Don K dealership adds detail building

The Don K car dealership in Whitefish has embarked on another round of expansion with the addition of a $650,000 accessory and detail building that is an extension of the business’ Subaru operation.

The 3,600-square-foot building is under construction on the east end of the dealership on U.S. 93 South, between the body shop and main Subaru building, owner Don Kaltschmidt said. It should be completed by early summer.

“It will look a lot like the Subaru building, with the same paint [and design] scheme,” he said. “We’ve grown quite a bit, and have been doing a lot of our accessories in other buildings. We need more stalls.”

The new facility will feature an in-house, state-of-the-art detail operation and includes a specialized car wash for dealership use, Kaltschmidt said.

Because the expansion will provide more space for technicians, Kaltschmidt expects to add another four to five employees over the coming year.

Sales continue to be strong, he said, even though last year was “flat” over the dealership’s best year ever in 2015, he added.

“What’s exciting to us is [the growth in] our mechanical, service, parts and body shop,” he said. “As we sell a lot, there are more units in operation out there with people needing to service their vehicles.”

Don K Whitefish wrapped up a multimillion dollar expansion in 2014 with the addition of a 14,000-square-foot Subaru showroom. The campus currently has three buildings with a total of 53,000 square feet of space for sales and service of Subaru, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep vehicles.

Kaltschmidt acquired the Subaru franchise from Glacier Motors in February 2010 and added it to his longtime Chevrolet dealership. A year later he bought Kari Dodge in Evergreen and added the Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram lines to the business.