Gilroy Chevrolet Cadillac will remain open despite General
Motors’ notice Friday that it will deny franchise renewals for
1,100 of its 6,200 nationwide dealers.
Gilroy Chevrolet Cadillac will remain open despite General Motors’ notice Friday that it will deny franchise renewals for 1,100 of its 6,200 nationwide dealers.
“We’re in the clear,” Troy Pelzl, general manager of Gilroy Chevrolet Cadillac, said Thursday.
GM’s main criteria for evaluating stores included customer satisfaction, new cars sales numbers and the amount of cash on hand. Since Gilroy Pontiac Buick GMC closed its doors in February, leaving 26 people without a job, and Gilroy Ford Lincoln Mercury closed a week afterward, leaving another 31 employees jobless, Pelzl said the subsequent vacuum has buoyed his American franchise.
“Our sheer location means we’re not facing any problems,” Pelzl said. “We were on pins and needles like everyone else (Friday) morning, but we didn’t receive a FedEx envelope.”
In addition to the 1,100 dealerships on the chopping block, an additional 1,500 Hummer, Saturn and Saab stores faced closures or sales across the country – mostly in urban areas such as San Jose. With a weekly telecast from Detroit, Pelzl said he felt connected to Detroit and had no worries about his immediate future or any layoffs – none of which have occurred at his branch.
The bad news for other Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC and Cadillac dealers came a day after Chrysler fell on Bankruptcy Court to sever 789 of its nearly 3,200 dealer contracts. Chrysler also told 1,200 parts suppliers that it may cancel contracts. All told, the National Automobile Dealers Association reported that 101,000 jobs could evaporate between the GM and Chrysler dealership cuts.
As of April, GM’s U.S. sales were down 45 percent compared to last year, and GM and Chrysler have each said they have more dealers than consumers in an altered marketplace.
Click here to read a story on the earlier closures.
