Pure economics...Too many dealers = too much price leverage = lower profits.
GM released numbers with the news and said 49% of current dealer network accounts for 97% of profits....so theoretically they can eliminate 51% of the dealers who COST money rather than MAKE it. One can only hope that closure decisions are made with better insight than marketing ones
And no threats are required...dealers sign yearly license agreements and GM just will not offer another when one expires. GM is using the threat of bankruptcy to leverage the dealers, because if they do reorganize the judges will wipe out the contracts NOW...ala Chrysler. Sad to say, but the current political structure sees the business owner as the bad guys...not the bankers and 'financial experts'. Anybody heard of any bank ceo's being pushed out the way Rick Wagonner was???? Too much $ being donated BY the REAL badguys to hold them accountable. Good explanation of this can be found on YouTube...search for a clip from Bill Moyer's PBS show with a fellow named Black who used to be a regulator during the last meltdown (S&L crisis).