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Although the economy is still shaky and the auto industry recovery still tenuous, that’s not stopping car dealers in Nashville and across the nation from committing millions of dollars to upgrades of their stores — usually at the prompting of the auto manufacturers.

Nelson Mazda this month will move into the former Downtown Nissan/Hippodrome Oldsmobile location on Broadway that the company says it has spent “multimillions” of dollars to renovate.

“We’re really excited to be down there,” said Chad Custer, chief operating officer and local managing partner of Nelson Mazda, part of a dealership group based in Oklahoma. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for us and for the city. There are a lot of positive aspects — it’s in the heart of downtown, and that intersection offers high visibility.”

Custer said the dealership is confident enough in the economy to make the investment in the new facility, which will replace the company’s Rivergate store. That location will close at the end of the month, but a second Nelson Mazda location, at Hickory Hollow, will remain open.

The downtown operation fits the new dealership format being pushed by Mazda, the No. 4 Japanese automaker. It has a racing-garage theme to emphasize a performance-oriented brand whose consumers have the second-lowest average age among automakers in the U.S. market, Custer said.

Another dealer group, Florida-based Automotive Management Services Inc., or AMSI, plans extensive renovations to some of the Nashville-area stores it recently bought from the former Alexander automotive group, including the Chevrolet/Cadillac and Buick/GMC stores in Murfreesboro.

“We’re looking at our options and will have some plans in place soon,” said Michael Creque, general manager of the stores, collectively known as GM of Murfreesboro. One change might include moving the Cadillac store out of the building it now shares with the Chevy dealership, giving it its own space.

Those upgrades are part of a massive renewal program that General Motors is promoting nationwide for its dealers, 96 percent of whom have agreed to participate, the automaker said earlier this week.

Don Johnson, GM’s U.S. sales chief, told analysts that 460 of its dealerships will complete their renovations by the end of the year, and that more than 4,000 will be upgraded by 2015.

Among them is the Freeland Chevrolet Superstore at Hickory Hollow, though the planned changes will be “mostly cosmetic,” said owner Ben Freeland.

“We will do the signature blue entryway that Chevrolet wants, along with such things as upgraded tile and furnishings,” he said. Freeland said some other GM dealers nationally will have to invest much more to bring their stores up to the automaker’s new standards. “If I had to build a brand-new dealership in the current market, that would be a completely different situation,” Freeland added.

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