General Motors Says 'No' to Postponing Dealership Closings

General Motors said Monday it won't halt plans to close hundreds of auto dealers by the end of the month, despite pleas by two members of Congress.

U.S. Reps. Steven LaTourette and House Minority John A. Boehner, both Ohio Republicans, want the Obama administration "to immediately suspend GM closures until a current investigation of dealer terminations is completed," The Detroit News reported.

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GM had about 6,000 franchises when it filed for bankruptcy last year. As part of its restructuring, the Detroit auto giant proposed cutting more than 2,000 dealers. But following arbitration hearings mandated by Congress, GM agreed to restore about 700 of them.

The automaker had about 5,000 active dealers as of Sept. 30, the News reported. GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said the company will have about 4,500 by Nov. 1.

Despite the requests by the congressmen, spokesman Greg Martin said GM isn't going to drop the plans.

"GM has no plans to extend the wind-down agreements' deadlines with dealers," Martin said. "An extension would only divert our collective attention at a critical time and would ignore the independent decisions of arbitrators and individual settlement agreements between GM and its dealers."