Susan Garontakos

Staff Photo by Tim Barber Nelson Long has moved his longtime car dealership on Broad Street to International Drive near Highway 153 and Shallowford Road.

Fewer than 30 new Pontiacs and Buicks remain on Nelson Long’s car lot off Highway 153, and he is hoping to get rid of them quickly.

Mr. Long, owner of Long Hyundai Buick Pontiac, said the decision to liquidate his remaining General Motors stock and leave the domestic new car market is not the result of an dismissal letter from the troubled automaker.

But he said it is a decision he made long before GM notified many dealers their contracts would not be renewed in 2010.

“I’ve been trying for some time to get rid of the GM dealership,” Mr. Long said. “I’m making room for Volvo. I’m not going to continue with Buick and Pontiac, and I figure if we are going to do it, let’s do it.”

Mr. Long bought the Volvo inventory from the now defunct Prebul dealership.

The GM cars, which he described as Buick’s and Pontiac’s most popular models, are marked at closeout prices that include all factory incentives and discounts.

“It’s a heck of a buy,” he said. “I just want to sell them and be done with it.”

It is more profitable for Mr. Long to sell the vehicles at rock-bottom prices rather than keep them sitting on the lot until they sell at retail value, he said.

“I’m not going to take 60 days or 90 days,” Mr. Long said. “I want to do this soon.”

Susan Garontakos, a GM spokeswoman, declined to comment on Mr. Long’s decision to exit the domestic car market.

“It sounds like a decision he is making on his own,” she said.

Although Mr. Long said his was not yet one of the dealerships GM sought to close, he figured it was only a matter of time. That’s because his Buick and Pontiac dealership is paired with a Hyundai dealership. The nameplates share a showroom.

“If you are dualed with an import and you didn’t get a letter — you will,” Mr. Long predicted.

Mr. Long also operates a Mercedes-Benz dealership and his recently purchased a Volvo dealership.

According to the Associated Press, records show that a letter from Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for sales, service and marketing, notifies dealers that they “will remove non-GM brands from the GM showroom by December 31, 2009, ... and will operate a showroom exclusive to GM products going forward.”

Last month, GM notified about 1,100 dealers that their contracts would not be renewed in 2010, but that number was later increased to about 2,400 of its nearly 6,200 dealers.

“Obviously Buick will continue in Chattanooga, but I don’t know where,” Mr. Long said.

Ms. Garontakos said she too is unsure where or if a Buick dealer will land in Chattanooga.

“Right now we are trying to restructure our entire dealership network,” she said, acknowledging that some dealers may be asked to carry additional models.

Currently the nearest Buick or Pontiac dealerships are Don Ledford Pontiac Buick GMC Cadillac in Cleveland, Tenn., and Gentry Chevrolet Pontiac Buick in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

Mr. Long said his decision to quit GM will not affect the nearly 100 employees at his dealerships. They will continue as he phases in Volvo.

He also said he will continue to service Pontiacs and Buicks long after he exits the GM market.

“These are my customers and I have an obligation to them,” he said.

The dealership has been selling cars in Chattanooga for 50 years. Mr. Long said Andy Trotter bought Trotter Pontiac from Herb Adcox in 1959 and seven years later opened Amos and Andy Buick.

Mr. Long said he bought the dealership in 1976. Hyundai was added in 1986, records show.