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Thomas Subaru
New name has nice ring to it
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Come June, Thomas Dodge will rename itself Thomas Subaru. That is because the dealership located for the past 10 years on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station, will no longer have Dodge vehicles for sale.
In a bankruptcy court filing last week, Chrysler LLC officials announced that 789 of their 3,181 U.S. dealers will be eliminated as of June 9, according to Chrysler Spokesperson Kathy Graham. Thomas Dodge was on that hit list.
Despite the elimination of Chrysler-brand sales at Thomas Dodge, owner Thomas Mammolito emphasized his dealership will continue to service Dodge vehicles. Mammolito said the dealership will also continue to sell and service a full line of Subaru and Suzuki vehicles.
A Dodge dealer for 21 years, Mammolito is not happy he was forced to lay off 15 employees due to the elimination of Dodge. Sales of the brand have been "fair," he said, unlike the failing auto manufacturer. "Chrysler is not considerate of how it impacts the people that have been with me 15, 20 years," he said.
Other Long Island dealerships losing their Chrysler franchises are Island Jeep in Lindenhurst, the Eagle Auto Mall in Riverhead and ABC Motors in Valley Stream. In all of New York, where 158 Chrysler dealers sell one or more of the auto giant's three brands — Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge — a total of 27 car dealers have received the bad news.
"The real reason is the industry is not there to support the number of dealers that exist," Graham said Monday. "It's not a reflection of any individual dealer. It's more about the industry itself." Chrysler LLC's new vehicle sales, which averaged 16 million units per year between 1990 and 2007, fell to 13.5 million units in 2008, according to the spokesperson. That number is expected to further drop to 10.5 million units in 2009.
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