A little bit of history. Quite some time ago, before I moved to Wausau, Jim Carter (the dealership) sold Mazdas (and Chevrolets). Shortly before I moved here, or maybe it was after, Jim Carter disappeared and was replaced by Kocourek Chevrolet. Mazda evaporated, maybe because they didn’t have much to offer at the time, and so for at least 5 years Wausau has been Mazda-less in spite of its size.
Along the same line, Kocourek recently (in spring 06 or so) filled their import brand void by buying Wausau Imports (Nissan, Saab, Audi, and VW - easily my favorite for window shopping). In this new arrangement, Imports moved into what used to be the Saturn of Wausau dealership, conveniently located across from Kocourek. Saab, however, was moved to Kocourek’s GM building, presumably because of being part of GM.
In the meantime, Mazda was still nowhere to be found, until this week. Fred Mueller (GMC, Buick, and Pontiac) has added an import line to their arsenal with their new Mazda franchise. Like I said, a few years ago, Mazda didn’t bring much to the table. Now though, they have quite a lineup and I’m happy to see they’ve returned because I hated having to drive 40 minutes to look at them. Furthermore, the dude I talked to there (part of the Mueller family) was super nice and very enthusiastic about their new acquisition.
Overall, it’s been an interesting year for the car market in Wausau.
cottager said:
That’s weird Mueller picked up Mazda, being that Mazda is owned by Ford.
12:20 on 18 Sep 2006
matches said:
Good call! That fact totally slipped my mind, and makes it all the more interesting. I’m thinking they just wanted to pick up an entry-level import brand, and Mazda’s the only large one (Suzuki really doesn’t have much) that we don’t have around here.
12:32 on 18 Sep 2006