Friday was a tough day at Merle Snider Motors in Winfield.
The dealership learned it was one of 1,100 ? out of about 6,000 General Motors dealerships nationwide ? to be notified that its contract with GM would not be renewed in the fall of 2010.
The news puts the 25-year-old dealership’s future up in the air.
"It’s tough, and you feel frustrated. Last month was our 25th anniversary, and this month we get terminated," Rick Snider, the company’s general manager, told the Los Angeles Times Friday. "Things have been slow here for the last six months, and got worse, so we’ve roughly seen it coming. We’re a small rural dealer and a service-oriented operation, and we’re not going to sell that many cars in a year."
Friday’s notice gives the dealership about a year and half ? or until October 2010 ? to determine how the company will continue to operate. Affected dealerships will have the opportunity to appeal the closure decisions.
Cowley County’s Chrysler dealerships were spared from cuts Chrysler made on Thursday but a dealership in Wellington will lose its Chrysler contract.
