Dealership closes after one day (Daily Journal)
Only one car was sold at the new Subaru dealership in Burlingame Thursday before it was temporarily closed by a state superior judge wanting to look into an appeal from a Redwood City lot selling the same brand.
Putnam Automotive opened a Subaru location at 85 California Drive in Burlingame Thursday. Lawyers for Carlsen Subaru of Redwood City, 480 Veterans Blvd., filed a petition the same week pointing to a state statute preventing market saturation. A judge ordered Putnam to close until a hearing to determine if the business can reopen can be held. A challenge to the decision moved the case to a different judge and a yet-to-be-determined hearing date, said Michael Sieving, lawyer for Carlsen Subaru of Redwood City.
Cars purchased by Kent Putnam were put in storage until the issue can be heard. The halt puts 10 to 15 jobs at the new dealership in limbo. Some employees have already quit, Putnam said.
City officials were excited about last week's opening since new car revenue represents about 35 percent of sales tax coming into Burlingame.
Opening the new location would probably put the Redwood City dealership out of business, Sieving said.
In March, Subaru of America, Inc. announced a 1 percent increase in sales in February 2009 over the same month in 2008. Year-to-date sales rose 4 percent with 25,283 cars sold this year compared to 24,195 last, according to the company's Web site. Putnam pointed to this growth as the initial reason for opening the store.

– Written by Fiona