By JON BAKER

MENDON, Mass. — Imperial Chrysler dealership general/sales manager Joe Simon received the United Parcel Service letter first thing Thursday morning. When he opened it and read the contents, he admitted he heaved a sigh of relief.

“It said: ‘We’re pleased to announce that you have been selected to be a part of the new Chrysler Corporation,’” he stated. “I don’t know what the letters (to other dealerships) said.”
On Thursday afternoon, Chrysler LLC filed a motion in US Bankruptcy Court in New York, detailing plans to eliminate about 25 percent of its approximate 3,200 U.S. dealerships (789 in all) by June 9.
Simon noted 12 dealerships in Massachusetts — including Motor Mart Dodge in South Attleboro, Pride Chrysler/Jeep in Seekonk and Tarbox Chrysler/Jeep in Attleboro (the former Anderson Chrysler/Plymouth on Pleasant Street) — would shut down. The same held true for Tarbox Chrysler/Jeep of North Kingstown — the only Rhode Island dealership to close.
But Lauren Andreoni, an employee with Tarbox Chrysler/Jeep in Attleboro, stated, “Tarbox isn’t going anywhere.” When asked if the dealership would attempt to appeal the decision, she added, “Like I said, we’re not going anywhere.”
Simon said that his heart — and those of his workers — go out to the employees of the dealerships that are slated to close, but noted, “We do want to let their customers know that we will extend every courtesy to them. We truly want them to come here and see what it is to be part of the Imperial family.
“I think Chrysler did a very good job of keeping it a secret (from the media) until all dealerships were notified,” he added. “We have over 200 employees, and they all were very relieved. I know a lot of them were worried about it; I wasn’t, because I knew the amount of people that come in here and the amount of business we do. I mean, our sales figures are about 15 percent over last year.”
Simon also explained that Imperial has a new 80,000 square-foot Chrysler store in Mendon (on Route 16); a similar-sized Ford locale on the same site; and is in the process of constructing a new Chevrolet store.
“I know that we not only offer a place to purchase a vehicle, but also a place to have them repaired,” he said. “We just refurbished am old diner from the 1930s, so people can have breakfast, lunch or dinner here, and handle all the rest of their errands as we’re building a strip mall in the same complex. It’s the best of all worlds for someone who, say, wants to get an oil change.”
On the national level, Chrysler Vice Chairman James Press indicated the cuts as tough but necessary, and no appeal process would take place.
“This is a difficult day for us, and not a day anybody can be prepared for,” he told reporters during a conference call, and the AP indicated a hearing has been slated for June 3 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. There, a judge will decide whether to approve Chrysler’s motion. The AP also stated judges often rely on companies in bankruptcy to determine what is in their best business interest, such as the closure of dealerships or cancellation of contracts.
According to the AP, Chrysler executives said the company is trying to preserve its best-performing dealers and eliminate ones with the weakest sales. More than half of the dealerships being eliminated sell less than 100 vehicles per year … and account for 14 percent of U.S. sales. The company is also trying to reduce the number of single-brand dealerships to bring all three Chrysler brands — Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge — under a single roof and wanted to limit competing dealerships.
Chrysler sold an average of 303 vehicles per dealer in 2008, according to its filing. By contrast, Honda Motor Co. sold about 1,200 per dealer, while Toyota … sold nearly 1,300 … Chrysler has received $4 billion in federal loans and has been operating in bankruptcy protection since April 30. Its sales this year are down 46 percent compared with the first four months of last year, and it reported a $16.8 billion net loss in 2008.
George Smith, general manager of Metro Motor Group in Johnston (located at 1667 Hartford Ave.), claimed he received his site’s letter at about 10 a.m., Thursday.
“We pretty much knew we were in,” he said. “Chrysler has a new concept called Genesis, and it’s been around for a while. They want every dealer to have all three franchises — Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge — under one roof. We have all three in the same building, so we met their criteria.”
“Nobody here was really nervous,” he said. “I had a meeting with employees about three days ago, and I told them, ‘You may have heard rumors about Chrysler closing some stores, but I think we’re going to be OK.’ When we got the letter (Thursday), they were happy and relieved. Obviously, nobody wants to lose their job during these tough economic times.”
Smith, who stated he too oversees about 200 employees, noted he expects his business to be in search of new employees, including service technicians and salespeople.
“It’s unfortunate; you don’t want to see any dealers go under, because we’re all in the same business, and we understand what we all have to go through,” he stated. “At the same time, we’re pleased that Chrysler is doing the things necessary to become more efficient. It will be a smaller company; then again, the old adage of ‘the Big 3’ — that is, Chrysler, General Motors and Ford — are gone.
“The key now is to be more diverse,” he added. “You need to have all models available for customers looking for different brands. We’re trying to cover all those bases. We had a real good year in 2008, and — this year — we’re stable, despite the economy. We made a lot of moves in December of 2007, as we saw this (economic) downturn coming, so we made some changes to our infrastructure.”