Saab Automobile AB, the Swedish carmaker being sold by General Motors Co., is slashing its U. S. dealership network by 37 percent after sales of Saabs in North America plunged this year.

GM, which held the contracts with Saab’s dealers, has canceled the agreements with all of the Swedish carmaker’s 218 U. S. outlets because of the sale, Saab spokesman Eric Geers said Friday. Contracts will be renewed with 137 dealers based on their size and location, terminating 81 branches, Geers said.

The Buffalo Niagara region is home to two Saab dealers, Checkpoint Foreign Cars in the Town of Tonawanda and another that is part of Cappellino Buick Pontiac GMC Hummer Saab in Clarence.

Don Daniels, president of Checkpoint, said he doesn’t expect to be retained by Saab, but he is waiting for a follow-up communication.

Daniels said he has not decided what he will do with his business, which has 10 employees, if Saab cuts ties.

Steve Cappellino, president of the Clarence dealership, said he received a new contract to maintain his Saab dealership under the new owner.

Cappellino said he was looking forward to new investment in the Saab product line under its new ownership.

Saab has been struggling in the U. S., one of its four most important markets, since GM said in February it would cut ties by the end of 2009 and the Swedish carmaker filed for bankruptcy protection. Saab’s sales in the U. S. in the first 10 months of this year slumped 62 percent to 7,441 cars, and it sold just 513 cars in the U. S. in October.

“We knew they were going to cut some, but we were surprised the number was this high,” said Tim Whalen, general manager of International Motors Ltd., a Saab dealer in Falls Church, Va. “I’m happy we’re one of the ones staying.

“I understand that letters went out to every dealer (Thursday) and it was either a new dealer agreement to sign with Saab Cars North America, or it was a letter advising them that they were not going to be continued,” Whalen said.

Saab, which has been unprofitable for most of the 20 years GM has owned it, plans to become profitable by 2012 with annual sales of 100,000 cars, Christian von Koenigsegg, one of the investors in the group called Koenigsegg Group, that plans to buy Saab, has said.

“They have looked at what is best for Saab, in what parts of the U. S. we should be, and at which dealers that have a good possibility to make good money,” Geers said.