174 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

A sea of cars screams "used cars" at me. New car dealerships across the world have only floor models with several parked out back ready for test drives. The reason this isn't a problem is most new cars are customized by buyers and delivered several weeks after purchase.

[sebberry]

I guess if you're the only guy in town selling Toyotas you can get away with having show models and ordering what the customer wants, but if you're one of two or three local dealers selling the same cars then not having a car in stock could easily be a lost sale.

[Mike K.]

You could still have several vehicles available but they don't need to stored on a giant parking lot encircling your dealership. It's just so ...suburban to have these giant parking lots along Douglas.

[aastra]

This is what I'm saying. You can still have plenty of vehicles outside on a large lot, but just make the main face of the building look more like a storefront near the corner there. There are a few examples of this in town so it's not as if it would be some crazy new thing.

[sebberry]

The Volvo dealership here is perhaps a better design. Storefront up at the sidewalk, parking lot around back.

[Coreyburger]

A sea of cars screams "used cars" at me. New car dealerships across the world have only floor models with several parked out back ready for test drives. The reason this isn't a problem is most new cars are customized by buyers and delivered several weeks after purchase.

This isn't exactly a new model. Most car dealerships around the turn of the 20th century well into the 30s were like this. Look at all of the beautiful Packard Bell and other very urban dealerships. They were just storefronts, albeit ones that sold cars.

[LJ]

A sea of cars screams "used cars" at me. New car dealerships across the world have only floor models with several parked out back ready for test drives. The reason this isn't a problem is most new cars are customized by buyers and delivered several weeks after purchase.

And that is what gets people in kicking tires.

A lot of people will go have a peek at used cars on a lot, and compare them to new ones, but they won't go inside a building to do this, because then they feel committed. Out on a lot you can escape in any direction if you don't want to be bothered by a salesman.

Dealerships make very little on new car sales, unless there is some manufacturers hold back, people know what the dealer cost is don't want to pay much more than that.

Used cars are the bread and butter of the trade, and they want them out there where people can see them and touch them.

When you are dealing on a new car, salesmen like to take as little off the price of the new car as possible, they make the deal by giving you an artificially high price for your car, thus they can show a buyer of your old heap what they paid for it and make more off the used car sale.

It may offend someone's aesthetic sense to see a car dealership with cars on the lot, but that is what works best. I would like to see more auto malls where a bunch of dealers have their lots rather than the strip mall type that we have here.

[jonny]

A sea of cars screams "used cars" at me. New car dealerships across the world have only floor models with several parked out back ready for test drives. The reason this isn't a problem is most new cars are customized by buyers and delivered several weeks after purchase.

Where are these dealers in North America that are like this? The one Mini dealer in Yaletown?

I have been all over North America and I don't recall ever seeing a dealership like this. The vast majority have a large amount of inventory for customers to choose from.

I also don't believe that most buyers "customize" their purchase and order straight from the manufacturer. Most find the model and options package they want and shop around to find the best deal. Dealers stock the most common model and options packages.

[Szeven]

Where are these dealers in North America that are like this? The one Mini dealer in Yaletown?

I have been all over North America and I don't recall ever seeing a dealership like this. The vast majority have a large amount of inventory for customers to choose from.

I also don't believe that most buyers "customize" their purchase and order straight from the manufacturer. Most find the model and options package they want and shop around to find the best deal. Dealers stock the most common model and options packages.

I definitely agree with this post. When shopping for a Jeep recently and wanting White, the dealership was insistent on accepting Black because it was available, and couldn't even say when a White would be available in the options we wanted.

[jonny]

I definitely agree with this post. When shopping for a Jeep recently and wanting White, the dealership was insistent on accepting Black because it was available, and couldn't even say when a White would be available in the options we wanted.

Yeah, well they'd rather sell you the inventory they have on the lot and have been paying interest charges on than hunt one down have have it shipped to Victoria.

[LJ]

What I can't figure out is why all these people are buying Jeeps.

[VicHockeyFan]

Last Friday.

[Bingo]

Today

[D.L.]

must be a test drive area for 4x4 trucks. neat

[Bernard]

I weep each time I pass the site and think of what sort of mini Uptown type development could have gone into this site.

What we need in this region is an auto mall like like in Richmond or Abbotsford

[AllseeingEye]

I weep each time I pass the site and think of what sort of mini Uptown type development could have gone into this site.

What we need in this region is an auto mall like like in Richmond or Abbotsford

Precisely; considering the new condo on Speed Ave, Uptown just a few blocks away, (presumably) a new grocery outlet on the old Mayfair Lanes site, the "Toyota" site could have and should have been something - anything - other than a car dealership.

It really does make one question whether there is any sort of master plan for the city in terms of development/transportation hubs which Mayfair most assuredly should be. Whatever planning is in evidence sometimes seems to me to be piecemeal and ad hoc at best, and in some areas like Mayfair non-existent at worst. IMO cities like Calgary leave Victoria utterly in the rear view mirror both in terms of planning and in their development approval process.

[VicHockeyFan]

What we need in this region is an auto mall like like in Richmond or Abbotsford

Absolutely. Stew Young, you hear us?

[VicHockeyFan]

I weep each time I pass the site and think of what sort of mini Uptown type development could have gone into this site.

Or a Mayfair expansion, with a monorail connecting the two buildings...

[Bernard]

Ultimately it is up to the owner of the land what they want to do with it within the constraints of the zoning. I just think the opportunity to do something more by someone was missed out.

[jonny]

IMO cities like Calgary leave Victoria utterly in the rear view mirror both in terms of planning and in their development approval process.

Yeah, every time I go to Calgary I can't stop but thinking "man, I really wish Victoria had row upon row of tightly packed in houses with pink stucco and baby blue vinyl siding."