Chrysler is closing 789 car dealerships effective June 9, and the cuts affecting one Waynesboro-based dealer might not be over yet. Berrang GM/Chrysler will stop carrying Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, and will be awaiting word on the plans of General Motors, which is expected to cut 1,000 to 1,200 of its dealers in advance of a June 1 bankruptcy deadline.
Chrysler’s move, announced today, is also part of a bankruptcy filing. Chrysler LLC is closing 789 of its 3,188 retail outlets in a move a company official described as being essential to the company’s viability.
“With the downsizing of operations after the sale and reduction of plants and production, similar reductions must be made to the size of the dealer body,” Chrysler president Jim Press said today in a statement.
GM has 6,200 retail outlets in the U.S. The company said last month that it was planning to close about 3,600 of those outlets by the end of the year, but the federal government, which has provided emergency financing to both GM and Chrysler in recent months, said that GM’s target was insufficient.
– Story by Chris Graham
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