Jerry Victor has been in the car business in Selma for more than 20 years.

He knows when a business decision must be made and recently, he made a big one.

As of March 17, Victor Automotive, located near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Citizens Parkway, no longer carries the Nissan line of new cars.

“It really came down to doing what serves our market the best and that is selling quality, pre-owned vehicles,” Victor said. “For the past few years, pre-owned cars had meant roughly 80 percent of our business, so this is just a move to put all of our focus toward that market.”

McKinnon Ford and Toyota in Clanton purchased the area Nissan franchise and, according to Victor, plan to expand their operation at their Clanton location on I-65 to accommodate the new line.

“Nothing else changes,” Victor said. “We still offer quality, efficient automotive service as we always have. Regardless of what car we sell, we will always work to take care of the customer. That’s our job.”

Victor said he had wrestled with the idea of selling the franchise for the past few months, finally reaching the decision earlier this year and completing the sale in mid-March.

“It just made sense for our business,” Victor said. “We still have a great location and a million and a half dollar inventory of quality pre-owned vehicles.”

Victor said he is excited about the transition.

“Selma is an excellent used car market,” Victor said. “So we are very excited about this transition.”