How does closing dealerships save money for GM or Chrysler?

I am a little confused. It seems you would want to have dealerships for your product. Any ideas?

Public Comments

1. I think that the dealerships that are closed are the ones who aren't selling enough cars in order to make money than the people that are hired at the dealerships,not to mention the cost of maintaining the building with heat,electricity,water,garbage,and so on...
2. That's a very good question. I don't believe it is well understood by the people making decisions. Dealerships are self-owned organizations, so having a dealership in town A costs the manufacturer nothing. So, if the local dealership is profitable, there really isn't a reason for it to close, but I don't think Washington gets that...
3. With few sales they are kind of cannibalizing each other. Here is the full story: http://spillingbuckets.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-is-chrysler-closing-dealerships-how.html