Categories

Content Type

Sources

Kicking Tires: GM 4,500 dealers strong; Redesigned spaces help salvage nearly 900 dealerships

By Colin Bird, Cars.com, Source: Cars.com

GM announced it will conclude dealership closures and revamp nearly a third of its dealerships by the end of the year.

Many Chevrolet, Buick-GMC and Cadillac storefronts are receiving substantial upgrades to align them better with each brand's new marketing strategy.

Major renovations include customer workstations with phones and power outlets for laptops, wireless Internet and café areas for coffee and other refreshments.

GM will also include new signs for all storefronts, which feature updated badge emblems and brand artwork.

About 1,000 of the existing dealerships will receive substantial upgrades to their facilities, while another 300 have already completed the task.

Since early 2009, GM has managed to reduce its dealership levels by 25 percent, eliminating or consolidation of 2,064 former dealerships.

Despite the reduction, GM's 4,500-dealership network remains the largest in America. Why is the 4,500 number so intriguing? It's the number of healthy dealers it planned to reduce by 900 during its structured bankruptcy last year. That didn't happen. It has, however, culled nearly 1,100 dealers that were under-performing along with hundreds of dealers of dead or sold brands including Hummer, Pontiac and Saab.

© 2010, Cars.com