MUMBAI : After General Motors (GM) India has abruptly decided to stop the sales of their Chevrolet branded cars, the dealers of GM have decided to hold a peaceful demonstrate at Jantar Mantar today to protest against the Detroit automaker. At present, there are around 140 showrooms across India and provide employment to 15,000 people.
“Never before have automobile dealers resorted to a ‘dharna’ as a method of protest. But anguished by the decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long standing dealers in the loop, we have been forced to do this,” FADA President John Paul Kuttukaran told PTI.
Adding to it, past president of FADA, Nikunj Sanghi said, “We are in talks with General Motors and don’t intend to provide an official letter the government. We plan approach the government once we all the negotiations with GM comes to an end.”
But he added that the dealers through this protest in New Delhi plan to grab the attention of the government. Allahabad-based dealer who did not wish to be quoted said, “We want the government to take notice. We want to point out to the government that a multi-national company comes to India and makes a sudden exit.
The compensation offered by them is very pity.” The company is offering dealers 5-12 per cent on the investment put in by them. If the dealer is old he receives less compensation, a dealer added.
Yet another dealer from Haryana who has been with the company for 13 years as well added that there was a decent demand for Chevrolet cars in its outlet but the company could not meet the demand by customers for new products. In 2015-16, there were around 250 dealers with GM and now it has come down to 100 dealers.
