As the economy was dropping last summer, the steel of a new showroom at Mercedes-Benz of Augusta was going up.

The sales staff moved out of temporary trailers and into the $5 million, 38,000-square-foot building during the weekend.

"We could have thought of a million reasons not to do it because of the economy being what it is, but we're really happy now that we've done it," said General Manager Ed Luckey.

The dealership added eight employees in March in anticipation of an increase in customer traffic, he said. It has about 80 employees.

Most of the expense in the building was the expansion of the service department from 14 to 24 bays.

The new showroom and service area were conceived when Group 1 Automotive Inc. of Houston bought the dealership in December 2007, Mr. Luckey said. Construction to replace the 40-year-old showroom began in July.

The sales staff had been working out of temporary trailers since December, he said.

"Buying a Mercedes there is a certain expectation of the buying experience and ownership experience. Trying to sell a $30,000 car out of a trailer lacks some of the sparkle," Mr. Luckey said.

He said it was hard to measure the effect of the trailers because the economy was already depressed. He said the dealership didn't lose any market share because of the construction.

Group 1 Automotive operates more than 100 dealerships in the country.