Wadena Auto Mall will replace Wadena GM on the Highway 71 business strip.
Roger Dondelinger's Wadena business will no longer be associated with General Motors after June 1, according to manager Joe Altrichter.
Dondelinger, who owns the General Motors dealership in Brainerd, will be arranging for his Wadena area GM new vehicle customers to take stock of his Brainerd inventory.
Wadena GM employs approximately 20 people. The service department will remain intact. The dealership's new vehicles will be
inventoried and distributed to other dealerships by GM.
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"We'll have all different prices of cars," Altricher said. "I think it's going to help us better in the long run. We're trying to be pro-active and get ahead of the ball."
Altricher saw new car sales dip last summer when gas reached $4 a gallon. As the United States economy continued to slip, dealerships saw the public holding back on new cars and buying used cars.
"The whole country is cutting back to be profitable," Altricher said.
General Motors has received bailout money from the U.S. government in recent months to remain a viable concern. A competitor, Chrysler, is entering
bankruptcy.
