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Fred Martin Ford Begins $1.75M Expansion Project
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio – Fred Martin Ford is investing more than $1 million and the Ford Motor Co. an additional $750,000 to expand and renovate its dealership at 4701 Mahoning Ave.
Work began this week with the general contractor, DeSalvo Construction Co. of Hubbard, preparing the project’s first phase -- separating service departments for Fred Martin Ford and Fred Martin Mercedes Benz, the luxury brand sold in an adjacent building on the car lot.
The renovation project is the first for a Ford dealer in the Mahoning Valley since the manufacturer unveiled its “Ford Trustmark Design” template and incentive program in February at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Florida.
“In the front of the building, the appearance will be considerably different,” says Fred Martin, president of the dealership. “It will match the Ford Trustmark program so there is a similarity between every Ford dealer. All manufacturers now would like every dealer to appear to be the same.”
But only Ford is offering to match its dealers’ capital investment dollar-for-dollar up to $750,000.
“It’s great,” Martin says of the subsidy, “part of the reason I was eager to do this.”
The other part is his back office staff needs more room.“Because we’re selling more cars, we’ve had to hire four people and we’re just out of space,” reports Judy Rosen, office manager.
In the last few years, despite the Great Recession, “I’d say we hired 25 people,” Rosen says, bringing the payroll count to 63. “We’re selling a lot of cars. Ford is strong, Mercedes is strong and our used vehicle department is strong.”
Just this week Ford Motor Co. posted its best domestic September sales since 2006, 185,146 new cars and trucks, a 6% increase compared to September 2012.
“We’re definitely on an increase,” Martin confirms. I certainly wouldn’t be spending all this money on this dealership in Mahoning County if I didn’t think we were headed in the right direction.”
When complete, the renovated Ford showroom will include expanded waiting areas for customers “to make them more comfortable,” Martin says. To make way for the larger back office, the parts department will move to another section of the building.
The Ford Trustmark template is designed to enhance the “digital experiences” of customers as they and their salesman use electronic tables, Jim Farley, Ford’s executive vice president of global marketing sales and service, told Automotive News in February. “We’re really getting into digital fitness,” he said.
The incentives are available to all of Ford’s 3,100 dealers in the United States if they begin construction by Dec. 31.
The only stipulation “is they want you to do things a certain way,” Martin says. “They have a right to do that, and there isn’t much that I would disagree with that they’re asking us to do.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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