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Jun 1, 2009 5:56 pm US/Central
Dealers Await Next Move In GM Bankruptcy
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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Dealers like the Valley Group's Jim Paul say they're relieved the process has started. However, Paul hopes the world's largest carmaker emerges bankruptcy quickly and leaving his dealership intact.
CBS
From a large suburban store in Apple Valley to smaller lots in towns like Hutchinson, Hastings and Waconia, the Valley Group of dealerships has a huge stake in what happens to General Motors.
With millions of dollars invested in brick and mortar, and years in the car business, the anxiety felt on the showroom floor is understandable.
"It's in the back of your mind, it's the back of your employees' minds and I think our customers minds. So the sooner they (GM) get through it, the better off we're going to be," said Valley's co-owner Jim Paul.
On Monday in New York, bankruptcy Judge Robert E. Gerber began the process of redefining the icon of American manufacturing, restructuring how GM's cars are made and sold. In the meantime, there's little that dealerships such as Valley can do but watch, wait and worry.
Because Minnesota doesn't have a General Motors assembly plant or a network of manufacturing companies turning out automobile parts, the effects will be felt largely at dealerships.
"This is a devastating effect on communities," says Leonard, Street & Deinard bankruptcy attorney Steven DeRuyter in Minneapolis.
So far, 30 GM dealers across the state have been informed their franchises will end by 2010.
"The impact primarily will be from termination of dealers and that will be in individual communities, by the employees and the tax base," said DeRuyter.
Dealers like the Valley Group's Jim Paul say they're relieved the process has started. However, Paul hopes the world's largest carmaker emerges bankruptcy quickly and leaving his dealership intact.
"We need to see GM come out on the other end just a stronger, more viable corporation. And I think the reorganization should handle those concerns," adds Paul.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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