Fremont dealer gets GM franchise back

FREMONT, Mich. (WOOD) - Freedom car dealership owner Steve Johnson, who was told in June he was losing his Chevrolet franchise, has gotten used to taking phone calls from representatives from General Motors over the past year. Usually, they weren't delivering good news.

Friday was different.

Johnson said he took two calls from GM officials telling him he was getting his Chevrolet franchise back.

"It's a big deal," the Newaygo County dealership owner said of the news. "We were viable before they tried to eliminate us and we'll be viable again."

The Detroit automaker announced Friday it was giving roughly 600 dealerships the chance to get their franchises back. A GM statement called the move "a major step toward its goal of creating lasting, positive relationships with its dealers."

The dealerships are among the roughly 1,100 that had filed reinstatement claims with the American Arbitration Association, according to a GM statement. Those dealers were told they would lose their franchise by October 2010 as part of an effort the automaker said would create a healthier dealership network.

Freedom Chevrolet employed more than 30 people a year ago, Johnson said. Now it's down to 15. The owner said he hopes to bring at least some of those employees back, though it will be a slow process.

"It's going to take some work, it's going to take some time to build back up," he said. "I would think within six or eight months, we'd be where we were six or eight monhts ago."

In the months since Johnson was told he was losing his franchise, would-be customers have gone elsewhere "because we haven't been able to provide them with the vehicles they wanted."

Freedom has not been able to order new cars, said Johnson, who has owned the dealership for 19 years. The lot is down to 16 new vehicles, he said.

The dealership owner expects to receive formal notification by mail early next week, documenting what he called minor steps he needs to take to return to the GM family.

Johnson was on the Internet late Friday afternoon, reading about General Motors' decision to reinstate some dealers, when he took the call.

"I was pretty happy," he said.