Chrysler dealership closures may hurt small-town economies

Fred Barber, owner of Spanish Fork's Barber Bros. Motor Co., was working the phones Thursday afternoon at his Main Street dealership, taking inquiries from the likes of the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post and trying to answer the same questions he was asking himself.

Why were Barber's Chrysler dealership and nine others from Utah among the 789 dealerships nationwide singled out by Chrysler LLC, in bankruptcy-court filings, to be eliminated by June 9? Was there any rhyme or reason to why certain dealerships were selected and others not? What's next for the targeted dealerships, and what will be the ripple effects?

"It's going to devastate this small town — I'm probably one of the largest tax-collecting businesses here in Spanish Fork," said Barber, who has been selling Chryslers for nearly four decades, including the past 26 years as a dealership owner and 22 years as a member of Chrysler's dealer council.

"This is as close to socialism as I've seen — we've got the government running the automotive industry," he added.

Jim Lunt, vice president of Lunt Motor Co. in Cedar City, said employees at his Main Street dealership are anxious, while the owners feel "abandoned."

"It's like they chopped out your legs," Lunt said. "We haven't looked at other manufacturers. We've stuck with Chrysler through thick and thin. You kind of feel like you've been thrown overboard."

Barber's got to figure out how to adapt his dealership without a third of his Chrysler-GM-Mitsubishi offering. He's got six-dozen Chrysler vehicles right now on his lot, and he sells between 250 to 300 Chryslers a year.

After boasting a dealership staff of 71 two years ago, Barber's contingent is about half that now — and he anticipates another 50 percent reduction as Chrysler pulls the plug.

"The threat of [Chrysler's] bankruptcy has taken away the customer base for the past year," said Barber, who first learned of his dealership's fate by reading an Internet blog late Wednesday night and then getting the official letter from Chrysler delivered mid-morning Thursday via United Parcel Service.

And until he received his own letter late Thursday morning, Lunt said he believed his dealership was in a safe place.

"Business is down, but we've been holding our own," he said. "We've got good, loyal customers. We've got a customer base that goes 100 miles in all directions."

But potential Chrysler customers may have to drive greater distances in the future for a car purchase.