General Motors filed for bankruptcy on Monday following weeks of speculation that the company would be forced to.

GM filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a court in Manhattan and stated that it would close 14 more American factories, including seven in Michigan, cutting 21,000 jobs altogether and 9,000 jobs in the state alone.

Among the seven Michigan plants that are shutting down are the Willow Run Transmission Plant in Ypsilanti and the Livonia Engine Plant in Livonia, but despite all the shut downs, many dealerships are still anticipating the best.

Chris Pratt, general sales manager at Shaheen Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, and GMC Truck Inc., 116 N. Mission, said he didn’t think the outlook for their company is bad right now, though problems for GM are increasing.

Pratt said he’s optimistic but in reality how the economy goes will decide what will happen with GM.

“Down the road we see possibilities. Our dealership has grown over the last year,” Pratt said.

GM is trying to promote this sense of optimism and has even created a new Web site called GMReinvention.com. The Web site looks deeper into hybrid technology and gives updated information to consumers and tax payers about the reinvention of GM.

In a press conference President Obama didn’t look at the negativity of GM’s current state, instead, he chose to focus on the future of GM.

“I’m confident that the steps I’m announcing today will mark the end of an old GM, and the beginning of a new GM,” President Obama said.

GM, which is now 60 percent owned by the government, will be keeping its best assets including its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands but will discontinue Pontiac, and is attempting to sell Saturn, Saab and Hummer brands.

Tommy First, owner of Alma Pontiac, Buick, GMC, 7440 N. Alger Road, said, though the loss of Pontiac could hurt his business a little, he is looking forward because he thinks GM will pull through.

“We will miss Pontiac, it was certainly a big part of our business. We also are looking for GM to add models to make up the void,” First said.

First said he thinks the auto industry will come back from the lagging economy because it wasn’t the auto industry that started the downfall in the first place.

“The fault is not because of the manufacturer. Everyone has suffered and what started it was the banking industry. The bottom fell out and we were a victim,” he said. “We are kind of excited for this, adversity brings opportunity.”

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