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Coping with the Conditions

Gary Rome, seen here with ‘Daisy,’ one of his mascots

Gary Rome, seen here with ‘Daisy,’ one of his mascots, says cars are moving off the lot as fast as they come in, with most sold long before they arrive.

For the area’s auto dealers, this will be a year, and a December, unlike most and certainly not anything approaching normal. Lots are barren, and showrooms often have used cars under the bright lights. Dealers are coping as best they can, and so are customers, and while current conditions are expected to continue into next year, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

On one wall in his office at the Hyundai dealership that bears his name, Gary Rome has a large screen that displays images captured by more than two dozen security cameras.

As he talked about the current conditions facing dealers like himself, he gestured toward pictures on that screen of one of the back lots at the massive store on Whiting Farms Road in Holyoke — a barren lot with no cars parked on it.

“Normally … that would be full — four lanes, full,” he said, noting that ‘normal’ was quite some time ago. Now, instead of normal, there is only reality, in the form of inventory shortages that have, as Rome noted, prompted dealers to put used cars in the showrooms, position cars so it looks like there is more inventory than there actually is, and even have employees park in front to provide that same effect.

He’s only taking the first of those steps, and that’s out of necessity, he said with a voice that hints at frustration, which is certainly understandable, but mostly acceptance of a situation that is far beyond dealers’ control and something they will have to live with for at least several more quarters.

“We’re just coming through the second year of the most unprecedented time that the industry has ever faced — and the forecasts for what was going to happen to this industry were far more dire.”

The frustration comes from the knowledge that these dealers could certainly sell a lot more cars if they had them, especially given the pent-up demand and the fact that many consumers have money to spend and are eager to spend it. And also the numbers — most dealers are looking at overall sales volume being down between 20% and 30% from what would be considered a ‘normal’ year. The acceptance part comes from the knowledge that consumers have responded to the situation mostly with patience and understanding, and, overall, dealers are making the best of a bad situation that could actually be worse. Much worse.

“We’re just coming through the second year of the most unprecedented time that the industry has ever faced — and the forecasts for what was going to happen to this industry were far more dire,” said Ben Sullivan, chief operating officer at Balise Motor Sales. “And we’ve actually fared pretty well, and the customers have been accommodating because they can understand; they see the news. Somehow, we’re making it through, and a lot of customers have no issues with doing it this way.”

By ‘this way,’ he meant that, instead of driving onto a lot and choosing from among the dozens of options of the model they want, they’re either ordering what they want and waiting for it arrive in a few weeks (or a few months, as the case may be) or buying something they know is on a truck and on its way — even if it might not be exactly what they want.

Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Auto Group, agreed, noting that her family of dealerships has an appropriately named program that speaks to all this, called Reserve Your Ride.

“People can pick out their vehicle and order it or pick a car out of pipeline,” she said, adding that, while there may be fewer cars to actually choose from on the lots, people can still buy cars, and they are.

Ben Sullivan says there has been some improvement on the inventory front

Ben Sullivan says there has been some improvement on the inventory front, but it might be two more years before dealers see something close to pre-pandemic levels.

Sometimes, because of the inventory issues, it may not be a new car, she went on, adding that, in this environment, some are waiting patiently for the new cars to roll in, while others are opting for used cars, and still others, those with leases that are expiring, are opting to buy those vehicles.

And this is how it will be for the foreseeable future, said those we spoke with, all of whom noted that COVID-19 and its many impacts have made the future — even the immediate future — hard to predict.

As for the present, it’s December, a month that is generally a good one for dealers, and for many reasons, ranging from holiday-gift purchases (especially luxury models) to businesses buying new vehicles before year’s end for tax purposes.

“This is a time of year when people want something new — new cell phones, a new car, a new used car, a new espresso machine,” said Sullivan, adding that this desire for new coincides with a mostly healthy economy, lower unemployment rates, and, overall, higher levels of confidence. “And when people feel confident, they wind up making large purchases because they are not afraid.”

They may not be afraid, but there will certainly be fewer cars to buy, and that means this will be different kind of December, but one that still holds promise for dealers — and customers — waiting for the picture to improve.

