General Motors is launching a $60,000 radio and print ad campaign against a bill aimed at helping Colorado dealerships terminated by GM and Chrysler Group.
The bill would require automakers to reimburse the dealers for upgrades they were required to make in the past five years. Some upgrades cost millions of dollars.
The dealers also would get a right of first refusal if the manufacturers later award another franchise nearby.
GM said the Colorado bill bypasses an arbitration process approved by Congress and will tie its hands as it works to become profitable and repay billions of dollars in government loans as planned in June.
“This legislation threatens our ability to essentially run our business at the retail level,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said.
The Colorado House has passed the state bill involving dealerships, and the Senate is considering it.
GM also is keeping tabs on legislation in Virginia, Ohio and Massachusetts tied to plans to end franchise agreements. So far, ads are planned only in Colorado and Massachusetts.
The ads to begin today in Colorado say the bill’s requirement for reimbursement of upgrades doesn’t account for depreciation and that the clause on right of first refusal would apply even to poorly performing dealerships.
Fourth-generation dealership owner Elizabeth Daniels, who sells Chevrolets in Colorado Springs, said the ads wouldn’t be well-received.
“If GM took money from taxpayers, they better be spending it wisely to do their housekeeping and get their ducks in a row and not worry about the likes of Colorado dealers wanting a fair deal,” she said. “This is money poorly spent.”
Colorado Automobile Dealers Association president Tim Jackson said 25 GM dealers in Colorado are slated to be cut off. Daniels is among dealers who are appealing.
