Since early this week, the lot at Kaahumanu Avenue and Kahului Beach Road has been nearly empty and the outdoor sales banners for Cutter Maui Imports are gone.

The dealership is owned by Cutter Family Auto Centers, one of Hawaii's biggest car and truck dealers.

It was unclear on the last day of November exactly what happened.

It also is uncertain how many jobs were lost or whether other island dealerships would take over the sales and service void created by Cutter's apparent departure.

A former employee, who asked to remain unnamed, said the staff was told on Monday that the dealership was closing for good at the end of the week and that employees would receive a small severance package.

He said that the dealership had been struggling to sell vehicles for some time and underwent a substantial round of layoffs during the summer.

Nick Cutter, president of Cutter Family Auto Centers in Honolulu, was out of the office and unavailable for comment on Thursday and Friday.

Through the company headquarters' receptionist, Vice President Marc Cutter declined comment on Friday and said Nick Cutter would be back in the office Monday.

Cutter Maui Imports General Manager Aiyaz Dean also on Friday referred all questions to Nick Cutter.

According to the company's Web site, Cutter Family Auto Centers has 10 dealerships in Hawaii with an inventory of thousands of vehicles and 13 car and truck makes, including Ford, GMC, Chevrolet and Jeep.

On Maui, Cutter has most recently had the Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Hyundai product lines.

Speculation has run high in the Maui auto dealership community about the future of Cutter here ever since Jim Falk's Valley Isle Motors Inc. took over Cutter's Mazda franchise about a month ago, said competing automotive sales professionals who asked not to be identified.

The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations was not given the required 60-day closure notice by Cutter, said department spokesman James Hardway. However, Hardway noted that the notification law – which allows his office to provide job training and transfer services to laid off employees – is only applicable to companies with 50 or more employees.

Cutter Maui Imports may not have had that many employees on the payroll, Hardway said.

Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.