A top Vincentian-born car dealer is among those hit by the downturn in the auto industry across the United States.
Cox Nissan’s CEO, Keith Cox, saw some 300 new and pre-owned cars, valued at $10 million, recently taken from his Bronx car lots by the bank, according to the Street Hype newspaper.
The paper reported that neighbors and onlookers stared as the cars at 3700 Boston Road and 1235 East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx were hastily packed on several wreckers as the staff looked on.
Cox told the paper the bank was called in to repossess, since `we could not carry the overheads or source cheaper finances.` He said with the overall downturn in the economy, his business suffered a 60 percent decline in revenue.
`This came at a time when we just invested $4 million to construct the new facilities on Boston Road,` Street Hype quoted him as saying. `With over sixty staff to pay and bank charges, our monthly overhead expenses were well over $0.5 million, plus the customers were not buying. We could not continue the operation,` he stressed and added that `this has nothing to do with any taxation issue or matters with the federal government.`
He added that he will now sue Nissan Corporation and the banks for causing him financial woes. Especially since he insists that Nissan pressured him to construct the new offices or lose the Nissan franchise. `They pushed me to build this nice place. I really did not have the money to sustain it. Now they leave me out in the cold without any support or help,` he added.
Cox migrated to the United States at the age of 14 from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Source: CaribWorldNews.com
