HOUSTON – A longtime Chevrolet dealership dumped by General Motors last year just received word that it has won its appeal with the embattled automaker.
The announcement means at least 60 employees will keep their jobs at Knapp Chevrolet, located at 815 Houston Ave. The dealership hopes to add dozens more.
"It was kind of like a big weight off your shoulders," said owner Bobby Knapp.
Employees had been in limbo ever since bankruptcy forced General Motors to shed many of its dealerships.
Knapp Chevrolet was among them.
"We do feel betrayed," said Knapp, who appealed the automaker’s decision. "But at the same time, they were in a position, they were about to declare bankruptcy, about to go out of business, and I think they would have done anything."
GM had planned to close the 1,350 dealerships this year in an effort to promote a leaner, more efficient company.
Knapp Chevrolet, which opened in 1939, is one of the few metro-area Chevy dealerships in the country. Knapp said GM officials weren’t confident that it could outperform bigger dealerships in the suburbs with easier access to freeways.
With no new inventory for months, the showroom survived by buying excess vehicles from surrounding GM dealers.
After months of lobbying both locally and in Washington, D.C., Knapp got the news he and his employees had been waiting for.
This past week, GM decided to keep the longtime dealership.
"Probably the best news ever," said Kerry Harrington, an auto parts manager. "Especially for me. I'm 50 years old. I've been doing this for 31 years. So for me, it was very special."
This month, GM posted its first quarterly profit since 2007.
