Osage and St. Ansgar's General Motors dealership is dropped; but businesses will remain

by David Namanny, Press-News Editor

As General Motors proceeds rapidly through bankruptcy this month, one local car dealer has indeed received the dreaded letter stating that his contract as a GM dealership will not be renewed when the company reorganizes under Chapter 11 this year.

But rumors of that local dealership's death may have been greatly overexaggerated. "GM may have left us, but we won't leave you," said McKinley Chevrolet owner Mark McKinley, who is this week publicly reassuring his loyal customers, employees and their communities that both McKinley stores in Osage and St. Ansgar will remain open - despite the change in dealership status. "We're not closing either store ... we're here to stay. Our intention is to bring some of the RV business into Osage and increase our used car and truck business," he continued. "Our service department will remain as strong as ever and we will continue to honor all warranty and service agreements. It's pretty much business as usual."

Officially, McKinley Chevrolet will remain a new car dealership until next fall as the process winds down. "I don't foresee any problem selling the new vehicles we have on the lot now, and I may even order a half-dozen more before it's all said and done," said McKinley. "After that we'll concentrate on used cars, RVs and our service department. Without the extra dealerships costs, there will be less financial burden on our day-to -day operations."

Overall, McKinley is mixed about the GM debacle and said the combined factors of 9-11, the financial crisis and the housing crisis over the past decade have only contributed to the situation. "GM has been sliding for the past 30 years or so, but these recent events have put the final nail in the coffin," said McKinley. "If those events wouldn't have happened, I don't think we'd be sitting here talking about this right now." McKinley Chevrolet has had a rich tradition in Mitchell County over the past 60 plus years.

In 1947, Harold McKinley opened his Chevrolet franchise in St. Ansgar, known as H.L. McKinley & Sons. Through the years, Don McKinley sold the automobiles and Hal McKinley sold the farm equipment.

In the 1980s Mark McKinley and Galen Barker took over the operation and in 1990 purchased the GM dealership in Osage from Auto Plaza, now known as McKinley Chevrolet. Six generations later, McKinley is proud to be a part of the county where his family have lived and served its communties since 1855.

Over the years, Mark said the biggest new car and truck sales in Osage have been the Silverado, GMC Truck and the Buick LeSabre and the Buick Park Avenue. McKinley estimates he has sold over 15,500 vehicles in this area over the past 30 years. "We want to thank the communities of St. Angar and Osage for all their support and business over the years," said McKinley, who hopes the future will be promising and points out that keeping business local will be our saving grace.

Those with questions for Mark McKinley as the transition moves forward are free to call him at (641) 732-5561.