Elk Grove Ford dealership shuts down

Elk Grove Ford, arguably the automaker's anchor dealership south of Sacramento, closed down operations early Friday evening in the Elk Grove Auto Mall.

In the surreal final hour before the 6 p.m. closing, customers were still trying to close deals on vehicles as sales staff patrolled the store boundaries, trying to keep the media out of the showroom.

"I'm looking at driving off the lot today," said DeLorean Dixon, an Elk Grove shipping and receiving manager who was shopping for a fuel-efficient Ford Focus.

Exactly why Elk Grove Ford shut is unclear. Its owners, Sacramento-based Keil Enterprises, did not return calls seeking comment.

But the closure came just a month after the dealership found itself challenged in court by Ford Motor Co. for allegedly not paying $1.6 million for 58 new cars and trucks it had just purchased from the automaker. At the time, an attorney representing Elk Grove Ford said the automaker's filing came as a surprise.

Keil Enterprises also recently closed its Great Valley Chrysler-Jeep-Mazda-Isuzu dealership at 2329 Fulton Ave. in Sacramento.

Christine Brainerd, spokeswoman for Elk Grove, said the city was notified Friday the dealership was closing by 6 p.m. The city had six vehicles at the dealership's repair shop.

"We were told approximately one week ago that this could happen," she said. "Today, we confirmed it."

Details about the number of employees affected were unavailable.

Contacted late Friday, Ford Motor Co. officials said they had no information on the closure, but they noted that Ford and other struggling U.S. automakers are consolidating dealerships in major metropolitan areas to reduce overall costs.

But they said that they did not know of a buyout offer in Elk Grove Ford's case.

Rick Niello, president of the Sacramento-based Niello Co., which oversees a BMW dealership in the Elk Grove Auto Mall, called Elk Grove Ford's closing "very unfortunate," but he said the remaining 16 dealers in the mall will push on.

"This is the reality of the harshness of the market right now," he said. "I don't think it's good to have an empty Ford dealership in the mall, but then that's the reality we're facing.

"… It's like seeing a home in your neighborhood where your neighbors have left and the weeds are growing all around the place. We're all saddened by the loss."

Elk Grove Ford's closing is the latest in a series of dealership closures that have hit the area in 2008.

Besides the Great Valley demise, local auto dealer Paul Blanco announced in April that he was going to close Paul Blanco Chevrolet at 3815 Florin Road.

His next-door neighbor, Senator Auto Group, accepted an offer from Ford and ended sales of new cars at its lot at 3801 Florin Road on May 15. Senator continues to sell used cars there.

Michael Barbieri, owner and manager of Auburn Nissan, said financial difficulties led to the closing of his dealership in Auburn on April 24.

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have seen sales plunge this year as gasoline prices have soared and the economy slumped. For years the Big Three made billions selling large sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks. But sales of those gas-guzzling vehicles have dropped dramatically as buyers turn to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

For years Ford's F-Series pickup trucks were the best-selling vehicles in the country, accounting for 27 percent of the company's U.S. sales last year and generating much of the company's revenue. But sales are off 19 percent for the first five months of the year and plummeted 31 percent in May.

In response, the automakers have offered buyouts to employees, laid off thousands of workers and closed dozens of plants.

At Elk Grove Ford on Friday, new vehicles still filled the lot, but the typical sales activity and the come-and-go of vehicles getting serviced were absent. Sales personnel were uncharacteristically quiet. Even before the scheduled 6 p.m. closing, weary-looking employees were seen leaving the lot.

Still, Simon Buniak was one of the few buyers looking for deals at the 11th hour. He said he was a local car dealer, and he and a team of workers were looking at buying vehicles just before the doors closed.

"It's depressing. It's sad to see," he said. "We're in a difficult situation. With the gas prices … and housing foreclosures, people aren't looking to buy a new automobile. We're hoping for change."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184. The Bee's Dale Kasler contributed to this report.