The letter is not yet in the mail. Riverside Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac owner John Welborn said Tuesday he’s still waiting to hear from GM whether or not he’ll be able to hang on to his Cadillac dealership.

Last week, General Motors announced that they planned to reinstate more than 660 dealerships. The company has thus far declined to detail the dealerships by name, brand or region, but Welborn said he is very hopeful that he’ll be able to continue offering the Cadillac brand in the Rome area. “It’s looking good, I’ve got to be optimistic,” Welborn said.

GM decided back in mid-November of 2009 that it would end the Cadillac franchise in Rome at the end of October 2010 because there were no other high-end dealers in the local market.

GM also pulled the plug on Chevrolet sales at the Riverside dealership in Cedartown last fall because that location also sold Ford and Mercury vehicles.

Welborn said that he was seeking arbitration with GM on both decisions. He’s expecting a representative from General Motors to be in Rome later this week with specific information from headquarters in Detroit.

Joe Phillippi, an auto industry analyst with AutoTrends Consulting Inc. in Short Hills, N.J. said, “In a lot of markets, GM wants or needs representation if they're going to grow volume and market share. This may have been a directive from (GM CEO Edward) Whitacre Jr. saying ‘If we want to sell more units and more market share, why are we eliminating all these dealers?’”