New year. New look. Same great family-owned and -operated business.

Lewis Automotive, opened in 1930 by Charles Lewis Sr., is now in its fourth generation of ownership with sisters Sarah Abrams and Rachel Hopkins at the helm.

Abrams said the dealership has “done a complete 180 from the beginning.”

Back in the 1930s, Lewis Automotive sold Chevrolets and Cadillacs. Now, it is a Nissan and Suzuki dealership.

Along with incorporating the Nissan commercial line of full-size vans and trucks in March, Lewis Automotive has received a major makeover.

Hopkins says the newly remodeled facility is the face of Nissan across the country.

“The way our building looks now is the way they would like all Nissan dealerships to look,” Hopkins said. “So when you go into a Nissan store, just like you go into a McDonald’s, you know what to expect when you walk in.”

Branding Lewis Automotive as a Nissan dealership gave everything from the furniture to the exterior of the building a facelift.

They have received a tremendous amount of feedback from employees, customers and community members about how great the building looks.

“We’ve completed reinvented the face of Lewis. We were always known as a Chevy dealer,” Hopkins said.

But with that in mind, the sisters say they want customers to know they are still available to Chevrolet and GM customers.

“We still want to be known as their dealership,” Hopkins said. “We want them to bring their vehicles here for service, even if they’re not driving a Nissan.”

Abrams says people are used to shopping at Chevy and Ford dealerships for commercial vehicles.

“It’s been a hard market to get people to realize Nissan is capable of making a product that’s superior to the ones on the market.”

The Suzuki line of vehicles has only been available at Lewis for the past two years, so it is still a fairly new market, as well.

Abrams and Hopkins say although winter is here, they no longer have a high demand for four-wheel drive automobiles.

Instead, the market is more stable and many people are opting for smaller SUVs with all-wheel drive, which are purchased year-round.

The team is forecasting a great year in 2012 for auto sales.

Hopkins says the National Auto Dealers Association is predicting auto sales for this year will be the biggest since “Cash for Clunkers.”

Despite the difficulties many dealerships and businesses have faced with the downturn of the economy, Abrams said Lewis has had several very strong years.

“We’ve worked really hard and have had to work harder than in the past, but it hasn’t affected us as much as it has other businesses or other areas.”

Hopkins joined the team in 1997 and Abrams in 2000. They both describe auto sales as “addictive” and “exciting.”

“The car business is very cyclical. It’s very up and down,” Abrams said. “But it gets in your blood and it’s a hard thing to walk away from.”

Their excitement about their work is reflected in their attitudes toward their business.

“We really are not only a family-run organization, but our employees are family to us as well,” Hopkins said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing that differentiates us from everybody else. We not only care about our employees as employees, but we care about them as family. And we care about their families. I think we treat our customers the same way, too. People feel that when they come here, they are now part of the Lewis family.”

— E-mail: wholdren@register-herald.com