Mississippi Car dealership leaves Jackson for Flowood

Wilson Kia of Jackson, the lone new-car dealership on the city's stretch of U.S. 80, closed Friday to merge with the Wilson Auto Group dealerships in Flowood, a move necessitated by lack of consumer credit and tight economic conditions.
 
"It's a business decision. The big issue, really, is that it's very difficult right now to get lenders to extend automotive loans to subprime loan customers. The lender environment right now and the demographics makes it impossible to operate a new-car dealership there," Doug Wilson, president of Wilson Dodge-Kia-Hyundai, said on Friday.

The dealership's 20 employees will keep their jobs, he said, and the store's inventory was moved Friday to Wilson's Kia dealership on Lakeland Drive.

Jackson's 7-mile stretch of U.S. 80 was a thriving corridor from the 1950s through the 1970s. The Metrocenter mall, businesses and light industry have struggled to survive there the past couple decades as middle-class flight, crime and dilapidation took their toll.

The Kia dealership is the third to leave the corridor since fall 2006. Landers McLarty Ford, formerly East Ford, closed in September 2006 and sold its next-door Hyundai franchise in February 2007. It's new owner, Metro Auto Group, opened a year ago in south Jackson near the I-55 and I-20 interchange.

Nina Holbrook, executive director of the Metrocenter Area Coalition, has been working to revitalize the area.

"I hate to see it go. … It's a loss for the whole area, as was East Ford," she said.

Each Kia store kept an inventory of about 40 new cars, and the resulting larger selection, along with more employees, should boost the Flowood dealership, Wilson said.

"We'll make one big store out of the best attributes of each. There's a lot of unused capacity on the Lakeland Drive lot. The Kia lineup is selling very well right now, especially considering the high gas prices," he said.

The Jackson location was Wilson Dodge from 1988 to 1998. It served as a used-car dealership for two years until Wilson opened the Kia franchise in June 2000.

Wilson said he'll put up for sale or lease the two-acre Jackson property.

"I love Jackson more than anybody and have worked hard to improve it and will continue to work to help it succeed," he said.

"For the moment, it's really more about the credit quality. Lenders look at credit scores, debt-to-income ratio, debt repayment history. Given the demographics and the credit crunch right now, we can't get lenders. I'm not a financier. If I could, I'd extend credit to everyone who could fog a mirror."

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