They can and during the bankruptcy they did, including in the massacre many who should not have gone down.
Decades ago Buick decided to take away the Grimaldi Buick Franchise in Pontiac, Michigan and succeeded. I do not blame GM, Tony Grimaldi played a hard game and GM decided they did not need to participate and after many years GM won but the family remains in the car selling business, so who won and who lost?
Then I look at Cauley Chevrolet in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, who lost their franchise during the bankruptcy because they were also Cauley Ferrari. They are still one of the eighteen Ferrari dealers in North America, but can no longer retail sell Camaros or Corvettes . You explain it because I can't.
So GM can and has, and a I stated some of their targets likely merited the attention. This is why talk of what GM can do and does do in relation to their franchisees yanks my chain because it seems to me, an observer on the outside looking in, that these actions can be arbitrary and somewhat capricious.
Another Laborsmith rant on the system and its shortcomings!
Laborsmith