The Chrysler bankruptcy is official, but a Wisconsin auto dealer has good news.
The partnership is over between Chrysler and 789 dealerships nationwide, 18 in Wisconsin. Russ Darrow is hooking up his dealerships in Madison with Don Miller .
"Both the Russ Darrow organization and the Don Miller Organization are still gonna be in business here in Madison. And we both have access to all of our own customers, and they have access to us. This is clearly a win-win situation."
Darrow plans to consolidate his two buildings on the west side of Madison (on Odana Road) and completely remodel his building at the east side location (on High Crossing Blvd) at a cost of $1.5-million, which he says will improve efficiencies, and nobody gets hurt.
"We have not and will not terminate any employees from this location – on the contrary. We're going to be hiring."
Darrow says he plans to add at least 25 more jobs.
"And I have with me today a bunch of job applications… a couple stacks. We're going to leave a stack here at this dealership and a stack on the east side."
Darrow expects to be fully operational on the east side as early as a week to ten days, with almost no disruption during the transition — for the customers and the employees.
"This is a great time to buy a car."
Russ Darrow has 15 automotive dealerships in southeast Wisconsin.
