GM to reinstate Cadillac franchises to Valley

By DON SHILLING

shilling@vindy.com

General Motors is reinstating Cadillac franchises to area dealers.

Officials at Stadium GM Superstore in Salem, Cole Valley Pontiac-Cadillac in Bazetta Township and Columbiana Buick-Cadillac-Chevrolet said General Motors has told them they will receive a letter this week that provides details of the reinstatement.

“It’s great news,” said Mike Hudock, general manager of the Salem dealership.

Customers are on “cloud nine, and it’s our job to keep them that way,” said Rick Sandoval, general manager of the Columbiana dealership.

Dealers are waiting to see what requirements GM will insist on, but they expect to be able to meet them.

Dave Cole, one of the owners of Cole Valley, said the automaker typically has certain criteria that dealers must meet related to the finances and facilities.

The local Cadillac dealers were among the GM dealers who had their franchises terminated last June as the automaker was struggling to restore its financial health with federal assistance.

The original plan called for stripping the Mahoning Valley of its Cadillac dealers, which would have sent local customers to Cleveland or Akron, Cole said.

“This is a very good Cadillac market. It was not good thinking to eliminate all of the dealers in this market,” he said.

GM said Friday that it was restoring franchises to 661 dealers. The automaker said it made the move because it didn’t have time to complete an arbitration process that was open to dealers who were losing franchises.

The local dealers had filed for arbitration.

“We were set to fight it tooth and nail,” Hudock said.

The local dealers had been selling new Cadillacs, but these were cars that had been bought from other dealers. As of this October, they were to stop all sales of new Cadillacs.

Once they are reinstated, however, the local dealers will be able to order cars from the factory.

The Salem and Bazetta dealers have lost their Pontiac franchises, however, because GM has discontinued that brand.

Hudock said losing two brands would have been a big hit for the Salem dealership.

Cole said his dealership will consider adding a franchise from another dealership.