Car Business

"THIS GUY is history," proclaimed a cover story in Business Week last month, showing a caricature of the stereotypical car salesman, complete with garish sports jacket and outstretched palm. "For Used Cars, New Pitches," hailed another takeout in a recent New York Times, the revolution creeping into the auto industry. Low-pressure, consumer-friendly dealerships, bulk discounts for members of warehouse "clubs," and car brokers on the Internet are all making in-roads in auto sales."People are realizing there are new choices available," said an analyst with J.D. Power & Associates Inc., the respected auto-industry watcher.

It all started 24 years ago with a new house, the need to make payments on it and a desire to provide for his family.Now, Frank E. Dimick is the Popeye's Restaurant Franchisee of the Year, as well as the developer of Melstone Valley in Eldersburg and the manager of Peddler's Square."

Some of the heavy negotiating going on in auto showrooms across the state has nothing to do with cars or trucks. There is a flurry of bargaining among dealers looking to cash out and leave a business whose future is not nearly as bright as its recent past. "I know of four dealers who are in various stages of sale negotiations. And this is only within the past three months," said Jacob J. Cohen, managing director of the auto dealers' group of American Express Tax and Business Services Inc., which provides financial services for many of the state's new-car dealerships.

New car sales continue to sputter in Maryland, falling 9.2 percent last month, according to figures released yesterday by the Motor Vehicle Administration.The decline marked the eighth consecutive month in which sales were lower than in the corresponding period of the previous year. Sales have been off in 11 of the past 12 months."Very interesting," said Michael Funk, a research economist with the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University, who noted that the figures "are not reflective of the state's economy."

It should be another favorable year for the U.S. auto industry, but there will be some bumps in the road. Auto analysts and industry officials see new-car sales remaining stable in Maryland and the nation, assuming there is no war in the Middle East. A conflict could reduce sales by as much as 6 percent, they said. Other predictions include: Labor talks leading to new contracts between the Big Three domestic automakers and the United Auto Workers union. A continuation of the generous incentives that boost new-car sales but cut into the profits of the automakers.

Charles R. Leese acknowledges that the East Main Street reconstruction project in Westminster will improve Washington Road. But he says a right of way required for the project will put him out of the used car business."

Edwin S. Rogers Sr., a retired Baltimore used-car dealer who was known as "Mr. Fix-it" because he did repair work for the poor and invalids, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Sunday at Sinai Hospital. He was 83.He had spent time Sunday installing a shower bar for an invalid man and fixing a woman's faucet.Mr. Rogers, a Pikesville resident, had also lived in Pompano Beach, Fla.He grew up on Whitelock Street and later moved to Northwest Baltimore. He graduated from the "A course" at the Polytechnic Institute in 1929.

Karyn Wilmer's car doesn't look like much, with faded paint and a plastic sheet covering the leaky sunroof. But the humble, dark green 1998 Honda Accord has changed her life since a local nonprofit put her behind the wheel. The 24-year-old single mother received the low-cost used car from Halethorpe-based Vehicles for Change, allowing her to reach a job she loves and freeing her from dependence on bus service provided by the Maryland Transit Administration. "It was almost a miracle for me," Wilmer said of the car she received in February.

General Motors Corp. announced Wednesday that it will continue to upgrade its Baltimore transmission plant, investing $23.5 million as it positions the facility to become a core part of its electric car business. The money is in addition to $246 million the company announced in January to equip the plant in White Marsh to build electric motors beginning in 2013. Plans are to build a 40,000-square-foot facility next to the site where workers now build transmissions, including some that go into hybrid vehicles.

Maybe you've heard these phrases before: "If you have a phone, you have an attorney. " "You're making a big mistake. " "Nobody bothers me. " "Jack says 'Yes.'" For better or worse, these are the catchphrases of Baltimore advertising, lines delivered incessantly by TV pitchmen who, not coincidentally, own the businesses they're pitching. They're not actors, and they might not have the greatest voices in the world. But they certainly are one thing: everywhere.