Friday, December 30, 2011

Elkins Fordland

Front of the Elkins Fordland Showroom
Elkins Fordland has been in its current location for about a year following its move from just outside of downtown Elkins to the more commercial area south of Elkins on the 5-lane.  They had purchased and renovated a facility that had once been Mountaineer Chevrolet/Toyota/Volvo that had been out of business for several years.  The former Elkins Fordland location has been located in a building built prior to the 1950s and was woefully outdated for the 21st Century automotive business.  Elkins Fordland has been under its current ownership group since the early 2000s.
Side view of the Elkins Fordland Showroom
The new facility looks nothing like the former Mountaineer dealership as Elkins Fordland exudes the current Ford image.  The lot is set back behind several building, so the main building is not readily seen from the roadway; however there are several vehicles on display on the main roadway with signs pointing the way to the dealership.
The portion of the lot is currently displaying new cars and much the lot on the side is devoted to new trucks and SUVs with pre-owned automobiles being displayed to the opposite corner of the showroom.


Dealer website:  http://www.elkinsfordland.com/ 

Buckhannon Toyota/Scion

Buckhannon Auto Mall
Buckhannon Toyota/Scion formerly had Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep franchises prior to the dealership purge as a result of the Chrysler Corporation bankruptcy of 2009 and they also had a Subaru franchise.  Right now, there is only Toyota and Scion franchises as the location.  This dealership was formerly known as the Buckhannon Auto Mall having the slogan BAM33 that included the route the lot is located on.
This facility had been located in its current location since the early 2000s to a large location on U.S. Route 33 west of Buckhannon.  This dealership had been located in Buckhannon and the former building has since been subdivided into several businesses including a rent-to-own type of business.
It started out in this new location having Chrysler and Subaru franchises.  I am not sure what happened to the Subaru franchise as the nearest Subaru dealership is located in Bridgeport, more than 30 miles away.  There was a single showroom, then about 2005, Buckhannon Auto Mall acquired the Toyota franchise that was once Mountaineer Toyota/Chevrolet in Elkins, West Virginia.  At this point, Buckhannon Auto Mall had built an adjoining showroom to the main showroom that included an automated car wash that would feature Toyota automobiles.

Sign located along Rt. 33 notes time and temperature
They had the Chrysler Group franchises and I was surprised that they were part of the purge due to the relative new construction of the facility.  There is another Chrysler Group dealership in Weston, 15 miles to the west.  The name was formally changed to Buckhannon Toyota and they added the Scion brand, which is a smaller, hipper subbrand of Toyota.  Service facilities are located to the rear of the showroom with service reception bays.
It was then the opportunity for Toyota to be the only franchise in facility.  So in late 2010 into early 2011, the showrooms inside and out were renovated in the current Toyota image with the larger, older showroom being the Toyota showroom and the newer, smaller one featuring Scion automobiles.  The exterior walls of the showrooms light up at night.

Jenkins Ford - Buckhannon, WV

Jenkins Ford - Buckhannon, WV

Service Reception Bays

Front of Jenkins Ford 
Jenkins Ford has been in its current location for more than five years relocating to U.S. Route 33 west of Buckhannon.  This dealership had previously been located on a small lot in downtown Buckhannon on Main Street.  The dealer had outgrown that lot and moved to this  much larger location even after an extensive renovation of the original building around 2000.
The new Jenkins facility is located on a lot lot featuring new Ford vehicles.  Most of the vehicles are full size F-150s and F-250/F-350 pickups and chassis.  Jenkins Ford also had a Mercury franchise.  Ford Motor Company had dropped Mercury as a brand in early 2011 and signage had been removed from this building.
Jenkins Ford is known for a large stocking a large number of Ford trucks

Possibly the last batch of Ford Rangers you'll see on a lot




Jenkins Ford seems to service many fleet vehicles.  There are many oil and natural gas companies in the region and they tend to use Jenkins for sales and service.
Jenkins also has an ancillary building located up on a hill that rents Enterprise  and also some other service facilities.  There is also a Jenkins auto body shop located in Buckhannon city limits.  But most of the operations are located at this facility.

