Three of the five
Thayer Family Dealerships in Bowling Green are getting a new look and the other two are not far behind.The
focus now is remodeling of Ralph Thayer Chevrolet and entirely new facilities for Thayer Toyota and Thayer
Honda."Nationwide the manufacturers all want uniformity and upgrades," said Paul Thayer, whose
late father, Ralph, started out with Chevrolet in 1935.Approximately five jobs will be added at each of the
three operations.The Chevrolet dealership moved from downtown BG to North Main Street in the mid 1960s and
has grown from there.Work on the Chevrolet building is already well under way with completion scheduled by
summer. The service area will be about 60 percent larger, adding eight service bays. The showroom will be
redone from the floor tile to the furniture.A separate building that housed Toyota sales, along with used
vehicle sales, has been demolished to make room for a structure about three-times as large. Daughter Rachel
Thayer said that facility should be completed by late July or early September.Work on the Honda dealership
to the north of the Chevrolet building started in January and is showing good progress.When complete, Honda
operations on adjacent lots in the 1000 block of North Main Street will make the short trip north for a
totally different look.The Thayer family added the Honda dealership to its offerings in October
2010."Part of the deal was we had to have a new building," Paul Thayer said.The facility will
handle sales, service and parts and feature a drive-through service write-up station. In fact, the drive
through service write-up will be a new feature for Chevrolet and Toyota as well.The emphasis with all of the
work will be to make operations customer friendly and energy efficient. Customers will be able to access
wifi and there will be charging stations for electric vehicles.Once work is completed on the Chevrolet,
Honda and Toyota buildings, the focus will move to the Ford and Nissan operations.