VIENNA, Ohio

The new owner of the Chevrolet dealership in Vienna has the legitimate right to say it's off to a Sweet start.

New Castle native Greg Sweet bought the dealership, now going under the name Greg Sweet's Airport Chevrolet, and said he has immediate plans to increase the vehicle inventory by nearly one-third.

"We're particularly interested in getting more pickup trucks in,'' Sweet said. "We're working with General Motors on this and they said they'll help us.''

Sweet is hardly a stranger to a car dealership. He began washing and waxing cars as a teen-ager at his father's New Castle dealership, Al Sweet Motor Sales.

He still recalls the first car he sold at his father's dealership in 1970, a used Ford Cortina, a small car made in England. Then 18, Sweet said his commission on the deal was $20.

"It was such a rush,'' he recalled. "I knew that this is what I wanted to do.''

After rising through the ranks at his father's dealership, he struck out on his own and worked at several car dealers in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In addition to the Vienna dealership, he now owns Greg Sweet Ford, Lincoln, Mercury in Ashtabula, Greg Sweet Chevrolet in Conneaut and Mark Thomas Ford in Cortland, all in Ohio.

This is the second time he has owned the Airport dealership as he sold it four years ago. He's taken on Bill Davis to serve as the dealership's general manager. Now living in East Liverpool, Davis will relocate to the area.

"We're both very customer-satisfaction oriented,'' Sweet said. "We'll try to accommodate everybody's needs.''

If all goes well, Sweet said he wants to build a new service department and has already started to make service improvements such as giving overnight loaner cars if a customer's car needs work.

"My name is on the dealership now,'' Sweet said. "We will not promise what we cannot deliver.''