Jenkins is one of the largest Ford dealerships in the area in both size and number of units sold. 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

H & M Motor Company

This is a small town dealership selling Chrysler/Dodge/Ram products on a small lot in Weston, West Virginia.  Within this facility is a showroom capable of holding 3-5 vehicles and a service garage in the rear.
H and M also has an adjacent property with an old gas station that has the pre-owned vehicles and some service bays as well.
There are approximately two dozen new vehicles on the lot with another thirty pre-owned vehicles.


Monday, December 26, 2011

Weston Ford

Weston Ford
I found this to be an unusual place.  Is this a new car dealership or is this a relic to the past?  First of all this dealership looks as though it hasn't been touched by modern conveniences since the 1970s.  Usually there are about 5 to 10 new vehicles on the lot, but really can't tell what else is available.  This facility also has a number of E-Series passenger vans available for rent for large groups.  They usually have some vans available at RG Honda-Yamaha in Nutter Fort.
That is because there are about 100 other cars and trucks in varying conditions throughout the property.  The property stretches out for a couple of hundred yards east to west.  There are rows of vehicles that haven't moved for decades.  There are mostly Ford products on the lot in fields that are rotting away.
The actual building itself is a brick garage with a showroom abutting out the front.  There is also a large "brick barn" like structure on the western end.  Inside the showroom are furnishings that are decades old and even the computers date back to the 1980s as well.
I don't know much about this dealership other than it is about 15 miles from two other more successful Ford franchises to the north and east.  This is a desirable location, but I don't see the ownership putting much investment, but this is a unique facility for what I have mentioned above!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Observations about cars in Korea

I had the opportunity to visit Korea this past summer for two weeks and I was intent on observing the automobiles and its industry.
South Korea is a thoroughly modern country with modern cars, trucks, busses, etc and with problems that go along with it.  A crowded city such as the capital of Seoul has tremendous traffic jams at all times of the day.  So utilizing the subway system is a great alternative to fight the traffic and the bus system seems to be very efficient as well.  But this country has a love with the automobile just like Americans do.  Traffic jams are much worse on Friday evenings, Saturday morning, and Sunday evenings as many Koreans escape the cities to the mountains for the weekend and then return.  (90% of Koreans claim they hike, which seems to be the national pastime).  There are some Jeep stores in Korea that sell Jeep branded clothing and outdoor supplies, not cars.
But this is blog focussed on auto dealerships and there are plenty there if you want to purchase a Hyundai or Kia.  In fact, over 90% of the Korean automotive market is made up of these two brands.  Other brands include SsongYong (owned by India's Mahindra) and Daewoo (owned by GM).  Most dealerships for these brands are located in storefronts that are about 1,000 to 2,000 square feet approximately with 4 to 5 automobiles in each showroom.  There is usually one representative sample for each model in the brand in each showroom.  In my observations, there was one or two salespersons each with a desk and of course there was the obligatory rack with brochures.  On top of each automobile was a price noting how many South Korean Won (currency) it would take to purchase the car.  If you want to figure out how much if would cost in American dollars, just divide the price by 1,000 and you get the price in American dollars.
Hyundai Avante, U.S. Elantra

Hyunadi Starex

Hyundai Starex

Pontiac Aztec Korean counterpart?


In Hyundai showrooms, the models were very similar in names and content.  The only model that had a different name was the Elantra, which is known as the Avante there.  Kia showrooms were set up the same way, except the models were named differently such as K5, K7, K9 among examples.  There were very little differences in most of the models between the U.S. spec and Korean spec automobiles.  But, I was impressed with most of the vehicles having automatically folding side mirrors so they won't get damaged getting sideswiped while parked.
Another difference is that navigation systems in the cars are very elaborate and detailed.  Most new and older automobiles will have at least an aftermarket GPS/navigation system that drivers rely on to avoid traffic jams, locate directions, and they seem to be much more trustworthy than here in the states.
Most of the taxicabs in Korea are late model Sonatas and what we know as Optima (K5).
Another thing about Hyundai is that it is a large conglomerate in Korea (even throughout the world) and it   owns the Kia brand.  Most Korean made Hyundai automobiles are produced in Ulsan.  Ulsan is known as a company town as it is home to Hyundai Heavy Industries (shipyards, heavy construction equipment, etc.) and most everything is branded Hyundai including department stores and hotels.  These other businesses are also located throughout Korea.  We toured the shipyard, but didn't tour the automobile plant, even though we passed it.
I would love to return to Korea even though I can't read a lick of Korean or pronounce anything, so everyone once in a while I would stop at a Kia or Hyundai dealership to get my fill of Korea for the time being!


