The Detroit Three’s ongoing troubles hit home for at least one body shop this month. Tally’s Chrysler Dodge and Auto Body in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, is closing due to dealership cutbacks ordered by Chrysler.
APP.com reported that 25 body shop and service employees were laid off at Tally’s last week, and the dealership, which will remain open until early May, is being operated by a four-person sales crew.
“It’s nothing we did. They’re closing as many dealerships as they can,” Tally’s manager John Stoll told APP.com. “Eventually, they want to get rid of half the dealers.”
Stoll added that Chrysler is focusing on having fewer, larger dealerships and reducing the number of small facilities like Tally’s.
A dealership with a body shop focused on foreign cars has a brighter future on the horizon. Infiniti of North Houston was recently purchased from the Paramount Auto Group by Texas-based Sewell Automotive Companies.
The dealership has been renamed Sewell Infiniti of North Houston and specializes in new Infiniti vehicle sales and leasing, pre-owned vehicle sales, and Infiniti vehicle collision repair, service, parts and accessories. The facility is the first in the Houston area for Sewell, which has 17 franchises specializing in vehicle sales, collision repair and service throughout Texas.
U.S. auto dealerships suffered a record decline in 2008 (click HERE to read more), and several shop owners have expressed concern over the recession (click HERE to read more). Other repairers have predicted that the Detroit Three’s troubles will affect parts prices (click HERE to read more).
