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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Several people have stopped Greg Boucher, owner of Yellowknife Chrysler, to ask him what's going to happen to his business given the financial hardships of the Chrysler company in the U.S.

Greg Boucher, owner of Yellowknife Chrysler, said his dealership continues to grow despite the financial troubles of U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Last week, the United States Treasury reached an agreement-in-principle with the debt-ridden U.S. automaker that will allow it to enter bankruptcy protection and refinance its debt.

The Wall Street Journal reported the United Auto Workers will eventually own 55 per cent of stock in the restructured Chrysler, while Italian-owned Fiat will eventually own 35 per cent and the U.S. government and Chrysler's secured lenders together will own 10 per cent.

Documents submitted by Chrysler to U.S. bankruptcy court show the company lost $16.8 billion in 2008 and expects to lose $4.7 billion this year.

But Boucher said Chrysler's financial restructuring will restore the company to good health and allow everyone - manufacturers and dealers - to move forward.

From a dealer's perspective, said Boucher, "the fact that Chrysler has gone into bankruptcy protection is probably the best possible outcome because this is going to happen quickly now. They will be out of this situation within 30 to 60 days.

"All the debt will be restructured and, in fact, minimized. They're going to be a much leaner, stronger company coming out of this process than they are going in," he added.

Meanwhile, Yellowknife Chrysler, which has around 30 full-time employees, is continuing to grow. The dealership plans to expand its lot for the third time in 10 years, opening spots for an additional 60 to 80 cars.

In addition, the absence of Force One's boat show at Yellowknife's Greatest Indoor Show, taking place this weekend, prompted Boucher to book four times the amount of floor space than last year.

He said he'll use it to display 12 trailers - up from four the previous year.