DePratu to move Volkswagen franchise to Kalispell

The DePratu car dealership of Whitefish announced last week it plans to build a new Volkswagen dealership in south Kalispell.

The 11,000 square-foot building would go up south of the Four Corners intersection and Kalispell Toyota on four acres of land at the southeast corner of U.S. 93 and Lower Valley Road.

DePratu plans to keep its Ford dealership in Whitefish, said Jeff Brown, owner and general manager at DePratu. The Volkswagen franchise and all of its service personnel would move to Kalispell.

Brown said there are larger opportunities for retail sales in Kalispell and that the Whitefish dealership is currently tight on shop capacity.

“We just thought it would be a good time to move and expand and shake things up a bit,” Brown said.

He says there are some plans to revamp the Ford dealership in the future and that in the long-term the business move “will be very positive for Whitefish.”

Brown said it wasn’t decided yet if the Whitefish shop will continue to service Volkswagen vehicles after the new Kalispell shop is built.

“That’s still up in air,” he said.