Automotive News - March 4, 2013 - 31

MARCH 4, 2013 • 31

Sporty segments
U.S. sales by segment
2012

Compact sporty
Mid-sized sporty
Premium sporty
Exotic

2011

CHANGE

66,157
211,217
47,730
9,683

51,855
202,681
36,567
8,655

+28%
+4%
+31%
+12%

Source: Automotive News Data Center

Acura’s new generation
of the NSX sports car is to reach
dealership showrooms in 2014.
LINDSAY CHAPPELL

SPORTS CARS
continued from previous page

their larger value is stimulating desire for
other cars in the lineup, either through their
presence under a tent at a dealership weekend sell-a-thon, or through photos and descriptions circulating on the Internet as
consumers shop for family sedans.
That’s what has product planners pondering the future. If sports cars aren’t lighting
up Gen Y consumers’ eyes today, what will it
take to light them up tomorrow?
Nissan North America spent the past year
pursuing this question through a racing
partnership with Atlanta entrepreneur Don
Panoz. (See related story, Page 30.) Panoz
funded the development of a quirky race car
called the DeltaWing, which despite its
modest 1.6-liter engine, light weight and unconventional design, performed side by side
with traditional race cars on the American
Le Mans Series racing circuit.
Nissan officials welcomed having the automaker’s name on the side of a headlinegrabbing racer as crowds lined up to see it.

ALFORD
Dealer helps keep
community thriving
continued from Page 3

were in the process of being gobbled up by industry giants.
Throughout the early 1990s recession, Alford concentrated on helping extricate banking clients from
various financial predicaments.
Meanwhile, Alford’s father-inlaw, Carl Ragsdale, had just turned
58 and was pondering the succession plan for his dealership in Jacksonville. He asked Alford to join
him at a 20 Group meeting in
Phoenix.
Alford agreed to go along and was
intrigued, but was not quite ready
to give up his banking career. For a
year, he talked it over with Ragsdale. In the meantime he grew frustrated by the long-distance commute his banking job entailed, so
Alford accepted Ragsdale’s offer to
join in the dealership.
He enrolled in the National Automobile Dealers Association Academy and worked in every department at this father-in-law’s store.
“He let me run, he gave me space,
let me skin my knees,” says Alford.
“It was invaluable experience.”
In 1997 he acquired the dealership from Ragsdale. Alford was 33
and had a lot to do. For starters, the
facility had been in place since

But more than that, Nissan believed the
DeltaWing pointed the way to future streetlegal performance cars.
“This is where performance cars are going
to be going in the future, with all the pressures vehicles are facing,” says Steve Yaeger,
Nissan spokesman for technology and racing. “A lightweight performance car with a
four-cylinder turbo engine that gets 34 miles
to the gallon. But you have to prove it on the
racetrack.”
Nissan and Panoz have just ended their
DeltaWing partnership, but Nissan continues to probe into future sports models
for younger buyers. The company
revealed in February that it will
expand its Nismo performance
subbrand in an effort to imbue less expensive vehicles
with sports car performance
and components.
Nissan, which has long
championed affordable sportiness, now markets the GT-R —
with a back seat — starting at
more than $100,000, including delivery. In an

1946, and its location was no longer
conducive to retail.
Plus, the local market was in tumult. Most of the Marines from
Camp Lejeune — tens of thousands
of them — had been shipped overseas in the aftermath of Operation
Desert Storm, and the spouses who
stayed at home weren’t much interested in buying cars.
“We were coming out of Desert
Storm, which had a devastating
economic impact on the market,”
he said. “And I knew I would have
to do something different with the
dealership. It was in an older location, with a tough ingress and
egress.”

New location
Alford moved the dealership
across town, betting on an undeveloped wooded area with more favorable water, sewer and zoning regulations.
Later, Target, Lowe’s and Toys-RUs became neighbors, and eventually a cinema multiplex was built.
Residential neighborhoods and
schools also have sprouted up.
In the years since, sales at Marine
Chevrolet-Cadillac have almost
doubled, to 1,200 new Chevrolets
and 105 new Cadillacs last year, and
the store has outperformed state
and national franchise indexes. The
dealership, which is undergoing a
$2 million renovation, has maintained a net profit-to-sales ratio
near 4 percent.

improbable pairing of competitors, Nissan is
pitching the GT-R against the Porsche 911
Turbo. And at the same time, one of the leading brands of sports car performance,
Porsche is outgrowing its roadster identity.
Its top seller is the Cayenne SUV, and the
Panamera four-door sedan is running neckand-neck with its 911. Porsche said late last
year it will spend $100 million to create a new
U.S. headquarters in Atlanta to support its
broadening image in North America.
Other automakers are looking for new approaches, especially to address fuel economy perceptions. The Alfa Romeo 4C will roll
in at around just 2,000 pounds, a curb
weight that is a third less than a Porsche 911
or a Nissan 370Z, and about 750 pounds
lighter than the compact Subaru BRZ.
The concern is bleeding over to muscle
cars. Similar thoughts are on the mind of
John Luft, president of Shelby American
Inc., the Las Vegas producer of thundering
souped-up 850-hp Shelby-edition Ford
Mustangs. At the Detroit au-

