Stokes Hodges GM in Thomson received a letter from GM this morning stating the dealership's relationship with GM will end in 2010.
"Our GM store did receive a letter. The letter that I received from GM basically states that during their restructuring they are in the process of cutting their dealer body by about 25 to 30 percent," said Barry Nestor, the chief operating officer of Stokes Hodges Automotive.
The dealership will not be closing, however, he said. If GM follows through with its plans, Stokes Hodges plans to either acquire another franchise or become a used car dealership.
"We have known that something like this was coming," Mr. Nestor said.
The dealership at 1214 Washington Road in Thomson has 21 employees. It sells Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and GMC vehicles, he said.
Stokes Hodges Automotive has dealerships in Augusta, Aiken, Thomson, Savannah and Charleston, S.C.
Two Aiken County General Motors car dealerships were notified today that they are on a list of 1,100 dealerships nationwide that likely won't have their contracts renewed after October 2010.
Duncan Johnson Jr., owner of Johnson Motor Co. of South Carolina, located in Graniteville, said he received a letter today stating that his dealership was on the list. However, he said the letter states "Please understand our planning in this regard is not finalized."
Mr. Johnson said he has hope that could mean his dealership might continue on past 2010.
In the meantime, he said customers can "expect business as usual. As the letter indicated, this is not a final decision. So we're actually working now trying to secure our foothold in Aiken. I certainly hope it will have a GM dealer in town. The population I think warrants it....I expect to do what's best for our customers and whatever that might be. And hopefully we'll continue to be a GM dealer long past 2010."
Johnson Motor Co. of South Carolina employs 23 people, has been open since 2002 and carries Buick, Pontiac and GMC products.
A worker who answered the phone at the Henna Chevrolet Cadillac LLC in Aiken today also said her GM dealership has been notified that it has 18 months to go. A manager for the dealership wasn't in the office at the time.
Meanwhile in Augusta, two local dealerships said this afternoon they have not been told their future GM relationship would change.
"We haven't received anything from GM," said Adam Logemann, the general manager of Gordon Chevrolet. "The confidence you can have being a dealer in Augusta, we're in a market that's not over-dealered. We have a sufficient number of dealers to serve the population."
"I've heard of no one receiving anything," he said.
Master Pontiac Buick GMC has also not received notice that it will be closing, said Russell Reams, the marketing and business development manager.
"We are not one of the dealerships receiving a non-renewal notice," Mr. Reams said.
He said that GM evaluated each dealership on its customer satisfaction, sales effectiveness, capitalization and profitization, and the location and condition of facilities.
"We are well capitalized and profitable, both for year to date 2009, and we were profitable for the full year 2008," Mr. Reams said. "Based on all those factors and our discussions, we knew we were not going to get a letter today."
The changes came today as General Motors notified 1,100 of its 6,200 dealerships nationwide that it would be terminating their contracts with the automaker.
Dealers receiving notice today are being told their contracts will not be renewed in October 2010.
Many of the cuts result from GM's plans to sell or close four of its brands - Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Pontiac.
