Old Colony Dodge plans to close

[XDCX]

Newspaper reports indicate that Old Colony Dodge of Mansfield, MA plans to close their dealership later this month. For the full report - click here

While this story seems consistent with reports we've received concerning small/rural GM dealerships that were closing, there are a few things about Old Colony Dodge that seem odd to me.

First, the newspaper report indicates the current owners of New Colony Dodge, Manny Braga and Ted Bancroft, bought the dealership six years ago. Given Auburn Hill's quest to complete Project 2000 I'm surprised that Chrysler would have approved a buy/sell of a single point Dodge store when there's an existing Chrysler/Jeep store in the same market.

Second, I'm somewhat surprised a small single point store would have survived the OLDCO cuts. While I know there were some exceptions, I thought Chrysler was using their "once in a lifetime opportunity" to complete Project Alpha.

Third, I'm amazed the Dodge franchise doesn't have value to the existing Chrysler/Jeep dealer in town. Is this another example where the Dealer Principal should have contacted a broker before closing his store, or has the dealer already agreed to sell his Dodge franchise to the C/J store but it wasn't included in the story?

Regardless, it's sad to see another small/rural dealer closing shop.