One active Orange County auto dealership has made Chrysler LLC’s list of 789 dealers targeted for closure.
Union Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Garden Grove made Chrysler’s list, which was made public Thursday.
Another local dealership, Urban Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Foothill Ranch, also was named but already is closed.
The Garden Grove dealership is among the smaller ones in the county. It didn’t make the Business Journal’s March list of the 25 largest dealers here, which had a cutoff of $70 million in 2008 sales.
Union Chrysler and other dealers on Chrysler’s list now have 23 business days for a court review of their cases.
Korean immigrant Frank Lee started the Garden Grove dealership in 1995, according to a 1998 Business Journal profile.
His eldest son Charles Lee is listed as majority owner on Chrysler’s list.
Frank Lee started several auto businesses after coming here from South Korea in 1974. He’s been semi-retired for the past decade.
The other local dealership on the list, Urban Chrysler Jeep Dodge, recently closed.
In 2007, a duo from Crevier BMW in Santa Ana left to go out on their own, buying the dealership, which previously was Foothill Ranch Chrysler Jeep Dodge.
Chris Collins and Rob McGee had planned to offer luxury services like those usually found at the county’s import auto dealers.
They had plans for luxury perks such as free washes, a cafe and shuttles to the airport.
“We wanted to create a W hotel feel for the automotive industry,” McGee said told the Business Journal in 2007.
Chrysler unveiled the targeted closures as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. The automaker now has about 3,180 dealerships.
