AUTO INDUSTRY; BANKRUPTCY STEERS DEALER INTO DEAD END.Byline: BOB QUICK Espanola man says small businesses taking the hit in Chrysler collapse By Bob Quick The New Mexican New Mexico Abbr. NM or N.M. or N.Mex. A state of the southwest United States on the Mexican border. It was admitted as the 47th state in 1912. Dominic Salazar, owner of Salazar Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Espanola, thought he was safe, even though Chrysler filed bankruptcy and scores of other Chrysler dealers around the county went out of business. "It is hard to believe that just nine months ago I was profitable and recognized as the most successful Dodge Chrysler Jeep dealer in Northern New Mexico Northern New Mexico may simply mean the northern part of New Mexico, but in cultural terms it usually means the area of heavy Spanish settlement in the north-central part. in the last 40 years," Salazar said Thursday. "Little did I know that with the Chrysler 'bailout' they would destroy the little guys. They acted like we were OK. Then all the rules changed. Under bankruptcy rules, I guess that's how it works." On Thursday morning, officials from Chrysler showed up at Salazar's Riverside Drive A number of cities around the world have a Riverside Drive. In the United States:
"They'll be coming for the inventory in the next couple of days," a dejected de·ject·ed adj. Being in low spirits; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed. de·ject  ed·ly adv. Salazar said.
Salazar feels particularly aggrieved because he is a native of the area -- born in Taos, currently a resident of Espanola. "I grew up in Northern New Mexico," he said. "I had choices. Many of you remember me when I was making choices. I could choose to do drugs Verb 1. do drugs - use recreational drugs drug ingest, consume, have, take in, take - serve oneself to, or consume regularly; "Have another bowl of chicken soup!"; "I don't take sugar in my coffee" inject - take by injection; "inject heroin" or not. I chose not to. I could join gangs or not. I chose not to. I decided to sell cars. I worked hard. ... My dream had come true. I was back in Northern New Mexico." Salazar bought the dealership three years ago and grew the business to 40 employees with a $1 million payroll. Sales shot up from $8 million per year to $22 million. "We were profitable until last September, when Chrysler and GM went bankrupt," Salazar said. "We weren't profitable after that." As a result of the bankruptcy filings, Salazar and other dealers who managed to survive now are seeing the financing for their inventory of vehicles pulled by lenders. Salazar's own dealership had about 180 vehicles. "Nobody has (an inventory) now," he said. "The only ones who are making it are those with deep pockets. The little guys are being tortured." Salazar said a plan to work with the federal Small Business Administration's inventory financing Inventory financing Used in the context of factoring and general finance to refer to loans to consumer product producers that use inventory as collateral. See also: Inventory loan. was "bogus." "We called about it, and we couldn't find anybody who wants to be part of the SBA SBA abbr. Small Business Administration Noun 1. SBA - an independent agency of the United States government that protects the interests of small businesses and ensures that they receive a fair share of government (inventory financing.) That's when we came to a dead end. If we can't get (inventory financing), there's no other choice." Salazar expects to consult with his attorney about the possibility of saving the business. But he's not hopeful. "This is a sad day for my family and a sad day for Espanola," he said. Troubles for Chrysler started back in May when Chrysler moved to eliminate 789 dealers around the country, including several in New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). . They included Quality Jeep-Chrysler in Albuquerque, Sandoval Dodge in Las Cruces Las Cruces (läs kr  `sĭs), city (1990 pop. 62,126), seat of Dona Ana co., SW N.Mex., on the Rio Grande, in a farm area irrigated by the Elephant Butte system; founded 1848, inc. 1907. , Brewer Jeep in Clovis and Cimino Brothers in Raton.
Chrysler executives said in a report published by MSNBC.com that the company was trying to preserve its best-performing dealers. More than half the dealerships being eliminated sell fewer than 100 vehicles per year. The company also is trying to reduce the number of single-brand dealerships to bring all three Chrysler brands -- Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge -- under one roof, the report said. The 3.5 million customers who bought cars and trucks from the affected dealers will be notified about the closures, and their warranties will still be honored, a Chrysler official said. Lithia lith·i·a n. See lithium oxide. [New Latin, from lithion, from Greek, diminutive of lithos, stone.] Chrysler Dodge of Santa Fe Santa Fe, city, Argentina Santa Fe, city (1991 pop. 341,000), capital of Santa Fe prov., NE Argentina, a river port near the Paraná, with which it is connected by canal. , 4470 Cerrillos Road, survived the cut. Also in May, Espanola's Ed Corley Ford Mercury closed "due to current economic conditions," said a statement from The Corley Auto Group, which had eight dealerships around the state. And on July 20, Albuquerque's Pitre Motors closed its Santa Fe Mitsubishi Hyundai dealership on St. Michael's Drive. The Mitsubishi inventory was moved to a Pitre dealership in Albuquerque, while Huyundai was taken over by the Garcia Auto Group and relocated to the Santa Fe Auto Park. Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com. |
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