Automotive News Canada - December 2019 - 3

SECOND FRONT

Mitsubishi plans small urban storefronts

Cost-saving
strategy separates
showroom, service
and inventory
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

TORONTO - MITSUBISHI
is betting that a new
approach to urban retail can

help offset rising real estate
costs while still allowing the
brand to target big-city buyers.
Mitsubishi's new "urban
retail boutique concept,"
unveiled in October, essentially separates the showroom from service areas and
parking for inventory. The
showrooms are in high-density - and high-rent - areas
of a city, while the service

Juyu Jeon:
Strategy
means
more brand
exposure in
urban areas.
PHOTO:
MITSUBISHI
CANADA

and parking lots are found
in industrial, less expensive
areas a few kilometres away.
"It's all about flexibili-

Top auto execs
to address industry
upheaval at 2020
Canada Congress

ty and having a proactive
approach," said Juyu Jeon,
CEO of Mitsubishi Motor
Sales of Canada Inc.
It's not exactly a new concept. Other automakers in
various markets have experimented with similar ideas,
and some dealership groups
with locations in big cities
have done the same. Still, it's

SEE MITSU PAGE 24

BMW sets the stage
Why put cars in front of
houses for sale? One-third
of well-heeled customers
buy new luxury vehicles
when they acquire new
residences, poll reveals

Joining with a home stager allowed
BMW to place high-end BMW vehicles
in the driveways of luxury homes
for sale in Toronto, which proved an
effective way to reach new customers.

BMW CANADA

By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

BMW CANADA JOINED FORCES WITH
a home-staging company in an effort to
target-market vehicles to luxury shoppers in Toronto. The pilot project was
successful enough that BMW is now considering expansion.
Vehicles were put in
the driveways of three
premium real estate listings as part of Heaps
Estrin's home-staging
process, which targets
exclusive Toronto neighbourhoods with average
Michael
listing prices of $2.5 milOliver:
lion to $3.5 million.
Luxury
clientele are
Two factors drove
"difficult to
the six-month initiative
reach" via
launched in May: A need
traditional
to market an influx of
media.
high-priced new product
PHOTO:
for BMW, and a unique
BMW CANADA
insight into when consumers tend to shop for new vehicles.
"We've got a brand-new [SUV], the
X7, along with a variety of other highend vehicles that have come to market
over the last 18 months," Michael Oliver,
spokesman for BMW Canada, told
Automotive News Canada.
"We need to get awareness high in the

market, and we need to talk to a potential customer that's very difficult to
reach with traditional media."
The inspiration for this approach,
Oliver said, came from an automotive
research poll conducted by Google and
Ipsos that shows 33 per cent of luxury
automotive purchases are initiated at
the same time those consumers move
into a new home.
"[It] makes a ton of sense when you

TRANS-CANADA NEWS
Need for speed drives new
Porsche distribution centre

TORONTO - QUICKER VEHICLE
service across Porsche Canada's network of 20 dealerships will result
from the company's first Canadian
parts distribution centre, said the
brand's Canadian head in November.
"We've moved from about 3,000
cars [sold] per year to about 9,000"
projected for 2019, said Porsche
Canada CEO Marc Ouayoun. "We
see that our customer expectations
require us, across the country, to get
better delivery times and to repair
cars faster."

think about it, that ... a big life event,
a promotion, an expansion of the family, something that triggers the move to
a new neighbourhood, to a new house,
to a bigger property would also come
with requirements for different mobility
needs," Oliver said.
The initiative, which is the first of its
kind in Canada, generated two

SEE HOME PAGE 24

5,000 KILOMETRES OF STORIES

Porsche's first Canadian partsdistribution centre means dealers
don't have to wait as long to make
repairs. P H O T O : P O R S C H E C A N A D A

Ouayoun said Porsche, which aims
to sell 10,000 vehicles in Canada in
2020, could no longer rely on parts
being shipped into Canada from out
of the country; it can now offer over-

night delivery to dealers nationwide.
Ouayoun said the parts centre
includes a room specified for battery
storage. Porsche aims to have 50 per
cent of its global new-vehicle sales be
either battery-electric or hybrid vehicles by 2025. - John Irwin

Dealer-racer leads Western
Canada Motorsports HoF

ST. ALBERT, ALTA. - THE
fledgling Western Canada
Motorsports Hall of Fame has recognized Ron Hodgson, owner of Ron
Hodgson Chevrolet-Buick-GMC and
famed Alberta drag racer.

03

12.19

THE FOURTH ANNUAL
Automotive News Canada
Congress will take place at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Feb. 13 with some
of the Canada's top
executives addressing critical issues,
highlighted by keynote speaker Jim
Morrison, the newly
minted head of the
Jeep brand for FCA
North America.
Jim
Attendees will
Morrison
also be addressed
by Don Walker,
CEO of Magna
International; Steve
Milette, CEO of
Nissan Canada;
Matt Girgis,
managing director of Volvo Car
Don Walker
Canada; and Adam
Paterson, managing
director of Infiniti
Canada.
As new-vehicle
dealers attempt to
navigate an uncertain future, the
Canada Congress
Steve Milette
will also host a
retail panel as well
as a presentation by
Louis-Yves Cloutier,
president of 360
Agency, who will
discuss the trend
toward online car
Matt Girgis
shopping.
John Stackhouse,
senior vice-president, Office of the
CEO, RBC - the
exclusive lead sponsor of the event -
will also present.
Registration
Adam
for the Canada
Paterson
Congress is $645
per person, plus HST, and is open
to all industry professionals.
For the full agenda and to register, visit canada.autonews.
com (under the header Events,
Webinars & Awards). - ANC

The purpose of the new hall is
to recognize western Canadians
involved in all disciplines of racing,
in effect "everything
that's piston powered,"
he told Automotive News
Canada.
Hodgson, already
a member of the
Canadian Motorsports
Hall of Fame and
Roger
Canadian Drag Racing
Hodgson
Hall of Fame, said it's
also important to document the history of western Canada car clubs, some
of which have been around for more
than 50 years.

SEE TRANS-CANADA PAGE 23
Automotive News Canada - December 2019

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