General Motors and Chrysler have each announced plans to close hundreds of dealerships by the end of 2010, but the two companies are each handling the matter differently. If you would like to know whether your local Chrysler dealership is on the closure list, you can find out easily. The list was disclosed as part of the company’s ongoing bankruptcy filing, and can be found on many websites.

The New York Times, for instance, has the list. The Times has also created a map of the closings, which makes the nationwide impact of the closures clear.

GM, however, is leaving it up to dealers themselves to decide what to disclose. Kicking Tires reports, “The company…said it would not release a list of the stores included in the group. It did say that number was on top of the 470 Saturn, Hummer and Saab dealers already dealing with the possible sale of their brands.”

The company actually plans to cut its dealership network by nearly 40% over time. Motor Trend reports, “It had about 6280 dealers by the end of 2008, already down some 400 from the previous year. Now, it has 5969, and its viability plan to the U.S. Treasury plans on 3600 dealerships by the end of 2010.” The closure list and the end of Saturn, Saab, Hummer and Pontiac will all contribute to the cuts, but those events “leave about 800 dealers that GM figures will close due to attrition by the end of ’10.”

By not releasing a list of closed dealerships, Kicking Tires notes, “the company is leaving it to the franchise owners themselves to let customers know their long-term plans. However, this could cast doubts on every GM dealership when car shoppers are considering when and where they decide to buy. We would suggest any car shoppers ask a dealer representative if they are not getting their franchise renewed.”

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Chrysler is preparing to reveal an electric car with a gasoline engine onboard that kicks in only to recharge its batteries. Sound familiar? Haven’t you read this story recently.

Yes, but that was the Chevy Volt. This is Chrysler’s answer.

According to Autoblog Green, Chrysler’s “top brass… will host a video conference on Tuesday to show off the vehicles that the ENVI division is working on. ENVI is the unit that Chrysler launched last year to develop electrically-driven vehicles. Top of the list is expected to be a car that goes 40 miles on a full charge of its lithium ion batteries at which point a range extending engine and generator kick on to keep the fun going.” In other words, a car that works exactly like the Volt.

Tomorrow’s video conference, however, will be shown only to Chrysler dealers – a move designed to settle their anxieties about the company’s product planning in a changing automotive market.

Chrysler needs something like this badly. The AP explains, “Chrysler has felt pressure to break away from its dependence on fuel-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles amid the recent decline in auto sales but has been behind other automakers that plan to launch electric vehicles in the next few years.” While all automakers have seen their sales drop this year, Chrysler’s have seemingly fallen into an abyss. “Its sales this year are down 24 percent through August, compared with an 11 percent drop industrywide, according to Autodata Corp.”

What isn’t clear is when the car might be ready. The Detroit Free Press notes, “Earlier this year, Chrysler told the Free Press its electric car would not be ready for production for three to five years.” The Volt may arrive in 2010. A planned electric car from Nissan and a more efficient Toyota Prius may also arrive that year.

We also don’t know what the car might look like. At last January’s Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler showed three concept cars it said could be built as electric vehicles — including one called the Chrysler ecoVoyager, which the Free Press notes, “would be primarily powered by a lithium-ion battery pack good for a daily commute of less than 40 miles.”

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