Part of the large conglomerate!

Freedom Kia Clarksburg

Freedom Kia, Clarksburg
Freedom Kia has been open in Westover, West Virginia for several years in a former facility of a natural gas company.  This past year, Freedom Kia had expanded by locating a new facility in Clarksburg, West Virginia in a former Circuit City location that had closed in 2009.  The building had been empty in the interim and was available for lease/sale.  Early in 2011, Freedom Kia had posted employment advertisements in the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram for employees to work in a new Clarksburg dealership in the spring.  I didn't see any new building being built in the area that would suit a car dealership but I had noticed that the solid block building that had been Circuit City was being retrofitted with large windows, a garage door, and a large 70/30 split glass door.  So that location was evidently was going to be the future location of Freedom Kia Clarksburg.
They had done very little renovation of the facility other than what was previously mentioned on the inside or outside.  The outside of the building was still painted in Circuit City red and white and the old Circuit City sign was still in plain sight behind the building and banners proclaiming "Freedom Kia" was hung onto the building.  So automobiles, new and used, were parked at the site and I wondered if the vehicles were to be serviced in Westover, about 30 miles away.
Service Bays
I took a test drive of a Sorento later in the spring, so I had the opportunity to visit and see the facility.  I saw they had placed a service department into what was the storeroom of the old Circuit City.  It seemed kind of tight, so I assumed it worked sufficiently for them.



Circuit City signs finally replaced by Kia
In November, the building was finally painted in white and black, I presume in Kia signature colors, and permanent signage finally replaced the Circuit City signs.  They also paved over a section of gravel they placed on the northern edge of the property near the service department.  There is very little land for future expansion.  Considering the popularity of Kia automobiles in recent memory, this location is seen to be a successful move for Freedom Kia.  I have seen other Kia dealerships that were placed in buildings that were either previously used in another industry or another car brand and this dealership continues the trend for Kia.

Enterprise Rental/Car Sales

Enterprise Car Rental/Sales has been located at Eastpointe in Clarksburg, West Virginia for at least the last five years.  They are located where Star Motor Company had a pre-owned location for several years in the 1990s.  Star Motors had an office trailer located at the site for sales.  Enterprise had built its current building prior to opening this facility.
This is a very busy location that is on a curve on busy Emily Drive, so it is very difficult to pull out of the facility and almost impossible to make a left turn out.
Enterprise Car Rental, Eastpointe, Emily Drive, Clarksburg, WV
I have rented vehicles from this facility several times in relation with my teaching job.  They usually had about a dozen cars and trucks for sale at the location and about another dozen or so for rental purposes.
I have noticed in the past month that there were less vehicles on the lot, namely the cars that were for sale.  I have concluded that they are no longer selling cars at this site according to their website which cites  Charleston, West Virginia being the only location that is selling cars through Enterprise.  The cars that Enterprise sold at this location were usually former rental cars that they needed to turn over their fleet and usually looked to be in good shape and were both foreign and domestic cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Mahindra of Clarksburg

I know Mahindra is currently not a car brand in America, but they do produce trucks in India and there have been rumors of Mahindra bringing compact diesel trucks here.
Mahindra produces medium size tractors that many American farmers use and they are currently being sold in Clarksburg, WV since the fall.  The reason I include this dealership in this blog because the dealership is located in the in the former Saturn of Clarksburg showroom on the property of Star Motor Company.  With the Saturn brand ending a couple of years ago due to the reorganization of General Motors, this building was not utilized for several months until Star Motor moved their pre-owned operarations into the building.  They had painting the building to tan and light gray moving away from the white, black, and red that Saturn had been known for.

I do not know the relationship Mahindra of Clarksburg has with Star Motor Company, whether they are the same owners or Mahindra leases the property from Star Motors.  At this point there is no permanent signage on the building