 

Dropping Down a Gear

To the untrained eye, Sullivan said, it doesn’t look like much is happening at area dealerships.

Indeed, what most people see in that minute they drive by a store is lots of acreage not being occupied by new or used cars. Indeed, the vacant parking lots have become one of the enduring images of the supply-chain crisis at this stage of the pandemic.

But a closer look would reveal plenty of activity, just not the type that would be considered normal, he said.

“If you put a stop-motion camera at any dealership, you’d see 18-wheelers coming in, you’d see cars coming off of it, you’d see them going through their pre-delivery inspections and service and the salesperson calling the customer to say his vehicle has arrived, and that person picking it up the next day,” he noted. “That’s about how fast this stuff is going right now.”

Carla Cosenzi says dealers and customers alike are adjusting

Carla Cosenzi says dealers and customers alike are adjusting to a landscape that is without precedent in the auto industry.

Other dealers we spoke with echoed those remarks, saying the days of large inventories have been replaced by that new way of doing business described earlier, with the vast majority of cars sold before they reach the lot (70% to 80%, by most estimates) or within days of rolling off the truck.

This new world order is on clear display on a huge board in one of the offices at Gary Rome Hyundai, one that tracks which vehicles have been sold, by whom, and when they will arrive on the lot for the customer to pick up.

“We’re just coming through the second year of the most unprecedented time that the industry has ever faced — and the forecasts for what was going to happen to this industry were far more dire.”

It’s a different landscape, to be sure, said Rome, adding that there would normally be more than 500 cars on the Hyundai lots; currently there are roughly 140, about one-quarter of that total, with only 20 of them being new cars.

It’s the same at the TommyCar dealerships, said Cosenzi, noting that the Hyundai/Genesis dealership in Northampton would normally have 200 new models on the ground. After a shipment arrived the day before she talked with BusinessWest, there were 30 to 35. At the Volkswagen store, also in Northampton, there would usually be 80 new cars. Now, 20 is the norm.

These numbers prompt frustration because they collide with other kinds of numbers, especially the ones pertaining to unemployment, consumer spending, and consumer confidence levels, said Rome, noting, as others did, that pent-up demand remains high for all types of vehicles, but especially new models.

“Our clients, in general, have more money than they had two years ago, they have more savings, they have more equity in their homes,” he explained. “And they also feel like they want to do something good for themselves. They’ve been locked down for the past 20 months, and they’ve been looking at the same car all that time. They want to do something nice for themselves.”

Such dramatic reductions in inventory also make for obvious changes and adjustments, including those that need to be made for the holidays, said Cosenzi, noting that many of those desiring to put a new car in the driveway on Christmas morning understood that, to make that happen, they needed to place their order in November. And they might also have had to settle for their second choice when it came to color.

Meanwhile, more consumers are looking toward used cars, which are in greater abundance but still not in the pre-pandemic numbers, she said, and also at keeping a car that is coming off lease instead of trading it in for a new one.

“And a lot of those buy-out values are under current market values,” she said. “It’s a good deal for the customer.”

While things certainly aren’t normal, in some respects, the picture is actually starting to improve, said Sullivan, noting that arrivals are expected to pick up in December and be ahead of October and November levels and well ahead of months earlier this year, when supply-chain woes peaked.

“There’s cars coming in, and there’s cars going out,” he said, adding that his general managers — and there are nearly 20 of them — have reported as a group that the company should expect a solid December.

Meanwhile, looking down the road, or trying to, anyway, dealers said it is difficult to say when ‘normal’ — as in lots full of cars for people to choose from — will return, or even if they will return.

“I don’t think we’ll see it in 2022,” said Sullivan. “I think it will be 2023 before you drive by a dealership and see a stock full of cars. It’s not until the third quarter of 2022 where you’ll see maybe 65% of what you’d normally see for ground stock.”

Cosenzi concurred, but noted that projections vary with the brand, with some manufacturers responding to the worldwide microchip shortage and supply-chain crisis better than others.

“We’re anticipating that things will get better over the next few months, but it will take a long time for us to recuperate and get back to the inventory levels that we were accustomed to before COVID,” she said. “I think it will take at least a year.”

