General Motors has announced that it plans to reduce the number of dealerships in Canada by approximately 42 percent. As in the United States, the reductions will come from GM electing not to renew franchise agreements from the target dealerships when they come due in October 2010.

The cuts target major metropolitan areas, minimizing issues related to customer access to rural dealers across the vast nation. However, this is a more dramatic reduction than seen in the United States, with about 300 of 700 dealers to stop selling GM products within 18 months.

January 1st through April 30th, GM sales were down 52.1 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

Also read: “Watch for these problems from a failing or closing dealership.”

We will continue to monitor this fast-moving story, reporting here in the Cars blog and also updating advice and news on the Auto Crisis hub.