mmarshall

There are a few clunkers running around (and some here who are not so well-heeled).....but my point it that the market for new and/or upscale vehicles is much more lucrative in this area than it is nationwide, because of the many well-paid Federal workers, those who are politically-employed, high-tech company employees, government contractors, and military people here with good job stability and high incomes/benefits. As an auto market, it is probably second only to Los Angeles, the center of the country's car culture. Virginia also has strict yearly inspection laws, which ground some of the worst clunkers. In Maryland, right across the river, inspection laws are much more lax......cars are legally inspected only when brand-new (a brand-new car is assumed to pass, of course), and when that vehicle is re-sold or traded.

mmarshall

Hmmm. Every time I've been to Pohanka or Lindsay Lexus for any reason (and I was once also a customer at Pohanka with my IS), they have always had a flock of customers there. The service departments there are quite crowded, too. Both dealerships, IMO, are simply too small for the number of customers they serve.....and that gets back to what I said earlier about the large number of upscale-vehicle owners in this area. With Lexus of Rockville and/or Silver Spring, I can't say...I haven't been there as often, though I did do a few write-ups there.

If they were all like Moore Cadillac, there would probably be no problem. That place is more impressive than many Lexus shops I've seen.

SW17LS

You're not looking at it from a business perspective. Crowded dealers are profitable dealers. Theres a reason why Lexus dealers are the most profitable per franchise in the country, because Lexus is very particular about who it grants franchise agreements to, locations, etc.

It may seem to make sense to you just to open another dealership so the service area is "less crowded", but does it make sense to the owner of that franchise that is making a great profit? Probably not. Dealerships are hugely expensive to build and have incredible overhead, two dealers with moderate traffic are not as profitable as one dealer with significant traffic.

Lindsay Lexus has an incredible off site service centre, its not too small. The dealership is smaller because its in Alexandria and its an older dealer (one of the originals), but they no longer have service at that location its all sales. When I first did business there they had sales and service there on King St.

Pohanka is a huge dealership.

But you can't build Moore Cadillac in Fargo, ND. Thats the point. Moore Cadillac does enough business in that location to support that dealer, and even then have you ever looked at the upper level above the showroom floor? Empty offices. Its bigger than it needs to be...

mmarshall

]Oh, I agree it can be a different perspective when one is not paying the bills. Customers in this vehicle-class, though, can be rather picky.

IMO, if Caddy is going to lose some of their shops, it would make sense for those ex-Caddy shops to convert to Lincoln. You and I both seem to agree that the current Lincoln dealer network, shared with Ford, is a joke. Ted Britt Ford/Lincoln, at Chantilly, is one of the rare exceptions...it may be a super-nice Ford shop, but even that place is not Lincoln-exclusive.

I haven't seen the off-site service shop. The rest of the franchise, though, is small, right in the middle of a highly-congested area, and, IMO, unsuitable for a good test-drive, even up and down nearby 95 (which is usually also super-congested).

From what I've seen, not big enough for its customer level, though they did expand the service area into a new building some years ago.

At one time, Moore handled both Hummer and Cadillac...that may (?) explain some of those empty rooms. It's not their fault that GM planners decided to axe the Hummer division.

SW17LS

Yet the two dealers you mention as being "too crowded" are two of the highest rated Elite of Lexus dealers in the area.

Except that pretty much all of those shops will be combination Cadillac/Other GM Brand dealers. You can't operate a dealership anywhere and only sell 50 cars a year...what they will do is just stop selling Cadillacs.

Thats true...but what are they going to do about it? Its in an urban setting, they can't just knock down buildings and build a bigger dealer. They can't create traffic free roads for a test drive. Dealerships exist in different physical locations, and those locations have an impact on size and scope. Doesn't mean its right or wrong. Yes, Chantilly is bigger, as is Annapolis, as is Rockville...but if you live in Alexandria, or DC, these places are totally inconvenient to get to...so yeah maybe you put up with a smaller showroom or an offsite service area. I've bought two cars from Alexandria, helped my partner buy one, and I've been there many times. I've never known the sales dealership or the service dealership to feel uncomfortably crowded.

If a bigger dealer experience is more important to you than convenience, then drive to one of the bigger dealers in the outskirt locations. Simple.

Personally, I go where the deal is...thats why I've bought cars from many of these dealers and shopped at them all.

So if you haven't seen the service facility...I would suggest you not pass judgement on the size requirements of their service facility. I have seen their service facility...its the nicest in the area...and I've seen them all. I would go there for service if it wasn't so inconvenient for me.

