Both Chrysler and General Motors have been relentless in their quest to shed dealers, citing their sprawling retail networks as hurdles in their quest to compete with smaller foreign car companies. Proving that GM is serious in its bid to downsize, the automaker will shed its last downtown Detroit Cadillac dealer.
The Dalgleish Cadillac dealership was founded by Charles Dalgleish in 1954, and moved to its current location a few blocks from GM's former headquarters, the General Motors Building (which, ironically, was renamed Cadillac Place after GM abandoned the building for its current world headquarters, the Renaissance Center), in 1964. Despite the dealership's 55 years with GM, the automaker has decided to close it.
Charles' son, 80-year-old Doug Dalgleish, derides GM for the manner in which he was informed his dealership would have to close. In June, he received a letter notifying him that the dealership must close by September 2010.
"GM didn't exactly go about this in a classy way," he said. "They didn't even have the guts to sign anyone's name." Dalgleish said the letter was signed simply "General Motors Corporation."
Doug's son, Keith, who has worked at the dealership for 37 years, says the family isn't prepared to give up without a fight.
"We haven't completely given up hope yet," Keith says. "We'll see this through to the end."
The Dalgleish family says their dealership doesn't meet any of GM's criteria for closure. According to Keith, the Dalgleish store survived GM's first round of cuts by meeting the automaker's targets for customer service and sales effectiveness, but found itself on a list of 250 additional stores slate for closure anyway.
"We were head and shoulders above most other dealers and met all of GM's criteria," he said. "We have appealed but we received an unsigned response telling us we were rejected."
GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos told said that she could not comment on individual dealership closings, but said the second round of cuts were not based on the same criteria as the first.
"They could be in the wrong market, or they could be in a market that is saturated with dealers," she said.
Source: Reuters