Of the 240 Canadian dealerships designated for franchise wind-down back in May of 2009, when GM was on the verge of bankruptcy, more than 85 per cent accepted the initial terms, Easton said. "Without that high rate of acceptance, we couldn't have successfully restructured," he said.
The Montreal Gazette
November 23, 2010
Auto dealer going down fighting
GM takes cars. But the St. Laurent landmark is taking the battle to court
Paul Delean
The resurgence of General Motors is bittersweet for management and employees of Parkway Pontiac Buick in St. Laurent.
Eighteen months after it was designated as one of the Canadian GM dealers whose agreement would not be renewed, the moment has arrived for one of the island's oldest auto sellers.
GM reclaimed all the new vehicles on the lot -more than 120 -last week. The computer systems were shut down and Parkway disappeared from GM's website. A crew showed up yesterday to take down the signs but was turned away for lack of a court order.
"As of right now, they are no longer a GM dealership," said Jason Easton, corporate communications manager of GM Canada.
Parkway is taking the battle to the courts.
"There's no good reason to terminate us. We're like a landmark," said vice-president Richard Hoy, whose father Harry started the business almost 60 years ago. "For 15 years, we were No. 1 in Canada, any make or model. No one could believe we were one of the dealers they chose not to retain. Until October, GM even treated us like a retained dealer. Now, they're doing all they can to shut us down."
Parkway is down to about a dozen new cars -all demonstrators -plus a couple of dozen used cars on the lot. The retained dealership next door, Plaza Chevrolet, which actually rents its space from Parkway, got a shipment of new GM vehicles yesterday that included Buicks, Hoy said.
Parkway's service department is still busy because of the annual winter-tire rush, but that ends in mid-December, and there's no way the company will be able to keep all 89 employees on the payroll much longer without new vehicles to sell, Hoy said.
He can't understand why Parkway got picked as one of only two targeted dealerships on the island (the other being Clermont Chevrolet Cadillac, which closed) when it recently spent more than $3 million on renovations at GM's insistence and has such a long and successful history with the brand.
GM, he noted, relented and reinstated some of the 30-plus dealerships that would not sign the initial legal document advising them their dealer agreement would not be renewed beyond Oct. 31, 2010.
Easton said GM's decision was based on several criteria, among them profitability, geographic coverage and projected sales volume.
The fact the Pontiac line - stronger in Canada than the U.S. -has been discontinued also was taken into account.
Of the 240 Canadian dealerships designated for franchise wind-down back in May of 2009, when GM was on the verge of bankruptcy, more than 85 per cent accepted the initial terms, Easton said.
"Without that high rate of acceptance, we couldn't have successfully restructured," he said.
Hoy said Parkway wants to be part of the GM revival.
"We're loyal GM people. We've been GM dealers a long time and we're one of the top-performing dealerships in Montreal.
"They're building great products right now. The Buicks we have now are great vehicles; we're proud to sell them.
"Everything GM is building now is best-in-class. But their handling of the dealer network is the exact opposite.
"Decisions are being made that affect hundreds of lives by people in Oshawa who have never been to Montreal. There's no rhyme or reason to the decision they're making."
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