The Schmitt Auto Group has been expanding in recent years, and the acquisition marks owner Jeff Schmitt’s sixth local dealership. In February 2007, the group purchased what was Roberts Cadillac Inc., on Orchard Lane, not far from the Nissan dealership Schmitt owns at 725 Alpha Road. The company also has a Mazda store at 646 Alpha Road.
Besides the Nissan and Cadillac dealerships, Schmitt has Chevrolet and Mitsubishi stores in Fairborn, at 1001 N. Broad St. and 1045 N. Central Ave., respectively. A Buick GMC store in New Carlisle closed three years ago.
Schmitt said his group sold 3,529 vehicles through September 2010 and 2,870 vehicles through the same point in 2009.
“We believe there’s a market for sales and service in good times and bad,” Schmitt said.
He declined to disclose the purchase price. Don Pascoe, president of the former Serra store, will not be staying with the dealership, Schmitt said.
Schmitt has about 250 local employees total. He said he hired most of the Miamisburg dealership’s approximately 50 employees, and he expects the number of workers there to rise.
Also Wednesday, automakers reported stronger sales for the month of October.
Combined sales for GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac increased 13 percent compared to October 2009 to 183,392 units, the automaker said.
GM is a 60 percent owner of the DMAX diesel truck engine plant in Moraine, which has about 550 employees. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury October sales totaled 157,935, up 19 percent versus year ago, Ford said. Ford’s year-to-date sales total 1.6 million, up 21 percent, the automaker said.
Chrysler Group LLC said its sales were up 37 percent from last October. October sales were also strong for Honda and Hyundai, but Toyota, which has been dealing with repercussions from its sudden acceleration recalls earlier this year, saw sales drop 4.4 percent.
October sales could hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12 million after all car makers report their U.S. results, The Associated Press reported.
While this is short of the 14 million level hit during the “Cash for Clunkers” trade-in program last summer, it’s up from a low of 10.5 million this February, the AP said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version had incorrect sales figures.
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