BELTON, Mo. – General Motors sent a letter of bad news Friday morning to Adams Chevrolet in Belton.
GM plans to downsize to just 3,600 dealerships nationwide, and Adams Chevrolet is not on that list.
At the end of the day, about 40 employees at the Belton dealerships finished their shifts on day one of what they consider to be an 18-month test.
"There's a lot that can happen," said mechanic Kenneth Casper. "We can surprise GM and show them what we can do."
Scott Adams of Adams Chevrolet said FedEx delivered the letter Friday morning, notifying him that GM did no plan to renew his contract in October of 2010.
"It's been hard to sleep for all of us. It's been hard to get up in the morning. Now, at least we have some definitive things we can do," said Adams.
According to the letter, GM made its decision based in part on sales effectiveness and profitability. Part of the letter read, "Based on our review and current and foreseeable market conditions and your dealership's historical performance, we do not see that GM can have a productive business relationship with Adams Chevrolet over the long term."
Adams Chevrolet has been in Belton since the early 90’s.
Friday afternoon, Scott Adams informed his employees of GM's decision. He admitted this is not good news for his dealership, but says he plans to fight for his business.
"Are we happy? No. Would we have rather not gotten the letter? Of course. But 18 months is an eternity in the car business and we'll see what happens," he said.
Adams said his dealership has been affected by the economy along with a customer base affected by military deployments. However, he said it is not "under performing."
According to the letter, the decision is not finalized, so dealerships have a month to submit any information that could affect the decision.
"It was disappointing because I figured this was a close area for me and I would have to drive quite a ways to find another Chevy dealership," said customer Edward Ruth, who was getting his car serviced Friday night.
