“Disadvantaged” minority-owned car dealerships need $500 million in direct loans and loan guarantees, the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers has told Congress.

The group’s chairman, Desmond Roberts, says a “substantial” number of minority dealers -- black dealers in particular -- who own domestic franchises are in “dire straits.”

He describes a disadvantaged dealer as any dealer who has been turned down even for high interest loans. Many minority dealers who fit that description face failure by year’s end, he adds.

The CEOs of the Big Three automakers are asking congressional leaders to fund a $25 billion-dollar loan program for the industry.

Roberts says the minority dealers’ request has a precedent. As part of the deal that bailed out Chrysler in 1979, the Carter Administration set aside $12 million in direct loans and $200 million to $300 million in guaranteed loans to assist minority auto dealers.

When Roberts became a dealer in 1984, there were 125 black entrepreneurs that owned GM dealerships, Roberts says. Currently, there are fewer than 50.

GM has about 340 minority-owned dealerships out of 6,550. Two hundred and seventy-one of Ford Motor Co.’s 4,056 dealerships are owned by minority dealers.

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