Cadillac franchise returns to Orange

Amid the casualties of the collapsed economy - boarded-up businesses flank Main Street and the board of supervisors faces a barer-than-bare-bones budget this year - there’ one Orange establishment with a little good news to share.

Reynolds Pontiac-Cadillac-GMC-Buick-Subaru managed to survive GM’s restructure last summer, but when the corporate dust settled, the local auto dealer had lost a mainstay of its sales figures. Last June, GM announced the nation’s 1,400 Cadillac franchises would be whittled down to 400.

And Reynolds, GM said then, didn’t make the cut, despite consistently high sales and supportive customer feedback.

But just last week, the Reynolds dealership learned their Cadillac franchise was coming back to town, according to Kevin Reynolds. His business, Reynolds said, is one of 661 which were selected for reinstatement of the luxury cars.

Reynolds said GM’s decision to re-award the franchise came after execs took a second look at dealers’ sales and service figures. That’s something Reynolds speculates decision-makers may not have done during last summer’s restructure.

“They were overzealous in their cuts,“ he explained.

Since that decision was announced last year, Reynolds said he received letter after letter from his regular Cadillac customers. Those folks, some of whom had loyally bought their Caddies from the Reynolds family business for decades, were appalled at the loss of the line locally.

“I have gotten many, many letters from my Cadillac customers expressing dismay and outrage that GM was going to make them go to the big city,“ Reynolds said. “They like shopping where they live and they like dealing with small dealerships.“

Reynolds said he was prepared to bring those letters - along with resolutions supporting a campaign to bring Cadillacs back to Orange from the Orange Town Council, Orange County Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Planning Commission and the Orange County Board of Supervisors - to the American Arbitration Association.

In December, Congress passed legislation appointing the American Arbitration Association to handle the hundreds of claims filed by dealers nationwide who had lost their franchises in GM’s restructure. Reynolds said he was ready to go, letters and resolutions in hand, before he learned his Cadillac franchise had been reinstated.

“We are eager to restore relationships with our dealers and get back to doing what we do best—selling cars and taking care of customers,“ Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, said in a statement. “The arbitration process creates uncertainty in the market.“

District 3 Supervisor Teel Goodwin said the loss of Cadillac franchise in the Town of Orange would have created uncertainty in the local economy. If the luxury auto line were to disappear from the area, jobs and revenues stand to do the same.

“I understood that the franchise was taken away, and that it represented a large portion of their sales. This would be detrimental to a long standing employer and their employees, and further limit the ability of our citizens to shop locally,“ Goodwin said.