The Premier Truck Group dealership in Northwest Georgia is expanding its presence with the construction of a multimillion-dollar used vehicle office.
A 5,000-square-foot office is under construction at the company’s Battlefield Parkway and Interstate-75 facility in Ringgold, Ga., said Jerry Sexton, president of Sexton Construction Co.
Fast fact
Penske Automotive Group acquired the Freightliner medium and heavy-duty commercial truck dealerships in the Chattanooga and Knoxville markets four years ago.
The Chattanooga builder estimated the construction of the office at about $2 million.
Freddy Stephens, Premier’s vice president of infrastructure and safety based in Dallas, said officials had wanted a new sales office in Ringgold for the group’s remarketing truck division for some time.
“This state-of-the-art office … will enhance our ability to serve customers in and around Chattanooga,” he said about the new facility designed by Fitzgerald Associates Architects Inc. in Oklahoma City.
Sexton said work began in mid-March and the new office should be ready in July. Sexton said his company built the original Freightliner facility on the site in 1998. The existing dealership is 100,000 square feet in size with its sales and service operation and body shop, he said.
“This is an additional previously owned, used truck sales office we’re adding,” Sexton said.
Premier Truck Group of Chattanooga provides parts, service and body shop services plus new and used truck sales to individuals and trucking companies based in the Southeast or traveling through on the I-75 corridor.
Earth work has begun at the Premier Truck Group facility in Ringgold, Ga., with plans for a new used vehicle office to open in July. / Contributed photoThe facility sits on 14 acres and is equipped with 33 full-service truck bays and 12 body shop stalls, according to the company. It offers a driver’s lounge with a quiet room, a vending area, laundry and shower facilities and a separate recreational vehicle lounge.
“We have on-site trailer parking and RV parking with electrical hook-ups,” the company said.
In addition, it services and stocks parts for Thomas buses.
Four years ago, Penske Automotive Group acquired the Freightliner medium and heavy-duty commercial truck dealerships in the Chattanooga and Knoxville markets. The dealerships represent the full line of Freightliner commercial truck products under the brand names Freightliner, Western Star, Sprinter and Freightliner Custom Chassis.
Roger S. Penske, Penske Automotive Group’s chairman, said at the time that the company wanted to expand its commercial truck dealership footprint into the new markets to help it build scale within a highly-fragmented commercial truck dealership industry.
“The Chattanooga and Knoxville dealerships offer a strong legacy of providing outstanding new and used sales and service to local customers in addition to servicing fleet and owner-operators along the busy Interstate 24, 40 and 75 corridors providing us with an outstanding opportunity for future organic growth,” he said in a statement.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.