It´s been over a month since General Motors announced its decision to stop selling vehicles in the Indian market by the end of this year. As a result, their dealers in India have now begun a protest at Jantar-Mantar in New Delhi. The agitated dealers claim that the automaker's exit from India is "a planned conspiracy".
Of the140 showrooms established all over India, a total of 96 GM dealers have expressed their displeasure at the company’s offer to compensate five per cent of the total investments made.
The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex body of automobile dealers in the country, has acquired permission from the authorities concerned to stage a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar, said John Paul Kuttukaran, the president of FADA.
Also, the dealers plan to suspend the service support of General Motors as the manufacturer has put clauses and targets which compel the dealers to obtain the existing vehicle stock left at GM's manufacturing facility in Talegaon, in order to be eligible for compensation.
"Customers are demanding hefty discounts on the cars at the moment and GM India is only thinking about liquidating its own inventories. It has given us a deadline of July 15 to sign up to pick up more cars, so as to be eligible for the losses on our existing stocks. With no major demand for Chevrolet cars in the market, there is again a huge risk of investing more into this dead stock,” said a dealer on condition of anonymity.
The dealers made their concerns public while at the protest in New Delhi. They are now mulling over adopting non-cooperation measures, to cease service support and go on an indefinite strike to draw the company's attention towards the dealer’s demands.