Mike Alford
Age: 48
Dealership: Marine ChevroletCadillac
Location: Jacksonville, N.C.
2012 sales: 1,200 new
Chevrolets, 105 new Cadillacs;
1,150 used
Family: Married, 3 children
Last music loaded on iPod:
Sarah Watkins
Last book read: Younger Next
Year by Chris Crowley
and Dr. Henry Lodge

Alford said the switch to auto retailing was the right move for him.
“You are maintaining control of
all your inventories, whether it’s
new or used cars, parts or accessories, [even] your inventory of
time relative to what the service
techs are selling,” he said.
Alford has introduced metricsbased
management
concepts
picked up in his days in the banking
sector.
A monthly “success index” measures such things as sales goals,
customer service, training standards and collision repair sales as a
percentage of estimates. If the dealership hits its overall index target at
the end of each quarter, everyone
gets a bonus.
Last year, after hitting the target
in the first quarter, the dealership

2014 Corvette Stingray

to show in January, Luft unveiled a concept
for the market’s consideration: a smaller,
lighter, less-expensive four-cylinder-powered Shelby Ford Focus ST. At 252 hp, the
tuned-up model still promises 32 mpg.

Stingray
Chevrolet’s Fitzgerald says that, in marketing the new Corvette Stingray, Chevrolet
will talk up some selling points that its other
75-year-old buyers probably care little
about — such as its fuel economy.
“The current Corvette gets 26 mpg highway,” Fitzgerald says. “And we expect to
beat that on the new model. So that’s something we’ll keep reminding consumers. We
live in an age when manufacturers have to
consider CAFE and their carbon footprint.”
The new generation also sports more sophisticated audio equipment, phone and
infotainment features, and promises
smoother handling. It hopes to rival Chevrolet’s European luxury competitors with
leather and performance seating.
“We want to look forward,” he says. “We
have to work hard on the perception that a
lot of people have of the Corvette. But as
long as there are people out there who
want the thrill of the freedom of the
road, sports cars will always exist.” c
Among new approaches to
attract young buyers is Shelby
American’s smaller, lighter,
less-expensive four-cylinderpowered Shelby Ford Focus ST.

fell short in the second and third
quarters. But Alford carried over
the bonuses into the fourth quarter.
So when the dealership performed
well, the average employee payout
was $475, on top of holiday bonuses.
“Everybody is a stakeholder, from
the wash pit to the general manager,” Alford said. “Succeeding as a
team is as important as the monetary payout.”

‘Incredible professionals’
About one-third of Marine
Chevrolet-Cadillac’s work force
are veterans.
“They are incredible professionals, and it makes for a vibrant work
force,” Alford said.
Two-thirds of the dealership’s
customers have some connection
with the military.
“Our customer base are folks who
are truly are defending our freedom
and are under incredible amount of
stress and dedication and sacrifice,” Alford said. “There are folks
on their fifth deployments of seven
to 12 months over six years. Whatever we can do to support the military and their dependents during
this time, it’s more than a good
business decision.”
A big part of that responsibility
meant helping the community
cope with the growth of Camp
Lejeune. He was part of a Chamber
of Commerce effort that helped to
formulate a plan in 2007 for han-

dling a projected 12 percent growth
in the population in Onslow County — about 85,000 new residents.
“We spent 18 months on the regional growth management plan,
dealing with everything from public
safety to water and sewer to infrastructure to child care, education
and recreation — the whole
gamut,” Alford said.
From the 800-page report’s 467
recommendations, local administrators have completed 76 percent
of key items, he said.
In addition to his work with Camp
Lejeune, Alford until recently was a
member of the North Carolina
Board of Transportation. He kept
the statewide board in the loop on
the camp’s expansion to ensure
that port and road infrastructure
kept pace with growth.
“I am hoping we can carry this
growth forward while maintaining
green spaces, because we’ve had a
lot of haphazard sprawl,” Alford
said.
Alford also has been part of several civic economic development organizations, and is also active with
the Onslow County soup kitchen
and Wounded Warriors efforts.
The Time magazine award has
put Alford in a national spotlight,
but he is quick to pass along credit.
“This award is a collective among
our whole team,” he said. “Everyone associated with Marine
Chevrolet-Cadillac has equity in
this award.” c

Automotive News - March 4, 2013

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