Longtime Chattanooga auto dealer Tim Kelly said times are definitely difficult in his line of business, but he is confident that his family-owned business as well as General Motors will survive.

"I think this is just one of those times when you have to buckle down, roll up your sleeves, and work hard," he said.

Mr. Kelly said the current economic nosedive has brought a streamlining at his two dealerships. Subaru and Mitsubishi are on Riverfront Parkway and Hummer/Saab/Cadillac/GMC on Chapman Road.

He said, "It’s been tough. We’ve had to lay some folks off and flat out let others go, but I think we’ve done it in a way that those who remain understand that it’s for the common good and just plain necessary. I have cut my own pay 10% as well."

He said, fortunately, Chattanooga is not feeling the full brunt of the downturn. "Generally speaking we live in a part of the world that has always been fiscally conservative, for the most part. Let’s face it, before the TVA, a large part of the population around here (including parts of my own family) were in essence subsistence farmers.

"This aspect of local culture has frankly restrained our growth - at least relative to many of our regional peers - for many years, but now it’s paying dividends.

"Sure, we’ve got our fair share of genuine economic distress, but the amount of household debt and leverage out there are nothing like they are in many of the nation’s larger markets.

"There is as much right here as there is wrong, in short, and I think the biggest issue we have is restoring consumer confidence to a level sufficient to induce those who 'do' have money to spend to go ahead and spend it (albeit responsibly)."

Mr. Kelly said most auto dealers "are solid, stable, and will be here for the long haul."

He said, "One of the odd economic features of Chattanooga is that the ratio of used vehicles sold to new vehicles sold is considerably higher here than elsewhere, and we do a very good job at Kelly with used cars. The used business has not been as dramatically affected as the new car business - presumably because people buy used rather than new as an expression of their fiscal discipline, which has helped us and many other local dealers survive.

"The sad fact is that when personnel, facility, and advertising expenses are added back in, 'nobody' makes any money selling new cars anyway - no dealer I know, anyway. So having healthy service, body, parts and used vehicle departments is critical to the health of a dealership in this environment, and we are fortunate to be very solid in those areas at Kelly.

"I’d also say that we’re extremely fortunate to have the people that we have here at Kelly. To start with, having a guy like Doug Hoyt, a full-fledged CPA, as our CFO is tremendously valuable at times like this. All of the management and staff, however, have been critical in keeping us out of the ditch, largely, I believe, because we really do 'hire for attitude and train for aptitude.' I sort of stole this from Southwest Airlines, but I am a huge believer in it, and it is particularly critical at times like this.

"If you walk in a showroom and it feels like a funeral parlor, you won’t feel like buying much of anything. People just don’t want to be around negativity, and we have managed, over the course of time, to hire a crew of people which is almost universally upbeat and positive, no matter the circumstances."

Mr. Kelly added, "As regards the General Motors situation, I really do think they’ll be solid in the long haul. Unlike a lot of my colleagues, I think Sen. Bob Corker’s analysis has been dead on the money all along. The sacrifices he was demanding are precisely the thing that 'need' to be done in order for GM to be viable long term, and it’s going to hurt everyone a bit now - or else everyone a 'lot' later.

"We may lose Hummer and Saab (a pretty major sacrifice, considering the time and money invested in those brands over the years), but if that’s what it takes for GM to concentrate and focus, we’re at least fortunate to represent two of the remaining four core brands with Cadillac and GMC.

"Even if Hummer and SAAB go away entirely in this country - which is highly unlikely I think - we will be here to fulfill the warranties and provide service and parts for the duration, so it’s not the disaster that many make it out to be."