Fiat dealership planned for Wilmington

Wilmington’s Neuwirth Motors plans to add a Fiat dealership to its portfolio of Chrysler vehicles, the company’s president said Tuesday. John Gillilan said he expects that the Fiat operation will open in October.

The new dealership will be located on the Neuwirth Motors property at 219 S. College Road, for its first year or so, after which it will move to its own location.

“We have a body shop building on the property, the front of which we’ll use to build a Fiat showroom,” Gillilan said.

Neuwirth was approached by Chrysler officials with the offer of the Fiat dealership. The new operation will be one of fewer than 200 Fiat sales locations in the United States and only the fourth in North Carolina.

“The Wilmington area is a good import market,” Gillilan said. “That’s why Chrysler is interested. We also do a pretty good job for Chrysler and sell a lot of new cars.”

Gillilan also said he anticipates that Neuwirth will open an Alpha Romeo dealership within the next couple of years.