GM Retailers Criticize Auto Maker’s Plan to Buy Dealerships

General Motors Corp. announced Tuesday the formation of a subsidiary that will buy GM dealers in an effort to build brand strength and upgrade its distribution network, a move some dealers view with unease.

The world’s largest auto maker said the plans are still evolving, but General Motors Retail Holdings ultimately could own 5% to 10% of GM dealers in the top 130 U.S. markets over the next decade.

“This is a competitive necessity,” Roy Roberts, GM’s head of North American sales and marketing, said. He emphasized that only willing sellers will be approached.

The move comes more than two years after Ford Motor Co. launched its own dealer consolidation program, and eight months after GM’s Saturn unit started a company to buy that brand’s dealers.

Some of GM’s 7,753 U.S. dealers, who have had a rocky relationship with the auto maker over the last year, said GM should stick to building cars and trucks and leave selling to them.