GM Ignores Dealer Protests Over Ad Plan

General Motors on Jan. 1 will start implementation of a plan to reorganize its advertising, marketing, sales and service structure, despite pleas from its dealers to change course.
A group of GM dealers had placed a full-page ad in two Detroit dailies last week urging the company to reconsider. The automaker’s plan divides the country into five regions, each of which will oversee local marketing for all of GM’s lines. That replaces the current structure with dozens of small dealer co-ops for each GM division.