Chrysler Bankruptcy Forcing Six Mississippi Dealerships to Close

Dodge trucks - at least, new ones - will no longer be sold at Gary Cartwright's dealership in Booneville, along with five others across the state.

Chrysler is shutting down a quarter of its dealerships across the country. MPB’s Cari Gervin takes a look at what that means in Mississippi.

Out of the six dealers closing in Mississippi, only two are exclusively Chrysler – Columbus Motor Company in Columbus and Southland Chrysler Jeep in Southaven. Southland had already filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Gary Cartwright is another one of the dealers losing his franchise. He’s owned Cartwright Ford in Booneville for 39 years. He started selling Chrysler – and then Dodge and Jeep – when the company was having financial trouble in the 1980s.

The irony of this is not lost on him, but Cartwright is surprisingly positive about the closure.

“Well, it’s sad that General Motors and that Chrysler have gotten themselves in this condition that they have to file bankruptcy. No one’s losing their job here. We sell a lot of used cars and a lot of new Fords. You know, if anything, it’s probably a positive for me. We just weren’t selling many new Chrysler products.”

General Motors has not filed for bankruptcy. But today the company is expected to announce a list of more than 1,000 dealerships that will lose their franchise arrangements.

Kathy Waterbury at Mississippi Tax Commission says state revenues are unlikely to suffer from the dealership closures.

“The bigger impact is really on the local communities as far their tax revenue go. The state most likely would see a consumer going to another marker within the state to purchase a vehicle.”

But there is good news for Mississippians – at least those who want to buy a Chrysler. The six dealers that are losing their franchises will be selling their stock at huge discounts.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.

The other three dealerships losing their Chrysler franchises are Wilson Dodge in Flowood, Andrews Ford in Tylertown, and Buddy Jones Lincoln, Ford Mercury in Greenwood.