Synopsis
On June 1, 2009, General Motors declared bankruptcy. The aftermath has been catastrophic for many of those involved in the business of selling cars: the dealers.
GM terminated hundreds of committed and long-standing dealerships, causing losses of millions of dollars. The author uses the term whacked to describe this wholesale destruction of these successful businesses. Hiding behind the shield of the Canadian and United States governments, General Motors as well destroyed the net worth of thousands of workers, investors, and customers in its desire to save itself with taxpayers monies.
The media has given excellent coverage about the downfall of GM. They even have tried to give some opinion as to why it failed. The author has found that most of these explanations were both superficial and simplistic: too many dealers, too many brands, the unions, and the economy. In this book, Dennis Gazarek, a former dealer, carefully analyzes what happened and comes to his own remarkable conclusions.