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Chrysler LLC wants to close 18 Wisconsin dealerships as part of a nationwide move to eliminate 789 dealerships.
Five of the targeted dealerships are in the Milwaukee area and three are in Madison. The rest are spread throughout the state.
The two of Don Miller’s three Madison area Chrysler facilities are slated to close. They are Chrysler Jeep on Wayne Terrace and Dodge East on East Washington Avenue, WISC-TV reported. The third Madison dealership is Russ Darrow’s.
The dealers can appeal the decision announced by Chrysler in a bankruptcy filing Monday in New York. The company said sales are too slow to justify keeping all the dealers open.
I must say I’m shocked to see Don Miller close, what is going to be left for Chrysler? Lots of jobs lost too!
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GTO Man wrote:
Quote:After reading some articles lately I wonder if GM and Chrysler have the right to close the dealers. They are receiving taxpayer funds, and they are putting taxpayers out of work.I would like to see the top management of the companies fired and bring some experienced car people in, if there are any.
So far they didn’t close dealers, at least in GM’s case, they just aren’t renewing contracts.
And if you think BHO is going to apoint car people. I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale if you are interested.
Every apointment, hiring and decision will be politically motivated.
I feel for Ford now. When they go up the Hill with Lobbyists they will be a one legged man in a ass kicking contest since GM and Chrsyler are technically Government controlled so their lobbyist work for BHO.
I just read that GM has pulled it’s GMC line away from Don Miller on Odana. The GMC truck line was basically all that Don Miller had left to sell at this location, after losing Pontiac earlier this year.
MMRJR wrote:
Quote:I just read that GM has pulled it’s GMC line away from Don Miller on Odana. The GMC truck line was basically all that Don Miller had left to sell at this location, after losing Pontiac earlier this year.Yes, they did. In 2010 when the contract is done so is Don Miller. They took a beating from every way possible. I wonder what they where doing wrong in the eyes of GM to be given the big boot.
circletrack wrote:
Quote:Another dealership in the Madison area was given walking papers today. it’s a sad day!You know, the more I think about that, the more pissed off I get. That place is a staple in Madison to all car people! In my years in the industry, I’ve made a lot of friends who work there, I’ve had a great business-to-business relationship with that company, and it sucks.
Lucky for me, I’ll always have the memories.
Another Madison dealer contacted by GM.
GM sent a letter to Thorstad Chevrolet on Park Start informing the dealership of plans to end the franchise no later than Oct. 31, 2010, according to Tom Thorstad, vice president and general manager of Thorstad Chevrolet.
It is disturbing that these long-term dealers are being treated this way. Of course it seems loyalty has flown out the window in this country, whether on how an employee is treated or a business.
Did this finally hit the news? We’ve known for days now but didn’t want to say anything until it’s public. Obviously this is very sad and upsetting for many of the employees that have worked their for 20-30 years.
They are weighing their options now but appealing and fighting the government is going to be tough.
Many of our friends and fellow car enthusiasts are shocked, Thorstad’s is the only Chevrolet dealership in Madison, their parts department is busy all day long and service has been going strong. Decisions such as this make no sense, let’s hope the problems in this country get figured out soon before we’re all living on the streets!
It was on channel3000.com. Cities across the country are losing allot of their character with many long term businesses bearing the brunt of this recession. I think people in this country need to pull together and frequent the businesses that are in this position.
Circletrack,
I know that this bad news hits close to home for you. I am saddened and concerned for everyone who will get caught up in and be affected by this course of events. I hope that GM will come back economically stronger in the coming months.
October 2010 is still a year and more away, and lots of things will change for the better in that time. Hopefully, the economy will come back stronger soon and GM will be able to restore and bring back some of the dealerships that are now scheduled to be closed.
1. They can appeal GM’s decision all they want, but that company, the old GM, is technically bankrupt. The old GM is out of business and the new GM is taking over. This really sucks-I have a lot of friends who work at Thorstad Chevrolet.
2. I hate to say it Marshall, but you’re not going to see the dealers that have been dismissed re-emerge like business as usual. You may see them survive as used car lots with a service dept, body shop, etc. but they will not stay GM or Chrysler. I saw an ad on TV today for GM and there reinvention of the company, it was very depressing yet very optimistic of the future for the surviving dealerships.
