Greystoke sells franchise rights of Suburu, Volkswagen; plans for expansion with Kia

By Abby Morris
Star Staff
amorris@starhq.com

   JOHNSON CITY -- Customers of Greystoke Chevrolet can expect to see some new changes very soon. The dealership recently completed a transaction that sold the Suburu and Volkswagen portion of the franchise to another dealership.
   Greystoke Chevrolet, owned by Amie Pearson and Renee Mullins, sold the franchise rights to the Wallace Automotive Group which has dealerships established in Kingsport and Bristol. The sale of the franchise rights to Suburu and Volkswagen was a project that has been in the works for a few months, according to Mullins.
   The sale came as a result of plans that Greystoke is currently in the progress of implementing to expand the dealership in a new direction. "We want to build a Kia and used car supercenter," Mullins said.
   Greystoke purchased the property adjacent to its current location at 3606 Bristol Highway, and construction has already begun for the new Kia dealership as well as the used car supercenter, Pearson said. Mullins said the construction should be completed in the Summer of this year.
   Wallace Automotive is excited about the prospect as well. "We have Volkswagen and Suburu in Bristol, and we certainly understand that those are both quality vehicles," said Vann Avirett of Wallace Automotive. "We've been in the automotive business in the Tri-Cities for more than 40 years."
   The Wallace Automotive dealership, which will be called Wallace Imports of Johnson City, is located at 3001-3007 Bristol Highway, near the intersection of the Bristol Highway and Oakland Avenue. "We've been doing some fairly expensive remodeling," said Tim C. Baker of Wallace Automotive.
   In addition to the Suburu and Volkswagen lines, Wallace Automotive will carry Suzuki models at the new dealership. "We will have Mitsubishi in the Johnson City market in the very near future," Avirett said.