GM Voluntarily Restores Dealers- TACH Resident Dealer Guru Opines

By Mark Ragsdale
The Auto Channel

GM's decision to restore 580 dealerships outside of arbitration is laudable. I have been very critical of GM in my writing. GM has failed to deliver on virtually every bankruptcy commitment they made: nixed sales of Saturn, Opel, and Hummer, sacrificing planned cash infusions.

Aside from closing Pontiac and shuttering over a thousand dealerships, the company had accomplished little with its $50 billion in taxpayer loans. Skipping out on the National Auto Dealers' Association convention for the first time in 93 years was another poor decision.

However, the completed sale of Saab to Spyker gave a glimpse of a new day rising for GM. Their voluntary reinstatement of these dealerships is another.

More dealerships means more selection for consumers, more price competition for consumers, more convenient service for consumers, and perhaps a greater chance for taxpayers to recover their investment.

www.MarkRagsdale.com Mark is the author of "Car Wreck: How You Got Rear-Ended, Run Over, & Crushed by the U.S. Auto Industry"
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