3. With Ballwegs now in Middleton, you may see them capitalize as Madison’s Chevy Dealer. However, GM’s plan is to make dealers a GM store, not a Chevy store or a Cadillac store. They want to be able to offer service and sales of all makes out of the dealers, but the Caddy line will be kept to the metropolitan areas. Jones in Richland Center, Trecek’s in Portage, and Larson in Baraboo all lost there Caddy franchise in the rennovation. Bergstroms is the only local Caddy dealer now, and since they closed the Hummer garage I could see them getting Chevrolet at there store with the demise of Thorstad.
4. The one thing I wonder is who will become the local Medium Duty truck dealer now that Thorstad and Miller are both out the door?
moparkid25 wrote:
Quote:1. They can appeal GM’s decision all they want, but that company, the old GM, is technically bankrupt. The old GM is out of business and the new GM is taking over. This really sucks-I have a lot of friends who work at Thorstad Chevrolet.2. I hate to say it Marshall, but you’re not going to see the dealers that have been dismissed re-emerge like business as usual. You may see them survive as used car lots with a service dept, body shop, etc. but they will not stay GM or Chrysler. I saw an ad on TV today for GM and there reinvention of the company, it was very depressing yet very optimistic of the future for the surviving dealerships.
3. With Ballwegs now in Middleton, you may see them capitalize as Madison’s Chevy Dealer. However, GM’s plan is to make dealers a GM store, not a Chevy store or a Cadillac store. They want to be able to offer service and sales of all makes out of the dealers, but the Caddy line will be kept to the metropolitan areas. Jones in Richland Center, Trecek’s in Portage, and Larson in Baraboo all lost there Caddy franchise in the rennovation. Bergstroms is the only local Caddy dealer now, and since they closed the Hummer garage I could see them getting Chevrolet at there store with the demise of Thorstad.
4. The one thing I wonder is who will become the local Medium Duty truck dealer now that Thorstad and Miller are both out the door?
We talked about this over the weekend at the Power Tour, many were shocked to hear Thorstad’s was closing, thought they would be around for a long time. At this point, they can and are appealing the decision but there isn’t much they can do about it. Part of their demise was not willing to change with the times and update both their location and their appearance over the last few years. Many of the dealerships in the area have remodeled/updated and Thorstad never wanted to spend the money it took to get there. You also need to do what GM tells you to do in order to succeed and on more than one instance that wasn’t done either. Steve has worked their for over 20 years and has many close friends who don’t know what to do next. It’s unfortunate times are so tough and jobs hard to find, I don’t think any of them are letting the grass grow under their feet, they won’t be waiting to see what happens a year from now, if they last that long.
Sad!
Sad indeed. This is just wrong. First, these dealers paid huge money for those franchises and the ones who are told they are not going to be dealers any more aren’t even getting a re-imbursement or some kind of financial remuneration. What we are seeing here people is pure socialism. The government owns part of GM along with the labor union. If anyone thinks this is a good idea, they are nuts or they actually long for a socialist land here. I don’t!
Not saying it is right or wrong. In Thorstads case, I was very surprised. I had assumed a few different dealers in the Madison area would get taken out. This article talks about Chrysler but it could easily cary over.
It has been said for years, long before BHO became President, that the Domestic dealer structure was going to be chopped down in order for the Detroit Three to survive. They didn’t cut down, and it was apart of the problems they had. Even though they are independent dealers owned by the operators, they still get a considerable amount of support from their respective Manufacturers.
Many of these same dealers that are closing are being approached by other Manufacturers to sell their vehicles.
What angers me now, is Chrysler is very close to emerging from Bankrupcy but the damn Supreme Court will screw it all up. Fiat can walk if the deal isn’t hammered out by the 15th of this month.
The only ones who are going to win when all the dust settles is Lawyers, as usual.
GM announced today that it is discontinuing production of its Medium duty truck line – The Chevy Kodiak & GMC Topkick (aka C6500 & 7500). These trucks are built in Flint along with the pickups… July 31 is the last day of production. GM has been trying to sell the MD line for the past four years, but had no luck.
Both Miller and Thorsatd were Medium Duty dealers. I wonder if this move by GM had any play with dealers losing frnachises?
It looks like that played a big part in it. The simple fact of the matter was that dealership networks were simply too bloated. This was a change that was going to happen one way or another.
On the plus side for GM and Chrysler, waiting until they were in bankruptcy court was a financially smart move for them…as it allows them to trim brands and their dealerships without financial backlash.
However, it royally royally screwed the hard working employees at the dealerships. Basically the employees became victims of circumstance due to poor management by the leaders of the 2 companies.
Do I feel sorry for GM or Chrysler…not at all. They set themselves up to fail for the past 20 years.
But I do feel bad for the employees that are now the outcost. This was no fault of theirs.
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