Service Chevrolet in Calhoun is closed its doors on Wednesday. 

Rumors that Service Chevrolet would close have been circulating in Calhoun for the past two weeks, and Wednesday, owner Dave Logan said, “it looks like we are going to do that.”

Logan told the Calhoun Times that he was still working out the details and did not have time for an interview.

The Service Chevrolet announcement comes as General Motors Corp. continues to struggle.

The Detroit auto giant is offering zero-percent financing for up to 60 months on the 2008 Chevy Trailblazer, the GMC Envoy and three Saab models.

The move is designed to help GM sell new cars and trucks and make good use of the funding that the White House earlier this month agreed to extend to both GM and Chrysler.

GM blamed a big part of the company’s sales meltdown in recent months on prospective customers’ inability to obtain financing, pointing out that less than 30 percent of buyers have a credit score above that minimum level.

The more lenient standards should provide a tailwind at a time when the automotive industry is facing the prospect of dismal December sales — a seasonally adjusted annual rate of fewer than 10 million vehicles.

However, it will take more than incentives to bring buyers back to the showrooms, according to Edmunds.com analyst Jesse Toprak.

“As questions about the economy remain unanswered, many consumers are reluctant to respond to the incredibly generous deals available on new cars,” he said.

Total U.S. auto sales dropped by more than a third in November, scraping in at the lowest annual rate in 26 years. GM and Chrysler led the declines with drops of more than 40 percent each.

Calhoun Times