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As GM struggles, DeKalb dealerships’ outlook remains unclear
by Jonathan Cribbs
jonathan@dekalbchamp.com
The fate of DeKalb County’s five General Motors auto dealerships was unclear last week as the venerable Midwestern company struggles to stay afloat in a recessionary economy.
One county dealership, Superior Chevrolet on Covington Highway in Decatur, made the cut, dealership officials said. GM is keeping the fate of the county’s – and many of the nation’s – other dealerships secret, said Susan Garontakos, a GM spokeswoman.
“We’re keeping it confidential because we want them to wind down as they see fit,” she said.
Superior Chevrolet officials declined to discuss in detail why they were chosen to remain open. The dealership opened in 1968 and remains profitable, said John Wayle, the dealership’s finance manager.
“We’re still doing good. We’re still making money. The service business has been way up,” he said. “The dealers that are left are going to do much better than before.”
Jim Ellis, owner of Jim Ellis Saab of Atlanta, Jim Ellis Pontiac Buick GMC and Jim Ellis Chevrolet, all on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, did not return calls for comment.
It was unclear whether the fifth dealership, Saturn of Decatur on Orion Drive, would close. GM announced on June 5 it struck a deal to sell Saturn to Penske Automotive Group, the second-largest auto dealership in the United States. GM claims the tentative deal, which is expected to be completed by September, will save 300 Saturn dealerships nationwide and 13,000 jobs. The announcement came shortly after GM agreed to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese company.
GM is also looking to sell its Saab brand and is considering tossing off Pontiac to focus on its Chevy, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands.
The dealerships closures were met with significant resistance in Washington. Government-led bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler are drawing opposition in Congress, where bailout-weary lawmakers want explanations for the billions more in federal aid and the planned shuttering of hundreds of car dealerships.
Chrysler has identified 789 dealerships it plans to close by June 9, about a quarter of the company’s network. GM told 1,100 dealerships it does not plan to renew their franchise agreements and expects to shed an additional 900 dealerships through attrition or sales of brands like Saab and Hummer. By 2010, it hopes to reduce its 6,000 dealers to about 3,600, according to a company statement.
Regardless, the announcement was particularly somber in Doraville. GM shut down a plant there last year that employed more than 3,000 workers in a town with a population of 9,800, Mayor Ray Jenkins said. Jenkins, 78, said he remembered when the plant opened inside what he called “a small, sleepy town” in 1947. The plant completely reshaped and defined the town for the roughly six decades it was open.
“It was nice. It brought the economy up. It gave us grocery stores and clothing stores and stuff like that that we didn’t have before,” Jenkins said. “I just learned what ‘economy’ means. … People could afford to have nice homes, nice cars and clothing.”
The company’s plant there has not been sold, Jenkins said, and he said he hopes to redevelop it into a mixed-use retail development.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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