“Chrysler’s proposed asset sale and request for immediate termination of the dealer franchises will destroy several hundred independent businesses, ruin the livelihoods of their owners, cause the loss of thousands of jobs and precipitate inevitable personal and business bankruptcies,” Stephen Lerner, an attorney at Squire Sanders & Dempsey representing the committee, said in a statement.

Chrysler says it needs a smaller dealer network to be profitable. But the dealers argue they are Chrysler’s main source of revenue, bear much of the risk on car sales, and employ thousands of people.

“Dealers produce revenue, not expense, for Chrysler … it is Chrysler’s dealers that bear the risks and costs associated with selling Chrysler’s cars to the public,” the National Dealer Council argued.