To protest against the American automaker, General Motors Dealers have decided to stop selling the vehicles in India by the year-end. To oppose, 96 dealers who operate 140 showrooms across India will demonstrate at Jantar Mantar tomorrow. This protest is the consequence of company’s decision of offering just around 12 percent of total investments they have made, as compensation.
It would be the first time in the history that automobile dealers have restored to a’dharna’ as a protest. Dealers are anguished by the decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long-standing dealers in the loop, they have been forced to do this.
Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex body of automobile dealers in the country, has received permission from the authorities concerned to stage a peaceful ‘dharna’ at Jantar Mantar. The ‘dharna’ is in order to draw the attention of the ministries concerned to the plight of the dealers and loss of over 15,000 jobs.
The dealers have already decided to explore the possibilities of filing class action suits against the American automaker in the US over inadequate compensation being offered to them. As per the conditions set by General Motors, a dealer who does not accept the offer by July 15, would only get 50 percent of the compensation amount being offered. In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he would not get any compensation at all.
In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for India as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country. On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.