As I've tracked some of the dealership closures across the country I've noticed that Northern California was one of the first areas to get hit and it's been hit the hardest.
Given that data, it's not surprising that we may see one of the first Toyota closing in the country this week in Northern California.
According to news reports, Prospect Motors in Jackson, CA is in the process of being closed down by GMAC. The dealership sells GM, Chrysler and Toyota vehicles. While there's no question that the two domestic franchises added to the dealership's woes, I'm certain that the rent factor associated with the new facility was the bigger challenge.
Here's a link to the news report:
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...NEWS/812240318
Another interesting tidbit from the news report - GMAC acted because the dealer was 16 days late on his mortgage payment and it is rumored that GMAC is in the process of freezing the accounts of six other dealers in the area.
(The fact that GM is slow-paying Incentives while GMAC is closing stores for SOT conditions is unbelievable.)