The company, in a motion filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, said many of the dealers' sales are too low. Just over 50 percent of the dealers account for about 90 percent of the company's U.S. sales, the motion said.
The move, which the dealers can appeal, is likely to cause devastating affects in cities and towns across the country as thousands of jobs are lost and taxes are not paid.
See the list here. Indiana dealerships on the list include three in Indianapolis: Gene Beltz Shadeland Dodge, Palmer Dodge, and Palmer Dodge West; D. Patrick Inc. and Evansville Chyrsler in Evansville, and 16 dealerships in other cities and towns, including:
Bob Rohrman Motors in Lafayette, Byrne Motors in Princeton, Coyle Dodge in New Albany, Donato and Sons in Logansport, Bob Luegers Motors in Jasper, Gurley-Leep in Mishawaka, Heart City Automotive in Elkhart, Hendrickson Enterprise in Boonville, Isakson Motor Sales in Hobart, Memering Motorplex in Vincennes, Meyer Auto Sales in Monroeville, Sorg South in Warsaw, Southlake Dodge in Merrillville, Thomas Auto Group in Highland, Tomkinson Dodge in Fort Wayne, Trier Ford Lincoln Mercury in Columbia City.
Chrysler dealerships aren't the only ones scheduled to get bad news this week. General Motors Corp. says it is notifying 1,100 dealers that it will not renew their franchise agreements when they expire at the end of September of 2010.
In its motion, Chrysler said it has many dealerships that sell one or two of its brands, with Chrysler-Jeep dealerships competing against Dodge dealers as well as other automakers' stores across the country.
"In addition, as suburbs grew and the modern interstate system continued to evolve, longstanding dealerships no longer were in the best or growing locations," the company said in its filing. "Many rural locations also served a diminishing population of potential consumers. Some dealership facilities became outdated. Other locations faced declining traffic count and declining populations."
Chrysler has received $4 billion in federal loans and has been operating in bankruptcy protection since April 30. Its sales this year are down 46 percent compared with the first four months of last year and it reported a $16.8 billion net loss for 2008.
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