GMC Dealer Claims GM Starved It Of New Vehicles To Push It Out

The Inventory Battle Nobody Sees

GMC posted a strong sales performance last year, achieving its highest-ever market share, a sales record for the Sierra, and its best Yukon and Yukon XL sales since 2007. However, one GMC dealership in Long Island, New York, is unlikely to be celebrating after filing a lawsuit against General Motors over what it claims is an unfair allocation of new vehicles.

In a report by Automotive News, Sun GMC alleges in its lawsuit that GM “has been wrongfully starving it of inventory to sell, which is causing irreparable harm and damage to Sun’s business and goodwill.” The dealership claims GM has not been allocating enough new vehicles, making it nearly impossible to achieve a satisfactory performance rating, which reportedly requires sales of more than 900 units annually. But the situation appears to get even more cutthroat from there.

More Than A Sales Dispute

Sun GMC claims that GM directed the dealer to source inventory from other Buick and GMC dealers, which allegedly adds about $2,000 per vehicle compared with receiving inventory directly from the manufacturer. The dealership argues that the resulting lack of inventory makes it appear as though the business is struggling, creating what it describes as an “extremely unsettling image” for customers, prospective buyers, and even employees.

The allegedly low scores have had other consequences as well, including preventing dealership president Patrick Cassino from running for the Buick-GMC National Dealer Council and limiting the store's access to certain awards and bonus programs.

According to the complaint, the issue has been ongoing since 2018. Sun GMC says it was allocated 1,200 units in 2017, before that figure fell to 380 in 2023, 426 in 2024, and 501 in 2025. That is despite the dealership selling 420 of the 426 vehicles it received in 2024. Sun GMC, which has been a GMC dealer since 1986, is seeking at least $15 million in compensatory damages.

The Motive Question

As for why GM is allegedly doing this, Sun GMC's attorney, Leonard Bellavia, argues that the automaker wants to effectively terminate the dealership but is unwilling to do so through a formal termination letter. Instead, he claims GM is achieving the same result by cutting off the store's supply of new vehicles.

Such a case is relatively unusual because disputes between automakers and dealerships more often involve manufacturers taking action against dealers over issues such as fraud or customer-related complaints. Bellavia believes this could be the first of many cases in which dealerships take manufacturers to court over what he calls the “mal-distribution” of vehicles.

View the full article