Another of the big three in Detroit announced its plan to shutdown dealerships. GM sent letters to 1100 dealers nationwide just one day after
Chrysler announced 800 dealership closures.
Arkansas has 89 GM dealerships and many were waiting around Friday for a closure letter. Right now we can only confirm one dealership closure, that's Keeton Motors in Fordyce.
Bale Chevrolet on Chenal did not receive a letter. Still they're watching closely what GM is doing and what it means for the car business in central Arkansas. GM is taking the first steps to cutting 40 percent of its retail network.
"I think the biggest thing is everyone is looking for information and probably the lack of information from GM on what's going on has been harder than anything," Tim Hall with Bale Chevrolet said.
Hall says the west Little Rock dealer did not receive a letter, so it's business as usual, or at least as much as it can be in the current economic environment.
"There's no question the media and the information GM has given has got the public backed down somewhat and maybe a little scared to do business," Hall said.
GM says the cutbacks will make surviving dealers, like Bale, larger and more profitable. "We're as concerned as everybody else. We're more concerned about the industry as a whole," Hall said. An industry that saw a bankrupt Chrysler sever relationships with 8 Arkansas dealers yesterday.
Something Hall hopes GM can avoid and restore some normalcy to the American auto business. "Until everybody gets notified, everything gets cleared up in June. After that maybe we can relax and concentrate on what we do best and that's selling cars," Hall said.
Unlike Chrysler, there is no master list of closing dealers for GM, leaving it to individual dealers to say whether or not they have been asked to close.
So far a dealer in Fordyce has said it received a letter. The Arkansas Automobile Association says they know it's more than one, probably closer to a dozen dealers that received letters today.
Between 400 and 500 of the dealers notified Friday sold less than 35 new cars per year. The 1100 dealers notified make up 7 percent of GM’s overall sales last year. Chrysler said on Thursday its dealerships closings account for 14-percent of its vehicle sales.
