No news is good for one GM dealer

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 16, 2009

NATCHEZ — At least one Natchez General Motors dealer thinks he’s safe from the GM hatchet.

Great River Chevrolet Cadillac GMC General Manager Kenny Jackson said he did not receive a letter Friday notifying him that his franchise would be cut.

The corporation said it would notify 1,100 dealers Friday that franchise agreements would not be renewed.

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“FedEx has come and gone,” Jackson said. “I don’t have one.”

GM did not publish a list of dealerships that would be closing, leaving it up to the dealers to reveal the news.

East Buick Pontiac Mitsubishi General Manager Carl Rogel would not comment on the matter.

Gerry Williams of Williams Motor Company in Ferriday could not be reached for comment Friday.

Jackson said the dealers had no individualized talks with GM regarding Friday’s letters and were in the dark about what would come.

“You don’t know what they are going to do,” Jackson said. “I felt good. We’ve been doing pretty good, and this year we’ve been doing real good. We are profitable and our service is good.”

GM’s dealer cuts are part of the company’s plan announced last month to cut more than 2,600 dealers by 2010. The remaining cuts will come from closed Saturn and Hummer dealers, along with 400 dealers that the company expects will close voluntarily. Another 500 would be consolidated into other dealerships.

At least one Mississippi dealer — in Booneville — said he received a letter.

The GM closures come the day after Chrysler announced cuts. No Miss-Lou Chrysler dealers received notification of closure.