Some wary, others are not worried at all

Since then, the Brockton printing company manager has watched cars get smaller and General Motors Corp.'s financial problems get bigger, leading to the automaker's bankruptcy filing yesterday.

"I'd wait a year for everything to shake out before I bought another GM," Hough said yesterday while filling his gas tank at a service station on Route 24 in Brockton.

As part of its dramatic makeover, GM is shrinking, shedding such brands as Pontiac, Saturn, and Hummer and eventually dropping more than 2,300 dealerships nationwide. GM sold 173,007 vehicles in April, down 33.7 percent from the same period last year. In 2008, the automaker sold 2.98 million vehicles, off 23 percent from 2007. The bankruptcy filing, while not a surprise, has left many GM car and truck owners like Hough with questions, especially about the federal government's controlling stake in the automaker.

"I find it goes against all economic concepts of a free economy and free trade to let that happen," said Sacha Paolucci, a student at Bentley College, who also stopped for gas off Route 24 yesterday afternoon. "It's like giving someone who's a drug addict more."

Paolucci and his classmate, Charles Bourg, said they would never consider buying a GM car, mostly because the automaker doesn't produce quality products. They were riding in Bourg's father's black Mercedes S 550.

They also said the company seemed out of touch with consumers.

"They don't listen to their customers," Bourg said. "Americans want better mileage."

Despite GM's financial morass, however, the company still had some loyal followers yesterday.

Kevin Jenkins, 48, of Dorchester said he likes his maroon GMC Envoy XUV, which he bought just nine months ago. It gets about 15 miles per gallon in the city, he said. But it also enables him to be able to move a refrigerator if necessary or take his family out for dinner.

President Obama did what was necessary to save jobs and make the company viable, Jenkins said. "I would still buy GM," he said. "I'm going to try to buy American as much as I can."

Hough said he did not regret his decision to buy a Tahoe, saying he "loved the truck." But he added he had to wait two months for a replacement part last year. And the federal government's role as a GM owner only makes him more skittish about the company's future, he said.

Yet neither the bankruptcy filing nor the government bailout seemed to deter buyers at the Mastria GM dealership in Raynham. Sean P. McCarthy, the dealership's general sales manager, said it sold 115 cars in May, an increase over the past few months. Seventy-five of the cars were used but under warranty, he said.

"I think there's a pent up demand out there," he said. "People are driving cars with high mileage and they will need to buy a car."

Yesterday, some customers at the dealership were even shopping for Pontiacs, a brand that will soon be defunct.

Pam Keffer, who already owns a black Pontiac Sunfire, took her daughter, Amanda Kelliher, to test drive a new Pontiac G5.

"I want the zero percent financing," said Keffer, a waitress from Taunton. "Then it's whether daddy says yes."

But what about the bankruptcy? "I don't dwell on that at all," she said.

Neither does Joe Spadea Jr. of Falmouth. Yesterday, he and his wife were considering buying a new $75,000 Cadillac STS at Mastria. The retired couple, who work part time in real estate, took the sedan out for a test drive before walking back inside the showroom to talk numbers.

"I think GM is going to be here," Spadea said. "Bankruptcy happens all the time in America."

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.