DETROIT, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The National Automobile Dealers Association said about 2,000 U.S. car dealerships are expected to close in 2009, as sales remain slow.
Auto sales are expected to dive to 10 million vehicles in 2009, down from a peak of 17 million in 2001, The Washington Post reported Monday.
With unemployment at 9.8 percent and expected to peak in February above 10 percent, it is unlikely auto sales will improve much next year, the newspaper said.
Owners of a Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership in Upper Marlboro, Md., opted to drop Chevrolet products in February to put the outlet's entire effort on Chrysler. The dealership then survived the cut when Chrysler opted to close 789 dealerships as the automaker went through bankruptcy this summer.
Now owners Paul and Vince Sheehy say they will close the dealership, anyway, having lost faith that Chrysler is ready to embrace the changes consumers expect.
"Where is the broad array of vehicles competing with the Ford Focus and Toyota Prius? We just don't see that on the horizon," said Paul Sheehy, general manager of the dealership.
Chrysler Group, company spokesman Gualberto Ranieri said the company's five-year plan would be introduced Nov. 4.
