Local car dealers cross fingers for auto bailout

Local car dealers cross fingers for auto bailout

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Story Published: Nov 18, 2008 at 12:31 PM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 5:55 AM PDT

By Mark Miller & KOMO Staff

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ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Local car dealerships are waiting with baited breath for word if the government will extend money to help bail out the auto industry.

Sales at Issaquah's Evergreen Ford are down 30 percent. And owner Dan Rowe will tell you, it's been a struggle.

"Of course with the economy the way it is, we've been hurting here at the automotive industry," Rowe said. "But I think a lot of people have been hurting all over."

Rowe and his employees are eager to hear more from the guy who runs Ford Motor Company, Alan Mulally.

The former Boeing leader was pleading his case before Congress Tuesday morning, trying to convince lawmakers and tax payers that he'd use any bailout money wisely to turn Ford around.

"If everybody can remember we got back to profitability the first quarter of this year and then the world for all of us came undone with the slowing economy, the banking and the credit crisis," Mulally said.

Ford, Chrysler and GM face a lot of critics who worry the U.S. auto industry isn't ready to make big changes, like transitioning toward the kind of fuel-efficient cars people now demand.

Mulally says Ford's already on the way, and Dan Lowe says look at his newest models:

"Look at JD Powers," he said. "You can see the quality that they've written up on the Ford Focus and the Ford Fusion. So Ford is changing."

Still, Rowe understands why tax payers are angry and frustrated about bailouts. But like some politicians and economists are saying, it's now in everybody's interest to save Rowe's industry.

"It's very important to the big three," he says. "But it's more important to even our local economy and to our local people in the community."

Rowe's dealership has 100 employees. He says they spend their money out there and it's a good example of what happens in Detroit can affect what happens in our local towns.

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