While a local auto dealer is optimistic for the future after General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, he said it may have been better if this process had started sooner.

“I guess in a way, maybe it’s almost a relief that it happened. It’s kind of been hanging there, and you could just kind of see the writing on the wall that, ‘Yeah: this is, I guess, what’s going to happen.’ They probably would have been better off doing it in December,” said David Christensen, owner of Motor Inn Co.

Christensen will join other GM dealers for a meeting via satellite with the head of General Motors at 3 p.m. today to learn more about what’s going on.

“They say it’s going to be a leaner, stronger company. I guess for all of our sakes, I hope they’re right. But right now we’re still doing everything we always have done,” Christensen said.

Christensen said he’s not happy with the current level of government involvement in GM, but he said, “You play the cards you’re dealt; we’ll worry about what we can worry about, and they’ve got to take care of the rest of it.”

Christensen was optimistic about his overall business and the number of sales for GM vehicles being sold recently. Motor Inn sells new Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Pontiac brands, which are produced by Detroit-based General Motors.

The Pontiac line will discontinue in late 2010, and Christensen said he is sad to see that line go. Motor Inn will still sell older models of Pontiacs and used Pontiacs, and he said Pontiac parts will still be available. Christensen said his biggest disappointment in the process was losing the Pontiac line.

Christensen also sells Honda vehicles, and he said it’s been interesting to compare how the “old” GM compared with Honda, and he’s curious to see how the “new” GM will operate. Christensen said he hopes the “new” GM reacts quicker to the market.

“Too many times the old one was like trying to turn the Titanic in a parking lot — it doesn’t work. … GM was a lot like the government: big, slow and too many levels of bureaucracy. Honda was lean, mean and fast,” Christensen said.

“If they’re interested in a GM car, they’re going to buy it. They really have nothing to be concerned about. The warranties and everything else will be taken care of.”

For the most part, Christensen said things are close to normal, and he was optimistic about sales.

“If you’re thinking of a GM car, don’t have any second thoughts about it, because they’re going to be there. Just go about it like you normally would. GM is there. It’s under a different structure right now, but there, still producing cars. … We’re selling them and servicing them,” Christensen said.

In addition to phasing out Pontiac, General Motors plans to sell off its brands of Saturn, Saab and Hummer. It will concentrate on its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC nameplates.

Today, General Motors Corp. said that it has tentatively agreed to sell its Hummer brand, a day after the U.S. automaker filed for bankruptcy protection with hopes that it will transform its most profitable assets into a new company within just 30 days.

The company did not name the proposed buyer or the price, but said the sale will likely save more than 3,000 U.S. jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at various Hummer dealerships.

“We’re not today in a position to be able to identify a buyer. it was part of the agreement,” GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said. “We believe the buyer is quite capable of closing.”

Critics had seized on the rugged-but-fuel-inefficient Hummer as a symbol of excess as GM’s financial troubles grew and gas prices rose. Sales at Hummer, which is known for hulking sport-utility vehicles, have been in a steep slide since gasoline prices rose to record heights last summer. For the first four months of this year, Hummer sales are down 67 percent.

GM and other automakers will report May auto sales later today.