Washington, D.C. – Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) issued the following statement on Chrysler and General Motors Dealership Re-Instatement Plans:
“The plans offered today by Chrysler and General Motors are a step in the right direction, but still fall short of what is needed to help re-instate profitable car dealers and put their employees back to work. Earlier this year, after receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money, Chrysler and GM announced they were terminating more than 3,000 dealerships, many of them profitable small businesses employing thousands of people in communities all across the nation. Their logic didn’t make sense then, and it still doesn’t make sense today. Rather than costing money, profitable car dealers help a manufacturer’s bottom line. In fact, Chrysler’s former CEO Jim Press has acknowledged that terminating car dealerships will hurt, not help that company’s recovery.
“Over the past several months, I have worked closely with Majority Leader Hoyer, Congressmen Kratovil and Maffei, and other Members of Congress to help reinstate profitable dealerships. The House of Representatives, by a wide margin, passed a measure earlier this year to restore terminated dealerships. However, in an effort to find a non-legislative resolution to this matter, we convened talks with the auto dealer groups and the manufacturers. While both sides offered significant concessions, these efforts have fallen short and the measures announced today by the two auto companies don’t go far enough to help get profitable dealers re-instated and their employees back to work.
“I intend to re-double my efforts to enact legislation that will give auto dealers a fair and reasonable opportunity to get back into business, put people back to work, and help pump money back into America’s car companies.”