May not be their fault, but its a reality and they're not as profitable as they could be because of that wasted space.

RNM GS3

The bottom line for Caddillac is their products are still inferior to MB and BMW and even Lexus.
The styling language on their new cars no longer stands out as it once did and their interior design and CUE are lacking. Add to that lack of Brand cache and optimistic pricing and you have poor sales.
Also alll the new model name changes didnt help - ATS, XTS, CT6, XT5????? Just pick something and stay with that pattern.

They need to put the V8 engine from Camaro SS into the ATS V, not the crappy TT V6.
Nobody who is considering M3 will buy a Caddy TT V6, now if it had a sweet sounding V8.....

TangoRed

In terms of luxury cars registrations, Miami, NYC, and San Francisco-Bay Area have been right up there with the DC/MD/VA metro area in addition to LA. Automakers typically focus on FL (actually outnumbers NY and Texas in registrations), New York, and California for luxury/exotic auto-related events for that reason.

SW17LS

And the bottom line is you see that, there are 7 Lexus dealers within a 45 minute drive of DC. Alexandria, Chantilly, Rockville, Silver Spring, Annapolis, Owings Mills and Towson. How many more do we need?

We have a fair amount of Cadillac dealers too, theres Jim Coleman in Bethesda, Moore in Chantilly, Lindsay in Alexandria (right across the street from Lexus of Alexandria's service department), Capitol Cadillac in Greenbelt. Fitzgerald Cadillac in Frederick, Fitzgerald Cadillac in Annapolis. Theres a Cadillac dealer in Waldorf. Thats 7 within an hours drive of the city.

LexBob2

Good points. Next to LA, Miami is now a hot bed for the car culture. Add in some other metro areas with large populations like Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Philly etc. and there are a lot areas in the U.S. with a high number of motor vehicle registrations, including the luxury brands.

mmarshall

Depends on which specific vehicles you are talking about. I have seen vehicles from all four manufacturers which, IMO, were not (and are not) very impressive.



Somehow, a number of years ago, auto marketers got the notion that Letter or Letter/Number combinations for vehicle-names were more upscale-sounding than traditional wording. IMO, somebody must have slipped something into their drinks.

Unfortunately, at least for the American market and its CAFE rules, you are going to probably see the same TT V6s in most (maybe not all) of the German-badged vehicles you like...so I'd say get used to it.

(And, more often than not, the TT V6s produce more power then N/A V8s, though not necessarily more power then supercharged V8s). The V6's, though, sometimes lack the V8 refinement.

mmarshall

Yes, definitely...but few others, if any, can equal the amount spent on new cars as in the SoCal/L.A. and D.C.-Baltimore areas. The large number of stable and/or high-paying jobs in this area reaps quite a bonus in new-car sales.

SW17LS

I would have to see some stats to believe that. I would venture to say that a lot of FL areas, TX...can easily equal the amount of new luxury cars sold. Think about the huge high end dealers they're able to have in FL, and places like Dallas.

mmarshall

My point was, though, that 45 minutes of driving, in this area, often doesn't get one very far. Also, you and I might just have a different idea, personally, of what constitutes a reasonable distance or time. (but, hey, I respect your opinion.......that's why we have this forum)

(That's also what makes me glad I'm retired and not out in the daily grind every day)

LexBob2

The D.C-Baltimore metro area no doubt accounts for a big number of new car sales, but you can't discount the impact of other metro areas with populations equal to, and larger than the DC/Va/MD/WV metro area. NYC, Chicago, Dallas-Fort-Worth and Houston are all larger in terms of population, and Philly, Miami and Atlanta are about the same. The sheer number of people translates into new vehicle sales including the luxury brands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_Areas

Sulu

Limiting the number of luxury brand dealerships also helps with the image that the brand wants to project. Luxury brands are supposed to be aspirational vehicles -- they are supposed to be goals that you strive for and work hard for. Lexus would not seem to be a very aspirational brand if every Lexus dealership shared its showroom with Toyota. A Lexus LS or LC would not seem as special if it shared showroom space with a Yaris.

My old Toyota dealer wanted to open a separate Lexus dealership, with new showroom, but was waiting for approval from Lexus Canada. He had the land and money ready, and told me that he believed that the area he would service had the population density and other luxury brands nearby (MB and BMW), both of which Lexus Canada looks at.

Looking a few years forward, this could be Hyundai's problem if its luxury Genesis brand continues to share space with Hyundais. This may very well be a problem for Lincoln. Why look at a Lincoln MKZ if an almost-as-nice Ford Fusion is on the same lot, at $10,000+ less?