'03 brought two new dealerships to west Cape

Before last year, the closest place to buy a new Saturn was Carbondale, Ill. If you wanted a Hyundai, you'd have to drive to Paducah, Ky., Marion, Ill., or an hour and a half to St. Louis.

But that changed in 2003, with the arrival of two new dealerships -- Saturn of Cape Girardeau and Wieser Hyundai, both of which opened on Siemers Drive last fall.

"Most of the people wanting Saturns came to Carbondale from here," said Randy Ferguson, general manager of the new Saturn of Cape Girardeau dealership, which opened Sept. 15, 2003. "So those people were pretty glad when we opened here."

The Saturn dealership is owned by Jim Butler of St. Louis, who has been in the car business for 25 years. Butler owns Saturn dealerships in South County and West County, as well as Saturn Carbondale. He also owns a Chevrolet dealership in St. Louis.

Ferguson said the first five months have been good to the local Saturn dealership.

"It's been real good," he said. "We're real excited about being here. We're working the bugs out, but we're growing every day."

The new 15,000-square-foot Saturn dealership offers full service to its customers, including new and used vehicles, sales, leasing, parts and some body work.

Ferguson said the profit level is running right at projections.

"We're in a real high-traffic area, we love our location," he said. "The competition around us is very healthy for business. We're happy to be here."

Jim Butler's daughter, Jackie Dunne, also works for the family-owned business. She said at the time of the announcement that the company had been interested in Cape Girardeau for some time.

"We've always had customers drive up south on I-55 to our South County store," she said. "When we look at Cape, we see a community that is growing, and we're really excited about being on Siemers Drive."

Likewise, when Wieser Hyundai opened at 386 Siemers on Oct. 1, it was Cape Girardeau's first Hyundai dealership. The Hyundai dealership is owned by longtime dealer Jerry Wieser and is located right across the street from his Wieser Honda dealership on Siemers.

"We're making progress," Wieser said. "We're still not where we need to be, but we're doing OK."

Wieser has been in the car business locally since 1956. The new Hyundai dealership is in a 13,000-square-foot building and features a showroom and space for parts and service.

Wieser said the customer base is adjusting, considering Hyundais have just been introduced to the market.

"The fact that we're a brand new car that's never been sold here before, it's going to take some time to get established," Wieser said. "But we're happy with where we're going. We've set a goal for the end of this year, and it looks like we're on the way to reach that goal. We might even surpass it."

Wieser said he was approached by Hyundai to see if he would be interested in running a dealership here. He found several factors intriguing. For example, Hyundai is one of the fastest-growing car lines in the business. U.S. sales were 375,000 units in 2002. Hyundai projects sales to increase to 500,000 units a year by 2005 and to 1 million units a year by 2010.

Hyundai is also in the process of building its first U.S. plant in Montgomery, Ala. When the plant's finished in 2005, it will produce 300,000 units a year, Wieser said.

Wieser said he liked that the company is growing.

"We feel like we're sort of on the ground floor with this company," he said. "They're becoming more of an American entity, which doesn't hurt. It helps. We're looking for some growth down the road. It's getting there, but it's a slow process."

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, said that the two new dealerships coming was good news for the area.

"It truly makes us more regional," he said. "The more of that kind of commerce we get, the more regional we get."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611

Car dealerships in Cape Girardeau

Auffenberg Supercenter

Bening Mazda

Cape GMC Pontiac

Coad Chevrolet

Crown Cadillac Olsdmobile Nissan

Ford Groves

Saturn of Cape Girardeau

Soskin Toyota Mitsubishi

Van Matre Buick

Weiser Honda

Weiser Hyundai

Car dealerships in Jackson

Brennecke Chevrolet

Ford Groves