Nissan dealership changes ownership

BY SHAWN PIATEK
The Tribune-Democrat

September 30, 2008 12:22 am

— Ownership of a Richland Township car dealership changed hands on Monday with the promise of not only retaining staff but significant growth to its payroll.
Auto Palace of Pittsburgh completed the purchase of Team Nissan and announced it will more than triple the size of the current staff. Will Danak, general manager of Auto Palace Nissan, said most of the current nine employees will be retained and the store will grow to between 30 to 40 workers by the end of October.
Danak said that the company will be hiring all types of employees from salespeople to service technicians and management.
“We’re here to be a part of the community, to help the community and obviously to help ourselves,” Danak said.
“We want to change the car-buying experience in Johnstown. We’re firm believers in high levels of customer service and customer satisfaction.”
This is the first of the more mainstream automaker franchises owned by Auto Palace.
Its other holdings are Porche, and it has one of only 19 Spyker dealerships in the country, a very rare Dutch-made vehicle.
Danak said the dealership will stay put at its Scalp Avenue location for the time being.
However, he said the company is planning to construct a new $3 million showroom in the spring at an undisclosed Richland Township location.
Danak said the company was lured to purchase the Nissan franchise because of the quality of the line.
But he said the company also believes the Johnstown area is an excellent area for the company to expand.
“We want to build the company and come into a new area at the same time,” Danak said.
“We’re hoping we can help to grow the area as well.”
John McGregor, managing partner of Team, which has Kia and Chevrolet dealerships in the area, said that Team’s decision to divest Nissan wasn’t necessarily voluntary.
McGregor said that much like the Volkswagen brand, which left the area earlier this year, Nissan demanded to have its own separate store. Team hoped to pair Nissan with its new Kia dealership at Richland Plaza on Scalp Avenue, but that offer was turned down.
Volkswagen also refused to pair with Kia and chose instead to leave the market, according to McGregor.
Auto Palace Nissan will have expanded sales hours from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Danak said the dealership also will offer automobile service hours on Saturdays.