As for the longer term, Sullivan reiterated comments he made earlier this year when he said some manufacturers may not go back to those days when they built cars and then hoped dealers would sell them. They likely won’t build to order, although that’s possible, he said, but they may build fewer cars and put the hard focus on models they know the customer wants.

“Most of the manufacturers have decided that just ‘build, build, build, build, build’ isn’t that profitable for them,” he explained, “because all the cars end up on our lots, and we have to find a way to get rid of them, and they have to put incentives on them. There is a level of production that makes more sense to them.

“We’re not going to be this order-to-delivery industry, because when people want something, they want it very quickly, and some want it now,” he went on, adding that, despite this, levels of overall ground stock will likely be lower in the years to become, perhaps 75% of their current levels.

 

Bottom Line

But there are still far too many unknowns to make any hard projections about the future, said those we spoke with, adding that, right now, they’re dealing with right now.

And that’s the picture that comes clearly into focus on that screen in Rome’s office. Things are not as they were, and they may not be like that for a while — if ever again, in some respects.

“This is a year unlike anything I’ve seen in all the years I’ve been in this business,” said Cosenzi, who spoke for everyone in the industry with those comments, adding that, while the picture is slowly improving, what would be considered normal is still far down the road.

 

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Coronavirus

Driving Forces

Ben Sullivan

Ben Sullivan says inventory has been an issue for many car dealers, but overall, the picture is much brighter than analysts were predicting in the spring.

Back in the earliest and darkest days of the pandemic (at least in this part of the country), analysts within the auto industry were predicting that overall sales for 2020 might be off perhaps as much as 80% from the year prior.

Those projections turned out to be well off the mark, as were some of the later estimates as well, said Ben Sullivan, chief operating officer for Balise Motor Sales, adding that a number of factors have made this year — and it’s a little more than half over, so a lot can still happen — much better than perhaps anyone could have imagined back in late March and early April.

These factors include stimulus checks that provided some disposable income for many people, as well as some extremely attractive incentives from the manufacturers, including 0% interest for as many as 84 months, job-loss protection, and no payments for six months.

“From an auto-dealer standpoint, I don’t think we were intended to be direct beneficiaries of any stimulus money,” Sullivan said. “But what the consumers are doing with the money has certainly offset what we expected to be a much steeper decline in the auto business than what we have actually experienced.”

But some of these same factors, coupled with pandemic-forced factory shutdowns, have created a slew of challenges for auto dealers as well. These include shortages of inventory for new cars, although there seems to be some improvement on that front, according to those we spoke with, and an even more pronounced shortage of used cars, which is spurring something almost historic when it comes to the prices offered to those willing to trade in vehicles or just sell them outright — something that’s happening with increasing frequency.

“There’s an unbelievable shortage of used cars,” said Sullivan. “There just weren’t as many cars coming into the system, for a variety of reasons, and that made used-car trade-in values go up. And people are recognizing that and saying, ‘if there if was a time to trade in a car, now’s the time’ — and that’s helping the new-car market.”

As for overall inventory, a drive by any dealership in the area would reveal fewer cars in the lot, a clear reflection of what’s happening with both new and used vehicles, said Peter Wirth, co-owner of Mercedes Benz of Springfield, noting that his store is typical in most respects. There’s a smaller supply of used cars (only about 12 days, as opposed to the 30-to 45 days that would be typical) and fewer new cars as well as the factories try to catch up for the time lost when they were closed or making other products, such as respirators, in the case of General Motors.

“There just weren’t as many cars coming into the system, for a variety of reasons, and that made used-car trade-in values go up.”

The situation is improving, though, and by late August, most expect a return to something approaching normalcy.

“We’re starting to see inventories coming back, which is exciting for all of us,” said Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Auto Group, adding that, while the landscape may change and there remains a good deal of uncertainty, there is currently demand for those cars that will soon be filling the lots.

Which is good because, while sales of used cars (if dealers can get them) have been more than solid, new-car sales have been off — but, again, not as much as the experts thought they would be back when states were shut down and governors were rolling out phased reopenings.

