Newport dealer likely among GM casualties
A General Motors dealer in Newport is among the franchises that the auto company may drop late next year.
Hartley's Auto Mall, which operates a GMC dealership, received a letter this morning stating that its contract with GM could cease in October 2010, owner Steve Hartley told Mainebiz. "As it stands now, no, we probably wouldn't continue," he said, adding that the economic outlook could change over the next year and a half.
The GMC line makes up only about 20% of his business, however, so the loss of that franchise would have minimal impact, Hartley said. A Chrysler franchise represents the remaining 80%, but Hartley's was not among the four Maine dealerships that Chrysler on Thursday notified it would eliminate as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. No layoffs or other significant measures would result from losing the GM franchise, he said. "Although I'm concerned and saddened that we have to go through this, I'm not terribly concerned because I'm still a Chrysler dealer and it's the bulk of my business," Hartley said.
General Motors is notifying about 1,100 dealers today that they may lose their franchises. It does not plan to announce the decisions publicly, unlike Chrysler, which on Thursday released a list of 789 dealers that it plans to eliminate.
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