Manager thinks growing local market, diversity of product lines may have spared Tooele dealership

Tooele’s Quality Automotive Group has escaped a list of franchise closures by two American auto manufacturers, Chrysler and General Motors, as both car giants restructure to make their financially troubled operations leaner and more efficient.

Last week, Chrysler announced plans to close 789 dealerships across the country, including 10 in Utah. Similarly, GM notified 1,100 dealers nationwide last Friday that their franchise agreements will not be renewed in October 2010. GM did not make a list of closures public but rather sent notice letters to individual dealerships.

“We were very lucky to escape closure,” said Trent Bell, general manager of the Quality Automotive Group. “Dealerships in cities a lot larger than Tooele were closed. We are excited to still be open, and part of the reason we are still open are our great employees and support from the local community.”

Jack Bell, new car inventory manager with the Quality Automotive Group, and Trent’s father, believes several factors, including location, played into reason Quality was spared. First, it’s fairly new and in a busy location. Many dealerships that were closed are in older buildings or downtown locations that are not prime spots any more. Also, Quality Automotive handles a variety of product lines from each manufacturer. For Chrysler, Quality carries Dodge and Jeep, and for GM Quality has Chevrolet, Buick and Pontiac. Some of the closures were for dealerships that carried a single product line, according to Jack.

“While the manufactures did not give specific criteria for closing dealerships, if you look at what they did close, you can see a pattern that does not fit Tooele,” Jack said.

Sales volume alone was not a primary factor in deciding which dealerships to close, as most dealerships nationwide are down in sales over the previous year due to the economy, Jack said.

Quality has outperformed the sales expectations of both Chrysler and GM, according to Trent.

Quality, which employs 70 people locally, is the only new car dealer in Tooele County and represents all three major U.S. car manufacturers: Ford, Chrysler and GM. Trent said 75 percent of the dealership’s sales were to county residents.

A closure of any dealership at Quality would have been devastating to Tooele City’s tax base, according to city finance director Glenn Caldwell.

Sales at Quality continue to lag behind last year, according to Jack.

“However, we have a great inventory of new cars on the lot,” Jack said. “We brought in more cars than last year, anticipating that sales may jump a little, but we have not seen that happen yet.”

There is a lot more to Quality Automotive than cars, according to Debbie Winn, executive director of Tooele County Chamber of Commerce.

“Quality Automotive is extremely important to our community,” Winn said. “They not only are they the largest source of sales tax income in the county, their charitable donations to schools, sports, and other community groups has been very important to the community. To lose a dealership like Quality would be devastating to our community.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com