Pinegar Honda unveils upgrades via Blue Stage remodel

Pinegar Honda unveiled its Blue Stage remodeling and addition project with a celebration yesterday that included food trucks, free T-shirts and tours for the public.

Monique Carriger, general manager, said Pinegar is at the leading edge of Honda dealerships to complete the Blue Stage remodel, which provides an array of digital enhancements to the process of buying or servicing a vehicle.

“We’re one of the first dealerships – there’s maybe 20, 25 in the nation that have completed the Blue Stage remodel, and there’s a total of 1,085 Honda dealers,” she said in an interview at the event at the 3520 S. Campbell Ave. dealership.

One of the key features of the renovation was a set of enclosed service lanes, where vehicles drive in and are scanned while their tires are assessed for any tread and alignment issues. Customer records are pulled up, and cameras photograph any damage.

“A lot of times people don’t realize they have damage there, so if it’s something that we can address while it’s here, that’s nice for the customers as well,” Carriger said.

Carriger declined to disclose the size of the investment, noting in an email follow-up conversation today, “We’re comfortable describing it simply as a considerable commitment.”

Accessibility, whether for people with handicapping conditions or parents with strollers, was top of mind during the renovation, Carriger said.

“My biggest thing I wanted to address with the remodel was getting everybody coming in on one level to make it easier for our customers,” she said.

She noted that her husband was in a wheelchair for four months in 2020, and that drove home some of the accessibility issues that existed with the dealership, whose history goes back decades.

According to past Springfield Business Journal reporting, Don Wessel opened an Oldsmobile dealership on St. Louis Street in 1966 and began selling Honda vehicles in the 1970s. Wessel moved to the Campbell Avenue location in the 1970s with an Oldsmobile and GM dealership, Carriger said, and Pinegar Honda acquired Don Wessel Honda in November 2021.

The genesis of the Blue Stage project occurred when the dealership changed hands, according to Carriger.

“When Tad Pinegar purchased from John Wessel, it was part of the requirement to do the Blue Stage remodel by 2026, so we knew it was something we were going to have to get started on,” she said. “But also it was just a really old building, and we needed those upgrades and to make it more accessible and to bring it more into the current technology.”

The online publication Driving was one of the first outlets to announce Honda’s Blue Stage concept in 2022, noting the space would specialize in electric vehicles and electrified products. It’s also designed to take advantage of a consumer shift to digital sales processes.

Carriger said the first phase of the Pinegar Honda project focused on the showroom and service drive expansion, and Phase 2 and 3, which are forthcoming, will address further service area renovations for technicians, paving of the back gravel lot and ultimately a full renovation of the original curved Honda showroom, which will serve as administrative offices until then.

The project kicked off with a permit for the addition and remodel project in June 2024, according to online records from the city of Springfield.

The professional team included BP Builders LLC, general contractor; OzMo LLC, architect; RTM Engineering Consultants LLC, structural engineer; and Jennifer Winslow PE LLC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer. Pitt Technology Group LLC provided technology services.

“A project of this scale succeeds only with outstanding partners,” Carriger said.