01-22-2010, 02:36 PM
Big Island Chevrolet was opened by Saturn of Honolulu as a courtesy to GM and was originally only to be operated by them for 90 days until GM found a suitable dealership to reopen both the Hilo and Kona stores. B.I. Chevrolet operated from late June 2009 until mid-November - at a loss and GM would not help out on this.
GM screwed over B.I. Chevrolet by not allowing them to have the proper BAC code (GM term) which would have allowed them to have quick reimbursement and direct shipment of parts. Parts had to be shipped first to Oahu, then re-shipped to the Hilo location. This added days/weeks to parts deliveries and the reimbursement delays added to the monetary issues. This same issue will be the bane of Big Island Toyota due to the bureaucracy within GM.
GM still owns the lease on both of the old locations...according to my source.
GM promised (in late October) that there were two interested dealer groups that they were interviewing. One was from the East Coast and one from the West Coast. They also said that whichever dealer group got the franchise would have to agree to open both the Hilo and Kona locations for parts, sales and service. They could not confirm when an actual deal would be reached.
GM screwed over B.I. Chevrolet by not allowing them to have the proper BAC code (GM term) which would have allowed them to have quick reimbursement and direct shipment of parts. Parts had to be shipped first to Oahu, then re-shipped to the Hilo location. This added days/weeks to parts deliveries and the reimbursement delays added to the monetary issues. This same issue will be the bane of Big Island Toyota due to the bureaucracy within GM.
GM still owns the lease on both of the old locations...according to my source.
GM promised (in late October) that there were two interested dealer groups that they were interviewing. One was from the East Coast and one from the West Coast. They also said that whichever dealer group got the franchise would have to agree to open both the Hilo and Kona locations for parts, sales and service. They could not confirm when an actual deal would be reached.