“I’d say, on average, the sales pace for the new-vehicle industry in the Northeast is probably down 10% to maybe 15%,” said Sullivan, adding that these numbers could not have been imagined back in the spring, when it looked like the bottom might fall out of the market.

Looking ahead … well, looking ahead is something that’s difficult in any sector. But those we spoke with said that, overall, dealers are in decent position for quarters three and four. Inventories are improving, there is still some pent-up demand, there are still plenty of incentives, and new models are arriving on many lots.

But as they’ve seen already this year, things can change in a hurry, and projections — as those made way back in March can attest — are difficult to make.

Hitting the Accelerator

As he talked with BusinessWest at the Mercedes dealership on Burnett Road, just off turnpike exit 6, Wirth noted that, in many respects, a touch of normalcy has returned to this store, and the business of car selling in general.

Indeed, he noted there were several people sitting in the service waiting area, more than there would have been back in the spring, when ‘pickup and dropoff’ was the order of the day — and it’s still a popular option. Meanwhile, all employees are back at the dealership — many of those who could were working remotely in the earlier days of the pandemic — although there are now vacant workstations between those with people, and some sport plexiglass dividers between them. Perhaps most importantly, business is … well, perhaps not normal, but it’s certainly in the ballpark.

Peter Wirth

Peter Wirth says business is returning to something approaching normal at Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, and the summer and fall look promising as new models roll in.

In many respects, the dealership is well-positioned for a solid year, despite the pandemic and various negative forces it has created, Wirth said, listing everything from those aforementioned factory incentives — Mercedes has them as well — to lingering, pent-up demand; from new models arriving regularly to the mix of vehicles consumers are demanding.

“This might be the second year that we’re producing more SUVs than cars on the new-car side, and we’re almost at 60-40 now,” he explained. “It took us a couple of years to get there, but that’s what the market wants. So, maybe for the first time in five years, we’re actually in sync with what the market wants, and I think that’s going to help us.”

But while there are some signs of normalcy and even progress when it comes to sales volume, there are reminders everywhere that these are very different times — from the masks on the customers and employees to the deep cleaning that accompanies every car that leaves the service bay, to the cars in the lot, or the lack thereof, to be more precise.

Sullivan told BusinessWest that inventory has been an issue across the broad portfolio of makers within the Balise stable. Closed factories were a big contributor to the problem, he said, but supply-chain issues were, and still are, a factor as well.

“Next to the tsunami that hit Japan, the pandemic and everything it has brought has had perhaps the most impact the auto industry has seen since World War II,” he explained. “The supply chains got interrupted, and this is a global industry; there’s parts from Scandinavia, China, Japan, Mexico, Canada, the list goes on. And it really only takes one part to not be able to have a production line running.

“If you have a plant that goes down, and you’re missing that key component, you can’t build an F-150, or a Silverado, or a Camry,” he went on. “The industry has been absolutely disrupted from an availability standpoint. But the good news is that it’s a pretty resilient industry; they find other suppliers and ways to navigate through. But we are a low point of availability.”

Some makers were hit harder than others, he continued, noting that General Motors never fully recovered from the strike of last year before the pandemic hit, and the arrival of COVID-19 further complicated matters, especially when it comes to the production of trucks, one of the more popular items in recent years.

Unlocking Options

Overall, though, and especially as the summer has progressed, buyers have had a better time of trying to find the make, model, and color they want. Mercedes has a sister store in New York that effectively doubles the dealership’s chances of quickly supplying want the buyer wants, and Balise and TommyCar have similar relationships within the industry.

Some are settling for maybe their second-favorite color or a model with most but not all the options they were looking for, said those we spoke with, while others chooose to wait for exactly what they want. And the wait is getting slightly shorter.

“We’re lucky that we carried a good days’ supply of inventory before this happened, so we were in a good position as far as the number of units we were able to maintain through this, and now, we’re starting to see the manufacturers supplement the inventory back,” Cosenzi said. “But the biggest hurdle was being able to get the exact specifications a customer was looking for when it came to new cars.”

