Richard Hibbard no longer a Chevy Dealership

[marojoe]

didn't see this one coming...

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_19408470

Hibbard no longer a Chevrolet dealership, but still will sell, service cars

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 11/24/2011 07:58:03 PM PST

Richard Hibbard Chevrolet in Claremont, which has been a Chevy dealership for 30 years, recently ended its relationship with the automaker. (Will Lester/Staff Photographer )



CLAREMONT - Richard Hibbard Chevrolet, which has been a Chevy dealership for 30 years, has ended its relationship with the automaker. "They wanted too many requirements, it was too expensive," said Hibbard in a short interview Wednesday on his property at 191 S. Indian Hill Blvd.
Tom Henderson, spokesman for General Motors, said Hibbard voluntarily ended its relationship with Chevy on Nov. 15.
Despite the parting of ways with Chevy, Hibbard said he was not moving and would eventually rename his dealership Richard Hibbard Auto Center.
The center will sell cars, provide auto service and have a body shop, Hibbard said.
City Manager Jeff Parker said General Motors wanted Hibbard to complete between $1 million and $3 million worth of upgrades to his facility.
"Instead of doing it, he turned it back over to them," Parker said.
Hibbard did not want to make major improvements, Parker said.
"He didn't think it penciled out," Parker said.
Parker said Hibbard wants to sell used and electric vehicles.
Parker said the city "obviously" doesn't like to lose the General Motors brand, which has been around for decades.
"But Hibbard has done just an excellent job," Parker said. "He's a very good businessman."
Parker said the city has made initial contact with General Motors to bring the brand back, potentially to Auto Center Drive.
"We're just in preliminary discussions," Parker said.
Hibbard said before being at the site for 30 years, he had worked at another dealership for 29 years.
"It doesn't mean anything to them," Hibbard said of Chevy's opinion of him. "It's just the new people. All the MBAs (master's of business administration). There's no car people left."
Hibbard said he was in the process of trying to retain another franchise but "it's all in the works. We will be there. We're still there. We have not left town."
According to the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor's website, the commercial/industrial property's recording date was Feb. 17, 1995.
The dealership land is listed at more than $388,000 and improvements are listed at more than $652,000.

[coolman]

This is sad ,but I believe your going to see more of this. GM wants the dealerships to have uniformity and many require major upgrades to comply. My friend is in the process of meeting their demands right now. He's not happy about it ,but he had no choice if he wanted to stay a GM dealer.

[sene]

clearance sale, everything has to go?! I need a trunk lid....

[slick rick]

Yeah, I heard about it too :(

It's where I ordered/bought my R6P 2010 Camaro

[Rockin the BlueSS]

its too bad that ws an awesome dealership. they hosted an awesome camaro meet over a year ago and we had 50 sum camaros in attendance...

[Tom Hagen]

I got laid off from there. I'm over at Infiniti for now.