According to the agreement, GM has agreed to meet with each of the 4,100 dealers in the first quarter of 2010 and discuss objectives set for each and every one of them. The objectives will be, as Mark LaNeve, GM's sales chief told the source, reasonable.
For the dealers who also have departments for manufacturers other than GM, the company will try to find ways to end the dualing. GM has also agreed that if it will add dealerships to a market outside of a store's six-mile radius, dealers will have the right to protest.
"We're not looking for bankruptcy law to usurp state franchise laws. We know we'll emerge from this and we'll be compliant with state franchise laws. We're looking for flexibility during this period of our restructuring," LaNeve was quoted as saying.
For those who missed out on the story, the signing of the new Participation Letter Agreement does not mean GM will forgo its initial plan to reduce the number of dealers to at most 3,800. Even if, for now, 4,100 dealerships will survive, no less than 1,380 of dealerships have been given wind-down agreements.
GM expect 95 percent of both wind-down and participation agreements to be signed by Friday. The final deadline is set for Monday, June 15. So far, 88 percent of those to stay and 74 percent of those to be terminated have come to terms with their future.
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