If the new-car market is getting somewhat back to normal, the same can’t really be said for used-car buying, which, as noted earlier, is in what would have to be called uncharted territory — or at least a place visited very infrequently.

Using words and numbers, those we spoke with said demand for used cars is through the roof — even for convertibles — and this is definitely a sellers’ market.

Carla Cosenzi

Carla Cosenzi says getting used cars has been a real issue for most car dealers, and that will continue to be a challenge for the foreseeable future.

Sullivan knows, because he recently was a seller — if you count trading in as selling.

“I traded my wife’s car in two weeks ago, but it really is the best time you could ever ask for,” he said, adding that prices are up, on average, almost $1,800 per car over the past few months. “With my car, I got $2,000 more than I would have two months previous — or two months from now. It just happens to be that timing in the market — the used-car market has defied every industry analyst’s predictions during COVID.”

Overall, a number of factors are contributing to the bustling used-car market in the 413, Wirth said. For starters, this is more of a used-car market than a new-car market, and from all he can gather — he’s been in it for four years — it always has been. What’s more, with the pandemic creating questions about the future and some economic uncertainty for many, used cars are being seen as an attractive, less risky option than buying new — even with all those incentives from the carmakers.

But supply, as it is with new cars, is perhaps the biggest driving force.

“I think that the used-car market will fall at some point, but you never know; it’s so hard to predict what’s going to happen given the circumstances.”

Sullivan told BusinessWest that most all of the auction houses where so many used cars are acquired by the dealers were closed for a long stretch early this year, removing those supplies. Meanwhile, many leases were extended due to the pandemic, taking those cars out of circulation. And some consumers simply decided that, given the conditions, they would hang onto their car for at least another year.

All this forced dealers to look elsewhere and explore options ranging from buying some of the suddenly unneeded rental cars cluttering lots across the country to buying cars off the street, a tactic Balise deployed.

And that imagination has been needed, because demand — fueled by cautiousness in the era of COVID-19 and other factors — has certainly spiked.

Bottom Line

As for what happens next … it’s hard to say with any certainty, because there are so many unknowns when it comes to the virus, the economy, additional stimulus, and other factors.

“There’s so much uncertainty, but especially when it comes to where the customer demand will settle in,” said Cosenzi. “And we’re prepared to adjust our operations accordingly. We’re starting to see a lot of the manufacturing plants open up and trucks pulling into the dealerships with the cars we’ve been waiting for. I think that the used-car market will fall at some point, but you never know; it’s so hard to predict what’s going to happen given the circumstances.”

Sullivan agreed.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “And we’re incredibly grateful for being in as good shape as we are. When we looked at what the analysts were saying, that can really put a lump in your stomach. I’d like to say that we’re wildly optimistic, but we can’t be because we know there’s some choppy waters ahead.”

With that, he spoke for everyone in a business that has fared much better than most could have dreamed, but is still staring at some rather large question marks.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Autos

Cruise Control

As the 2019 models continue to roll into area showrooms, area auto dealers report that sales remain brisk, at something approximating the levels of 2017, which was a very robust year for the industry. Meanwhile, a host of trends have continued or accelerated, including torrid sales of SUVs and trucks, a high volume of used-car transactions, and a heavy emphasis on improving the overall consumer experience.

Jeb Balise held his hand up with his thumb and forefinger barely a half-inch apart.

And then, for emphasis, he brought them even closer together.

“They’re down about that much,” Balise, president of Balise Motor Sales, told BusinessWest, referring to new car sales in 2018 (which still has a few months left, obviously) compared to a year ago.

Essentially, sales are flat, which, as Balise and others told us back at the start of this year, around President’s Day sales time, is a really good thing, because auto sales — an almost always accurate barometer when it comes to the national economy — have been rock solid the past several years.

“They’re just about the same as last year — down a tiny, tiny bit,” said Balise, adding that there is just that much less pent-up demand (resulting from cars, like their owners, living longer lives these days) this year than the past few. But there are still a number of other factors driving steady sales, including a still-booming economy, record-low unemployment, quality vehicles across the board, attractive incentives from the manufacturers, and more.

So sales are still humming, and Carla Cosenzi, president of the Tommy Car Auto Group, believes that at her four dealerships, sales are actually up from a year ago.

