Another group of terminated Chrysler dealers who say theyhave stronger sales than some of the dealerships that arestaying open also plan to challenge Chrysler about theclosures, according to a person familiar with their plans. The dealers, once they lose their franchise, expect to havefew options to save their businesses as other carmakers may notbe willing to expand their dealer networks and pick up some ofthe closed dealers, as overall U.S car sales are still verydepressed. They say closing Chrysler dealerships goes against simpleeconomics because Chrysler dealers buy all of Chrysler's cars,and customers alienated by the closing of their hometown dealerwill simply be lost to other brands "Dealers produce revenue, not expense, for Chrysler ... itis Chrysler's dealers that bear the risks and costs associatedwith selling Chrysler's cars to the public," the NationalDealer Council argued.General Motors Corp GM.N has also said it plans to cutmore than 1,000 dealers by 2010, but those dealers would havemore time than Chrysler's terminated dealers, which areexpected to lose their franchise agreements early next month. But Chrysler's dealers are challenging that motion, sayingthat "there is no evidence that by rejecting dealershipagreements New Chrysler will save money to any materialdegree," according to court documents filed last week on behalfof Chrysler's National Dealer Council. Chrysler has argued in court documents that its dealers"compete not only with dealers selling (Fords and Toyotas), butalso with each other in surrounding markets," which hurts itsability to charge more for its cars. "If you're Chrysler and you want to have a viable businessgoing forward, you can't possibly have the structure in anyway, shape or manner that you had -- you have to shrink thestructure," said Richard Mikels, a bankruptcy attorney at MintzLevin.

In 2008, Chrysler sold about a million new cars at about3,300 U.S. dealers compared with industry leader Toyota(7203.T), which sold about 1.6 million cars at a dealer networkof about 1,200 dealers, less than half the number of Chryslerdealers, according to court documents. But the dealers argue they are Chrysler's mainsource of revenue, bear much of the risk on car sales, andemploy thousands of people. Chrysler says it needs a smaller dealer network to beprofitable. But while the previous challenges have dealt with paymentrights, the dealers' challenge goes to one of the core economicissues in Chrysler's business plan. The two previous challenges have largely disbanded,as a group of dissident senior lenders dropped their protestand the new company told concerned nonunion retirees last weekthat it intends to continue their benefits.

"Chrysler's proposed asset sale and request for immediatetermination of the dealer franchises will destroy severalhundred independent businesses, ruin the livelihoods of theirowners, cause the loss of thousands of jobs and precipitateinevitable personal and business bankruptcies," Stephen Lerner,an attorney at Squire Sanders & Dempsey representing thecommittee, said in a statement. The dealers are mounting the third major challenge toChrysler's plan to sell itself to a "New Chrysler" that will beowned by the company's union, Fiat (FIA.MI), and thegovernment. The committee, which said it represents nearly 300 dealersin 45 states, said in a statement it needed more time from thecourt to investigate the issues and present their defense. [ID:nL872961] (Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Jacqueline Wong). (Corrects spelling of Chrysler in headline) Stocks  |  Mergers & Acquisitions  |  Global Markets  |  Private Capital  |  France  |  Bankruptcy By Emily Chasan NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Some auto dealers thatChrysler LLC plans to close are beginning a challenge to theautomaker's plans to quickly sell itself in bankruptcy.The group, which calls itself the "Committee of ChryslerAffected Dealers," filed papers on Tuesday asking thebankruptcy court to delay hearings that would approve the saleand allow Chrysler to reject almost 800 of its dealershipfranchise agreements, or about 25 percent of its overall dealernetwork. [ID:nSIN444605]----------------------------------------------------------------Hyundai ----Deutsche/ --BBB/Baa2CapitalMerrill The auto financing arm of Hyundai Motor Group plans a non-dealroadshow in the week of Feb. investors on May 18-21.[ID:nHKX001224]----------------------------------------------------------------Temasek ---- ----AAA/AaaHoldings[TEM.UL] The Singapore state investor may issue more bonds consisting ofdifferent maturities in the future, according to a speech byTemasek's CEO posted on its web site.