An Athens Chevrolet dealer expects to feel the pinch of the General Motors reorganization but not as much as some other dealerships, an official said.

General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of the Obama administration’s plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size and give a majority ownership stake to the federal government. If successful, GM will emerge as a leaner company with a smaller work force, fewer plants and a trimmed dealership network.

GM’s bankruptcy filing is the fourth-largest in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company. The company said it has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.

Alex Nafe, general sales manager at Champion Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge in Athens, was disappointed by the news but said the local dealership will carry on.

“Champion won’t feel the effects as badly as some dealerships because of our long-term commitment to the community and our huge satisfied customer base,” Nafe said. “We will continue to sell and service Chevrolets for the citizens of Limestone County for many years to come, with the same commitment to customer satisfaction as always.”

The reorganization won’t be easy but it will be an opportunity.

“It presents challenges for everyone associated with it,” Nafe said. “But we have to look at this is a great opportunity for GM to regain its footing in the marketplace and to be a profitable and dominate force in the automobile industry again. With all of the people who depend on GM’s success – retirees, employees, suppliers and dealerships – I would challenge everyone looking to buy a new vehicle to consider a new Chevrolet.”

The local dealership also will maintain sales and service of Chrysler vehicles despite Chrysler LLC filing for Chapter 11 protection in April. A judge gave Chrysler approval to sell most of its assets to Italy’s Fiat, moving the U.S. automaker closer to a quick exit from court protection, possibly this week.

In the case of GM, the plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership. The Canadian government would take 12.5 percent, with the United Auto Workers getting a 17.5 percent share and unsecured bondholders receiving 10 percent. Existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out.

Albert Koch, who helped Kmart Corp. through its Chapter 11 reorganization, will serve as GM’s chief restructuring officer.

Closing 9, idling 3

GM revealed Monday that it will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others.

The Pontiac, Mich., and Wilmington, Del., assembly plants will close this year, while plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Orion, Mich., will shut down production but remain on standby. One of the idled plants will be retooled to build a small car that GM had originally planned to build in China.

Seven powertrain and parts stamping plants will be closed starting in June 2010, while an additional stamping plant will be idled but remain in a standby capacity.

GM’s filing comes 32 days after a Chapter 11 filing by Chrysler, which also was hobbled by plunging sales of cars and trucks as the worst recession since the Great Depression intensified.

The sale to Fiat means Chrysler could be out of bankruptcy within the government’s original timeframe of 30 to 60 days. Chrysler’s plan gives a 55 percent stake of the new company to a union-run trust for retirees. Fiat gets a 20 percent stake to Fiat that can ultimately grow to 35 percent. The U.S. and Canadian governments get smaller pieces.

The third of the one-time Big Three, Ford Motor Co., has also been stung hard by the sales slump, but it avoided bankruptcy by mortgaging all of its assets in 2006 to borrow roughly $25 billion, giving it a financial cushion GM and Chrysler lacked.

GM will move forward with four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — and cut four others. The company plans to cut 21,000 employees, about 34 percent of its work force, and reduce the number of dealers by 2,600. GM said it was finalizing a deal to sell Hummer, and plans for Saturn are expected to be announced within weeks.

“There is still plenty of pain to go around, but I’m confident this is far better than the alternative,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. “It’s a new beginning, it’s a rebirth, it’s a new General Motors.”

GM shares fell as low as 27 cents in Monday morning trading, their lowest price in the company’s 100-year history. The News Corp. unit that oversees the Dow Jones industrial average said GM will be kicked out of the index on June 8 and be replaced by Cisco Systems Inc. The index’s rules prohibit it from including companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

It was an all-out sprint to Monday’s filing, as GM quickly sought to nail down deals with its union, bondholders and sell off brands and along with most of its Opel operations in Europe in an effort to appear in court with a near-complete plan to quickly emerge as a leaner company with a chance to become profitable.

The German government on Sunday agreed to lend GM’s Opel unit $2.1 billion, a move necessary for Magna International Inc. to acquire the company. The Canadian auto parts supplier will take a 20 percent stake in Opel and Russian-owned Sberbank will take a 35 percent, giving the two businesses a majority. GM retains 35 percent of Opel, with the remaining 10 percent going to employees.

In the U.S., the UAW’s ratification of concessions, announced Friday, will save GM $1.3 billion per year. The new deal freezes wages, ends bonuses and eliminates some noncompetitive work rules.

It also moves billions in retiree health care costs off GM’s books. In exchange for its ownership stake, $6.5 billion of interest-bearing preferred shares, and a $2.5 billion note, the trust will take on responsibility for all health care costs for retirees starting next year. Higher health care costs alone accounted for a $1,500-per-car cost gap between GM and Japanese vehicles.

GM will offer buyouts and early retirement packages to all of its 61,000 hourly workers as it plans to shrink overall employment. The company also has about 27,000 white-collar employees. In contrast, GM employed 618,000 Americans in 1979, more than any other company.