“We’re seeing an increase in 2018 over last year, and 2017 was a very good year for us,” she said, echoing Balise’s comments. “It’s not a significant increase, but an increase nonetheless, and 2017 was a really good year.”

Overall, 2018 has been a year when recent trends in the auto market have maintained their speed or even accelerated slightly. These include red hot used-car sales; white-hot SUV and truck sales (especially the former); growing interest in electric and hybrid vehicles, although they still comprise a very small segment of the market; and new levels of convenience for the consumer.

“We’re seeing an increase in 2018 over last year, and 2017 was a very good year for us. It’s not a significant increase, but an increase nonetheless, and 2017 was a really good year.”

Peter Wirth, co-owner of Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, which opened just over a year ago, says he’s seen all or most of the above at his dealership, a facility that has met or exceeded the lofty goals set for its first year of operation.

And that’s especially true in an often-overlooked but quite important segment of this business — the service department.

There are many qualitative measures for this, he said, especially the fact that the dealership recently hired its 12th technician, tripling the number it started with, for the 14-bay facility.

This surge in business in the service department stems from a variety of factors, from how long Mercedes models stay on the road to the fact that the next-closest dealership is in Hartford, said Wirth, adding that demand has risen steadily since the ceremonial grand-opening ribbon was cut — a clear sign that the new dealership has made its presence known.

“The floodgates opened, and in a good way,” he noted. “We’ve been at capacity for the next few days in the service department since the day we opened, and way we’re keeping up is by adding capacity so we can keep it at a reasonable timeframe for customers.”

“It’s been a 100% success story — we’ve never had to send a technician home early; we’ve never run out of work,” he went on. “Not just in the amount of work we’re getting, but also in the team we were able to build.”

For this issue and its focus on auto sales, BusinessWest talked with several area dealers to gauge the local market and the forces, well, driving it. Cars aren’t selling themselves, obviously, but in many respects this industry is on cruise control.

Pedal to the Metal

Those who spoke with BusinessWest said that, these days, the new models arrive at the dealership almost year round, unlike years ago, when all or most would be revealed in the early fall, to considerable fanfare.

Still, many new models do make their debuts as the leaves change colors, and thus this is a good time to take stock — literally and figuratively — of what’s happening at area dealerships and within this all-important sector.

Jeb Balise, seen here at his company’s Kia dealership on Riverdale Street

Jeb Balise, seen here at his company’s Kia dealership on Riverdale Street, says new-car sales are down just slightly from 2017, but still at a very high volume.

First and foremost, said Balise, this remains a buyer’s market in most all respects, even though demand remains high, especially for those trucks and SUVs. That’s because supply is also high as the manufacturers continue to make product and dealers try to move it — usually with good success.

“All of the manufacturers are producing plenty of cars, and demand is off just slightly from a year ago — just enough to put the consumer in the driver’s seat, if you will,” he told BusinessWest. “Incentives have never been better — even for SUVs.

“It’s not because there isn’t demand,” he went on, referring specifically to the SUV segment of the market. “It’s more because all the manufacturers have them now, and they’re trying to grab their piece of the pie.”

The seismic shift (another industry term) to SUVs has been ongoing for quite some time now, but it moved to an even higher gear in 2018.

Indeed, all those we spoke with said sales of SUVs now exceed those of cars (sedans) for almost all models they sell. Overall, Balise said, truck and SUV sales now account for roughly 60% of all vehicles sold and leased.

And this trend toward SUVs extends to some manufacturers renowned for their cars, such as Volkswagen and Volvo, said Cozenzi. Indeed, as she stood in the Volvo dealership recently acquired by the TommyCar Auto Group, she was surrounded by SUVs — small, medium, and large — on the small showroom floor.

They’re all selling, at Volvo and other dealerships, and especially the smaller SUVs, said Cosenzi, adding that they appeal to drivers of all ages for reasons ranging from accessibility (they’re easier to get in and out of, for most people, anyway) to decent gas mileage.

