Archive for June, 2009
Braley, Hare push back on dealer cuts
The Quad-Cities’ two congressmen have signed on to a bill that would reverse the cuts General Motors and Chrysler are making to their dealer networks.
Reps. Phil Hare, D-Ill., and Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, are co-sponsoring the Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act of 2009. Here’s the bill’s text.
Backers say the dealers are an asset that come at virtually no cost, and that they’re needed to protect the federal government’s investment in the manufacturers. They also say cutting the dealer network will hurt the economy.
“Closing local auto dealerships would have a devastating impact on my constituents,” Hare said today. “These critical small businesses provide thousands of good-paying jobs in my district. Rebuilding the auto industry should be done in tandem with these dealerships, not despite them.”
Braley and Hare also have signed a letter to the White House complaining about the cuts.
Chrysler said last month it would drop two Moline-based dealers from its dealer network, part of a nationwide restructuring plan. So far, no Quad-City area GM dealers have said they were being dropped as part of that company’s paring of its dealer network.
The manufacturers have defended the cuts. GM chief executive Fritz Henderson told a Senate committee last week that dealers cost $1,000 per vehicle in services, advertising and other exenses, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The auto dealers have fought the cuts. In fact, there’s a House subcommittee that’s meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., to get testimony about the cuts. Scheduled to speak is Clinton dealer John McEleney, who is president of the National Automobile Dealers Association.