The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
WHEELS IN MOTION
Some new car dealerships expanding despite pandemic’s economic impact
About a half-dozen dealers of new cars around the state either are in the midst of expansions or recently completed such work. Reasons for the expansions vary, but dealers said the improvements were designed to improve the shopping experience for potential customers.
Jeff Aiosa, a member of the executive board of the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association and who represents Connecticut on the National Automotive Dealer Association Board, said new car sales in the state are off compared to this time last year. However, he said the sales decline “is not because of demand, but because of supply.”
“Manufacturers’ production schedules are behind schedule by between six to eight weeks because of an inability to get parts from vendors and suppliers,” said Aiosa, who also is president and owner of Mercedes-Benz of New London. “That has resulted in an inventory shortage.”
At Richard Chevrolet in Cheshire, sales of new cars “were dead” during March and April, said Jason Vianese, general manager of the dealership and one of its owners. But sales have improved steadily since then, Vianese said.
“We’re behind where we were last year, but not dramatically,” he said. “And last year was a good year. Sales are pretty good right now.”
What has benefited new car dealers during the pandemic, according to Vianese and Aiosa, is the public’s reluctance to make use of mass transportation.
“There has been a pivot to personal transportation,” Aiosa said. “Maybe before the pandemic, people were willing to get on a plane or a train to travel. But now, a person’s car is more important to them than it was before and that is the only way they will travel.”
Consumer reluctance
What dealers are seeing doesn’t necessarily square up with what consumers are saying about new car purchases.
About a half-dozen people responded to social media inquiries made by Hearst Connecticut Media about what the pandemic has done to any plans they might have had for purchasing a new car.
Sana Sim from Bridgeport had been considering getting a new car because her current vehicle is more than 13 years old.
“But I decided not to just in case I lose my job,” Sim said. “I can use that extra money on other things.”
Elsa Obuchowski of Norwalk said she and her husband had been thinking about replacing their oldest car this year. Obuchowski’s husband has some mobility limitations and orthopedic conditions that make finding a car with the right fit critical.
“As seniors, my husband and I have had to put all kinds of activities on hold, including shopping for everything except groceries and medicine,” she said. “We had been planning to replace our oldest car this year, but that is definitely not going to happen. We will have to wait until the community spread of COVID is well under control, which we hope will come true when a safe, effective vaccine is widely available to the general public.”
Julie Egan said she purchased a new car in May, even though she and her family initially had not been in the market for a new vehicle at the start of the year
“General Motors incentives and cash back deals were too good to pass up,” Egan said. “When the deals came out we jumped on it.”
The expansion at Richard Chevrolet involves relocating its body shop and used car sales operation about a half-mile south of the dealership on Route 10. A new 29,000-squarefoot facility will be built on what now is a vacant field on the east side of Route 10 near the intersection of Realty Drive, according to Vianese.
The expansion project will be rolled out in two phases, he said. The first phase will be done during the winter, weather permitting, with installation of lighting, pavement and other types of infrastructure, Vianese said.
“When we do the building itself depends on how our business does during that time,” he said.
Vianese said making the decision to move ahead with the expansion during a pandemic involved “recognizing opportunities and making sound business decisions.”
“We think by expanding, it gives us a better opportunity to service our customers,” he said.
At Toyota of Wallingford, the decision to expand was dictated on how far along the project already was when the pandemic hit, according to Steve Zion, owner of the Route 5 dealership.
Zion said the first phase of the dealership expansion involved the construction of
a 9,000-square-foot service and quick-lube center, which already has been completed. The next phase will involve the construction of a 12,000-square-foot, two-story showroom, he
said, which will begin in November and be completed late next spring.
“I was too far in the middle (of the project) not to move ahead with it,” Zion said. “The steel is already
lying out on the front lawn of the dealership.”
The expansion of the dealership is being done by Pat Munger Construction of Branford. The goal of the expansion, Zion said, is “to
improve the overall experience for our customers.”
“A lot of our business is by word of mouth and we hoping this will make it better for our customers,” Zion said.
Aiosa said local car dealerships have to deal with what are known as facility image programs. The programs, which are imposed on the dealerships by the automotive manufacturers, have very specific requirements regarding how they want the individual dealerships to look, he said.
“Periodically, they want to refresh the looks of the dealerships in the form of some kind of upgrade,” Aiosa said. “It’s usually a period of every 7 to 10 years, depending upon the manufacturer.”
Dealerships on the move
Garavel Subaru in Norwalk currently is before that city’s Planning and Zoning Commission with plans for a new 45,506square-foot car dealership in the 500 block of Main Avenue. The dealership currently is located at 10 Tindall Ave., about two miles from the new location, the site of a former Ethan Allen furniture showroom.
Officials with Garavel Subaru did not respond to requests for comment about the new showroom.
And BMW of Watertown, one of 10 dealerships that are part of the Hoffman Auto Group, is relocating farther, from Watertown to Waterbury.
The BMW dealership soon will be moving to Schraffts Drive, located off the Exit 25 interchange of Interstate 84. Construction has been underway for months at the 5.5-acre site, but Hoffman Auto Group officials did not respond to requests for comment about when the new dealership location might open.