The dealers were announced of this during a series of meetings with key dealers, including representatives of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Up until now, the dealer "death toll" stands at 200, the number of dealerships closed in the first quarter of the year.
The closure of such a large number of dealers was not officially confirmed by GM, but a company spokesman did confirm GM-dealers meetings (on Tuesday with Fritz Henderson, GM CEO and on Wednesday with the company's sales chief, Mark LaNeve). The spokesman declined to comment on what happened behind the closed doors.
GM is counting on either the demise or sale of two of its brands, Saturn and Hummer. If they get rid of these two "bad GM" assets, the dealerships for the respective brands will follow. The manufacturer can squeeze out nearly half of 1,700 dealerships it plans to close from these two brands alone.
This will mean of course no buy-out for the respective dealers, as well as for those which GM will find to be "under-performers," whose franchises will be terminated by June the 1st. Bankruptcy or not, the dealership closures will happen, the only remaining question being how fast will this happen?
The only way for some of the dealers to survive? Buy Saturn. First steps into fulfilling that goal was already taken by an Oklahoma City based equity firm called Black Oak Partners, which managed to round up a few of Saturn's dealers and even made a proposal last week to GM. GM's answer is yet to come.
Update on April 17th - GM says it won't end franchises
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