Automotive News - September 21, 2020 - Best Practices Supplement - S10

10 | SEPTEMBER 21, 2020
L a F O N TA I N E V O L K S WA G E N O F D E A R B O R N , D E A R B O R N , M I C H .

Raised pickups help lift VW store
Dealership finds its own
way to turn hunger for
trucks into new sales
Published in Automotive News Jan. 20, 2020

Jack Walsworth

jwalsworth@crain.com

olkswagen is not known as a pickup brand. But LaFontaine Volkswagen of Dearborn is using pickups to
attract customers who wouldn't otherwise come into the store.
The Michigan store acquires used pickups
and outfits them with a lift kit, beefy rims and
tires, side steps and sometimes even fender
flares. The trucks are then parked out front on
the dealership lawn.
It's prime advertising, considering that the
store is located on Telegraph Road, a busy byway in Dearborn with a constant stream of
passersby.
The dealership began selling lifted trucks
three years ago when General Sales Manager
Matt Szabla and Ryan Vandenbussche, corporate buyer for LaFontaine Automotive Group,
decided to try something new.
"It just started with one Silverado Z71,"
Szabla said. "It was the ugliest color ever - it
was a teal green. But it sold right away."
The quick sale signaled that the Volkswagen
store was on to something.
"We took it and ran with it," Szabla said.

"The team here embraced it as another avenue of sales."
Since that initial sale, LaFontaine has made
it a priority to have seven to 10 lifted trucks in
its used-vehicle inventory at all times.
The dealership has homed in on what works
and what doesn't when it comes to finding a
used truck, outfitting it and putting it up for sale.
Full-size pickups from the Detroit 3 - whether a Chevrolet Silverado,
Ford F-150, GMC Sierra or
Ram 1500 - are the VW
store's bread and butter to
lift. Luckily for the operation, a hefty volume of big
domestic trucks come off
lease every month in the
Detroit area, giving the
Szabla: Ran with store a wide selection to
choose from.
the truck idea
But it still requires some
hunting. "We're expanding every possible avenue of sourcing to find the right vehicles,"
Vandenbussche said.
He has a list of desired features and options
when he's looking, including low miles and
trucks that have an appearance package. He
also prefers a V-8 or a diesel engine. When it
comes to a prospective vehicle's age, two
years is the sweet spot.
Interiors also matter. Technology features
such as Apple CarPlay are popular with buyers, as are center consoles, as opposed to a
first-row bench seat.
Once Vandenbussche buys a truck, it is sent

LaFontaine Volkswagen of Dearborn
stocks used, lifted pickups as a way
to draw in customers who wouldn't
ordinarily shop the VW brand.

to an outside company for outfitting work. The
cost of installing a 6-inch lift kit, 20-inch
wheels and tires and side steps runs $4,000 to
$5,000 per pickup. It takes up to two weeks for
the vehicle to come back ready for sale.
The store tries to keep the trucks in the
$32,000-to-$35,000 range, Szabla said.
LaFontaine sells four to five lifted trucks a
month, and about 30 new VW vehicles each
month, as well as 60 to 65 used vehicles.
"We're in a blue-collar area in Ford's backyard," Mike Law, the store's general manager,
said of Dearborn, which is home to Ford Motor Co.'s world headquarters.
"Most of the people looking at buying these
vehicles are blue-collar people. So we market
it to what they want."
The inventory innovation is something the
store could not have obtained through the
Volkswagen Certified Pre-Owned program for
customers. "We gave them an option at a VW
store that they never would have considered,"
Law added.
"We could have gone the way of VW CPO,
and we would have been OK. But this was
something that could drive profitability up
considerably, and go against some of the
norms in the industry today." m

LaFontaine Volkswagen of Dearborn
uses its high-visibility location to
market the lifted pickups.

Automotive News - September 21, 2020 - Best Practices Supplement

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