Any dealership construction sightings?

[lhoboy]

Originally Posted by RLEEN

Does Anyone Know If Ther Will Be A Dealership In Cincinnati,ohio.

Looks like your closest dealer is Sam Swope Auto Group, 100 miles away in Jeffersontown, KY.

[SmartCard]

Originally Posted by SmartCard

They had broken ground for the Louisville dealership in early September; I haven't been by since. I think its time to pay the site I visit, with camera of course!

here's a couple pics via my camera phone from earlier in the week.





Seems to have the characteristic smartcenter shape. Not terribly big, wonder how much "service" they will do there?

[mfoster]

If the MB dealers set it up like BMW with Mini, the building will be showroom and sales only. Service would be performed at the MB service area. But then how big of a service area do you need :-)

[Lewis]

Catena is simply devoting a corner of their MB dealership showroom to the Smart so all it will be is some signage which can go up pretty quickly I suppose.

[Old smart]

Some earlier press info had it that only M-B showrooms could make space for smarts in the same building. All others (and probably by extension M-B dealers with additional non-M-B showrooms) have to build separate facilities (smart Centers). PAG will not allow smarts to be placed in with Hondas or Chevys or whatever.

I'll be down in VA Beach sometime this week to talk to the smart people and to take a look-see at the smart Center (Checkered Flag Motors does not sell M-B).

[Fredvon4]

fishrdnc

That is exactly what the "Classic Auto of Round Rock" told me. The have not broken ground yet on the PAG compliant Smart Center across I35 from their Toyota, Honda, Scion sales areas. The sales rep I spoke with was a bit concerned that PAG specifically prohibits co mingling the Smart with their other brands. Especially since their sales areas are very large with internet caf

[Old smart]

I paid a visit to Checkered Flag Motors and the smart Center in Virginia Beach, VA this morning. A little good news and a little bad news and a lot of no news in between. The good news is that they intend to build a smart Tower, but maybe not as elaborate as the Euro ones. The bad (late breaking) news is that construction is lagging behind and the smart Center won’t be fully completed until April ’08. Their agreement with PAG is that the stand-alone smart Center has to be fully complete before they can go into the smart business. No working out of tents or temporarily moving operations in with another non-M-B brand. Otherwise, they are as frustrated as us with the lack of information from PAG/IB/smartUSA!

They believe that presently (meaning so far) they will be handling about 250 reservations, just about their expected yearly allocation. They think that they will be given a full contact list when it is time to go, vice being individually fed and managed by IB, and have the responsibility to contact leads in order of reservation time/date. They do not have a list at present. They say that the meaning of the statements concerning being “offered” means only first-right-of-refusal for whoever is at the top of the list on an available vehicle that may not be the one they ordered. They believe that there will be some significant attrition among the reservers: first, due the sober reality that the car may not be appropriate for their intended use, and second, that many can’t wait too long to replace another car that needs to be replaced. There were a number who backed out of MINIs (which they also sell) for those reasons. The smarts will be serviced at the smart Center. SmartUSA knows that the time/date code has been broken. That’s about it for now.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Old smart]

Here's a little blog blob from Checkered Flag: http://blog.checkeredflag.com/ . The outside shot is essentially as I saw it on Wednesday. I repeat though, I was then told (Wednesday) that the center wouldn't be complete until April '08 and they can't begin selling smarts until it is totally finished. Contractor delays.

[spdickey]

Here are some pics shot at Beverly Hills Ltd. Mercedes. They are building the smart showroom in the former lobby space of the Benz dealer. Takes up about half the frontage of the building on the left. No signs, but a salesman at the dealership confirmed that is what's going in behind the construction wall and that sales begin in January.

Also located in the building upstairs is Marvel Comics. Wow, Spiderman, the Hulk, X-Men and the Fantastic 4 together with smart!

Click to enlarge...

[spdickey]

Here are some more pics shot at Beverly Hills Ltd. Mercedes. Click to enlarge...