GM dealers to suspend services, go on indefinite strike

Unhappy with GM not keeping them apprised of its decision to shut down domestic sales, authorised dealers of GM India plan to suspend service support.

The company has put clauses and targets which bind dealers to procure the existing vehicle stock left at GM's manufacturing facility in Talegaon, Pune, before it goes ahead and compensates them for the discount losses on sale of cars already in dealer stockyards.

According to one of the dealers, "Customers are demanding hefty discounts on the cars at the moment and GM India is only thinking about liquidating its own inventories. It has given us a deadline of July 15 to sign up to pick up more cars, so as to be eligible for the losses on our existing stocks. With no major demand for Chevrolet cars in the market, there is again a huge risk of investing more into this dead stock."

Moreover, the company has devised a standard formula to reimburse the infrastructural investments of the dealers which, after including the large depreciation values in place, amounts to less than 5 percent of the total money at stake, which ranges between Rs 7 crore and Rs 10 crore per dealership.

"We are not a third world country anymore and want to be treated the same way as GM is handling this phase in Europe," said another dealer requesting anonymity. 

After putting across their concerns at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi yesterday, dealers are now contemplating adopting non-cooperation measures and holding up service support to customers across India and go on an indefinite strike to get the company's attention towards their righteous demands.

The dealers also seek intervention of the concerned ministries, including the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The Federation of Automobile Dealers Association is also approaching the Prime Minister's Office to step in to take control of the unlawful approach being adopted by the company.