Sep. 5--Citing tough sledding in sales of U.S.-made vehicles, the Sullivan Auto Group is consolidating its Saturn of Roseville business operations into nearby John L. Sullivan Chevrolet in the Roseville Automall.

While the company headed by longtime local dealer John L. Sullivan will continue to sell new Saturns on the Saturn of Roseville lot at 750 Automall Drive, mechanics and other employees there were laid off Tuesday as part of a companywide restructuring.

David A. Rodgers, senior vice president and general manager of Sullivan Auto Group, said Thursday that 30 employees have been laid off over the past 90 days in the restructuring.

"It's just the economy right now," Rodgers said. "Domestic demand has somewhat diminished over the last 18 months. We've reduced our combined (work force) by 26 percent."

Rodgers stressed that Sullivan Auto Group "is still using the building" at Saturn of Roseville and "still retailing Saturns" there.

But he said management of Saturn of Roseville was being absorbed into neighboring John L. Sullivan Chevrolet at 700 Automall Drive in the automall.

Rodgers said the Chevrolet dealership is handling most of the Saturn service and maintenance chores. A separate "Saturn lane" has been set up at the service drive-through.

Sullivan Auto Group also operates Roseville Toyota-Scion in the mall at 350 Automall Drive.

Rodgers said Sullivan Auto Group wants to keep the Saturn of Roseville property, and he said the company is considering various options on how to use it in the future.

Steve Robinson, 65, Internet manager at Saturn of Roseville, said he and other employees were informed Tuesday they were being laid off.

"They said my position had been eliminated," he said. "They said (the company) was being restructured. Mechanics, technicians and a service writer were let go. They saved three of the sales people and put them over to Chevrolet."

Sullivan Auto Group picked up the Saturn franchise in 2002, when Saturn Corp. designated the local auto group to manage a new dealership to be constructed adjacent to John L. Sullivan Chevrolet.

The economic downturn, tight credit and high gasoline prices have been hammering dealerships all year. Locally, six new-car retailers have folded in the past six months.

--At the end of August, Winter Volvo Lincoln Mercury on Florin Road in Sacramento closed its doors, ending a 60-year run of auto selling in Sacramento.

--In May, Senator Auto Group closed new-car sales operations at Senator Ford, 3801 Florin Road.

--In April, Paul Blanco announced that he was closing his Paul Blanco Chevrolet dealership at 3815 Florin Road.

All three dealers accepted consolidation buyout offers from U.S. automakers, who are trying to streamline the business by operating fewer dealership in large metropolitan markets.

Other dealership closings in the area this year included Auburn Nissan on Grass Valley Highway in Auburn, Great Valley Chrysler Jeep Mazda Isuzu on Fulton Avenue in Sacramento and Elk Grove Ford in the Elk Grove Auto Mall.

On Wednesday, U.S. automakers reported that the severe sales slump continued in August, although some were encouraged by a bump up in vehicle sales compared with the previous month.

The latest sales figures released this week showed nationwide auto sales falling 15.5 percent in August compared with the same month last year. However, U.S. sales for August were up 10 percent compared with July.

Chrysler LLC saw the biggest plunge, with sales down 34.5 percent in the August-to-August period. Ford Motor Co. reported a 26.5 percent decline; General Motors was off 20.3 percent.

Even the highflying Japanese automakers felt some pain in August: Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales dipped 9.4 percent, and Honda Motor Co. was down 7.3 percent.

Nissan Motor Co. was the only major automaker to report an increase over August 2007. Its sales climbed 13.6 percent last month.

-----

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com/.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Australia:ALO, NYSE:F, NYSE:GM, NYSE:TM, NYSE:HMC, NASDAQ-SMALL:NSANY,