Another Southern California Cadillac dealer miffed at GM

RE your August, 2000 edition's story headlined, "Cadillac dealer says two's a crowd in San Bernardino County, CA."

My family has owned Cadillac dealerships in Southern California for over 62 years, and I am the third-generation dealer. We operate two exclusives: Crestview Cadillac in West Covina and Bewley Allen Cadillac in Alhambra.

Surviving as a Cadillac exclusive is very difficult indeed. The closed store named in your article, Claremont Cadillac, was located in Claremont, about 10 miles east of West Covina, and I want you to know the dealership in West Covina is still alive!

I sympathize with dealer Jack F. Kennedy III's frustration with General Motors: Why add an-other Cadillac dealership in Southern California now, especially when Cadillac sales and distribution are suffering? I thought GM wanted big, exclusive Cadillac dealerships and not that many of them. According to GM's own data, exclusive dealers do a much better job in customer satisfaction. Obviously things changed during the reorganization. The "new" GM is bringing supermarket mentality to automotive retailing, and, in the process, has damaged their brand equity.

The exclusive dealer has one focus, and you only need to look at the success of Cadillac's competition: How many Dodge-Mercedes duals are there?