“The smaller SUVs, like the Rogue [Nissan] and the Tiguan [Volkswagen], continue to dominate,” she said. “The Rogue is the number-one-selling vehicle at the Nissan store, and it’s been that way for a few years now.”

Even Mercedes is now selling and leasing more SUVs than cars, said Wirth, adding that the company passed that milestone in 2017, and the arrow continues to move upward.

Still, there are plenty of sedans to be sold, said all those we spoke with, noting that, overall, car makers are turning out quality, easy-to-maintain products across the board, giving consumers plenty of often-hard choices to make, thus motivating the manufacturers to offer solid incentives.

And soon there will be an intriguing new choice, said Wirth, noting the arrival — probably by early next year — of the Mercedes A class, an entry-level luxury vehicle, complete with some different bells and whistles, that should bring that famous nameplate onto more driveways.

“This opens us up to a whole new customer,” he said. “You might have someone attracted to this car not because of the Mercedes-Benz design or the Mercedes-Benz safety or the brand image; it might be just because of the technology in the car. You can say, ‘hey, Mercedes, I’m cold,’ and the temperature will come up, or ‘hey, Mercedes, I’m hungry,’ and it will list the restaurants. And this is in the car that represents the entry point, not the $100,000 model.”

Staging a Coupe

Looking back on his first year of doing business in the Pioneer Valley, Peter Wirth, who previously managed a Mercedes dealership on Long Island, said this past 12 months have certainly been a learning experience.

Among the things he’s learned is that this market is somewhat more conservative than the one he left — a trait that shows up in higher volumes of used-car sales as compared to new-car transactions and more sales than leases — and also generally less aware that Mercedes is now more affordable and therefore more attainable than it has been historically because of the introduction of entry-level models.

Peter Wirth, seen here with members of the service team at Mercedes-Benz of Springfield

Peter Wirth, seen here with members of the service team at Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, says the company has exceeded all the goals it set for its first year of operation — especially in service.

“We still have some work to do on the matter of affordability,” he told BusinessWest, adding that perceptions about the Mercedes brand being beyond one’s reach remain despite more than ample evidence to the contrary. And that goes across the board, for passenger and commercial vehicles alike.

But he’s hoping that area residents will follow the lead of Jeff Bezos, who recently ordered 20,000 Sprinters (a cargo van made by Mercedes) for Amazon.

“I’m sure he did the math before he placed that order — I’m sure he sat down and looked at the life-cycle cost, the reliability, the down time, and everything else. He’s a pretty clever guy, and the fact that they committed to us says something.”

To Wirth, it says people need to look beyond the sticker price on the windshield (and Mercedes is competitive in that regard as well with many models) and look at the other ingredients that go into the equation, such as dependability, maintenance costs, convenience, and the sum of all these parts.

“We’ve been having the conversations regarding affordability, but also about how this is an amazing value proposition,” he noted. “We’re still working on it, but we’ve made great headway.”

Something Wirth didn’t need to learn, because he knew it already, is how important customer service and providing convenience are these days, especially to time-strapped, increasingly demanding customers.

“Time is money,” he said, adding that the dealership works to save customers some of that precious commodity in every way it can, from picking up a car bound for the service department at one’s home to getting them in and out of that service waiting room as soon as possible.

Cosenzi agreed, and said the TommyCar Auto Group has responded with something called Click, Drive, Buy, a new program that enables someone to buy or lease a vehicle almost entirely from home and on the internet.

“Especially at our Volkswagen store, we’re seeing a lot of our customers complete the entire transaction online and just come into the dealership to take delivery of the vehicle,” she explained. “I don’t think we anticipated that it would be as popular as it is, but people enjoy the convenience; they like buying a car this way. And it’s been popular with people of all ages.”

Gearing Up

As he brought his forefinger ever closer to his thumb while comparing sales this year to last, Balise emphasized, again, that anything at or near last year’s mark is quite good.

And while he didn’t want to make too many projections about 2019, because things can change quickly, as history shows, he implied that he may well be doing the same thing with his fingers this time next year.

That’s because the basic laws of supply and demand — not to mention an economy still in high gear — should keep this industry operating in what amounts to the status quo.

And that’s a high-octane sales climate.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]