Local dealerships expand, relocate

What’s fueling the changes, according to several of the dealerships, is more than just increased local car sales.

May Motor Co. moved in April from its old location at 925 S. Glenstone to the former site of Putt-Putt Golf & Games, 3240 S. Campbell. Owner Mike May said the move was all about location.

“We were trying to position ourselves out here in an area with more cars of the same caliber as ours,” May said. “At the same time, we needed some more room. We’ve been in fairly small quarters for the last 13 years, and it’s worked fine for us, but at the same time it will be nice to have more room.”

Richard James is Nissan sales manager for Youngblood Nissan Chrysler Kia, which has a recently completed showroom and a new truck center under construction at its 3525 S. Campbell location.

James said his company’s ongoing $1 million expansion also was intended to provide more room, but in a different way.

“With Nissan’s growing inventory, our facility couldn’t handle the volume of sales, but we also didn’t have a big enough showroom to bring in the bigger vehicles, like the full-sized trucks and the full-sized SUVs, that Nissan is starting to offer,” James said. “The new showroom will be able to handle those vehicles.”

The corporate Joneses

Others are also moving and expanding. Auto World is moving to a new $1.7 million facility at Campbell and James River Freeway. Lipscomb Auto Group completed a $1 million project that included new showrooms for both Suzuki and Porsche. Elite Mercedes also completed a $300,000 service department expansion in 2004.

Many of the expansions and new looks for area dealerships are not so much the result of good local sales as they are of corporate edicts.

Construction began Aug. 8 on a $1.5 million showroom renovation for Don Wessel Oldsmobile-Honda, according to sales manager Jon Wessel. The seven-month renovation, which includes a new façade for the showroom, will bring the showroom in line with Honda’s corporate standards. The work also will wipe away the Oldsmobile name, as the Oldsmobile brand officially disappears Oct. 31.

“It’s the manufacturers making it where you have to do it, and they set a deadline that it has to be done by, and that’s why you’re seeing a lot of companies doing it at the same time,” James said. “Everyone’s trying to make a run and increase their market share. It’s like going out to a nice dinner. The presentation makes your dinner taste better. When you come to a showroom the presentation helps you sell more cars.”

That falls in line with what’s happening at Reliable Superstore at Sunshine Street and Highway 65. A $3.5 million renovation and expansion project includes remodeling the exterior of the Toyota building to meet new national design standards as well as work on the Lexus and BMW showrooms, according to Managing Partner Tony Stubblefield.

“Toyota is now a full-line truck manufacturer, so in a year and a half, they’ll be a full-line full-size truck dealer,” he said. “So we’re looking ahead at what the future holds for us and saying, ‘Do we have the facilities to represent the product well and the office space to accommodate additional employees as we grow?’”

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