A report in The Wall Street Journal tells of hard times for many car dealers, some of whom probably deserve it.
GM alone has 6,426 dealers, the company says. Toyota, with U.S. sales equaling about 85% of GM’s, has just 1,461 dealers.
In seeking federal aid, the Detroit companies promised to close or combine thousands of dealerships. Although the recently approved loans for GM and Chrysler don’t require this, the recession has been lowering the numbers anyway. The dealer association estimates that 900 auto dealers in the U.S. closed in 2008 — 86% of them sellers of domestic makes. It expects about 1,100 more dealerships to close in 2009.