General Motors announced last year that it planned to shutter 1,350 of its U.S. dealerships, but a new reports indicates about a third of those dealerships will be saved via the company’s arbitration system.
1,160 of those rejected dealers filed arbitration applications with General Motors, with several inside sources indicated more than 580 of those stores will be reinstated as GM dealerships. GM announced the dealership closings prior to its 2009 bankruptcy filing.
GM has yet to confirm the report, but the Detroit automaker has a conference called scheduled for 3pm today that “will give an update on the dealer arbitration process.” The call will be hosted by GM North America President Mark Reuss and marketing head Susan Docherty.
The reinstatement process if expected to become effective immediately, allowing for those dealers to begin ordering new inventory.
Dealers not earmarked to be reinstated will receive official letters detailing the franchise wind down process. The wind down process is expected to be completed by November.
References
1. ‘GM to reinstate more…’ view
