Chrysler: how savvy is their latest move?

Chrysler is closing 25% of its dealerships. How would a savvy capitalist act?

Rule #1 of a Recession: cut costs everywhere else you can, but increase your sales and marketing efforts. ...Duh.

To rephrase: saving money in business is often shrewd. Saving money in sales is never wise.

Rule #1 of Sales: Trade Up. If it's a sales force, drop your least productive sales professionals and hire newcomers with star-potential (and whenever possible, hire your competition's best performers, which will benefit you doubly). Do the same with sales offices and dealerships as well.

GE's Jack Welch instituted the by-now-famous policy to cull the least-productive 10% of his workforce each year. It's harsh, but it's fair, and it is undeniably healthy for the organization as a whole.

How do you mesh these two rules? Trim and grow simultaneously. I doubt Chrysler's going to be able to pull off the first rule with a 25% reduction of sales branches (dealerships), but let's see how it goes.