectively enemies)
is kinda stupid