Belvidere's Dodge Dart Sales are Up More Than 70%

BELVIDERE - Dodge Dart sales are up in the month of September, some 72% from August.  Area Dodge dealerships can barely keep the Dart on the lot, and people in Belvidere, home of the Dart, they aren't complaining about it.

The Chrysler plant in Belvidere is rolling the cars out as quick as they can but at the Anderson Dodge dealership in Rockford supply can barely keep up with demand.  Only two of the Dart's were left on the lot on Tuesday, and out of their next order of nine - already seven are pre-sold.

"It actually gives customers that want choices another choice," said Bob Williams, general manager of sales at Anderson Dodge.

"You don't have to buy an import in order to get into this type of vehicle anymore," said Williams.

Last month 5,235 people made the choice to hop in a Dodge Dart.  The car is classified by the EPA as a compact car.  The compact car market makes up for more than 10% of total car sales nationwide, something Dodge has been missing out on the last few years.

"The last time we had anything like this was the Neon which they stopped building in 2005," said Williams.

"We sold tons of those little cars, they were great cars, still a lot of them on the road today, and it's nice to have a replacement for that finally."

With increased sales means increased employment and increased employment means more disposable income for Belvidere residents.  Belvidere Alderman Clayton Stevens (I - 1^st Ward) says he's seen more and more people from his city out shopping and spending money on things that aren't completely necessary.

"I've really noticed a lot of people improving their homes.  People are reroofing, residing, stuff like that," said Stevens.

Stevens once worked at the Chrysler plant before becoming a firefighter and paramedic with the city of Belvidere.  His mother, father and sister also worked at the plant.  He says he looks forward to seeing more generations of Belvidere residents work there as well.

"The fact that Chrysler put all those millions of dollars into this plant to expand it, retool it, means that they're going to stay here for a long time," Stevens said.

Alderman Stevens mentions with more disposable income in the hands of Dodge Dart employees, he assumes retail sales will hopefully take a turn for the better going into the upcoming holiday season.  Stevens adds higher retail sales will also help the city too with an increase in sales tax revenue.

Chrysler on a whole is doing well.  The rest of their sales number released today show sales up 10% from September 2011.