Car-Shopping at a Local Mall?
You can file this in the “Wish I’d thought of that’’ folder.
When Tesla started opening its company stores in upscale malls, a thought flitted across my brain: Why don’t local dealers open satellite showrooms in vacant malls in their area? All it would take is space for perhaps a half-dozen cars and some sales personnel.
Prospective customers could order their vehicle in a particular color to be delivered from the home dealership or head from the mall to the main showroom.
Local dealers are a sharp lot, so there’s likely some sort of legal restriction standing in the way—even though we’ve seen plenty of single cars on display in mall corridors.
However, it turns out that a Hawaiian Kia dealer, Aloha Auto Group, has been going the mall route for the past three years.
Owner Bill van den Hurk told Automotive News that his motivation was the high cost of real estate on Oahu.
The mall location has contributed about 200 sales of new and used vehicles to the 3,500 cars he sells annually from seven Kia dealerships.
Hellcat of a Situation
FCA, the automaker formerly known as Chrysler, has an online blog. The lead story recently was about U.S. soldier Rodney Johns who was serving in Iraq when he put in his order for a limited-edition, high-performance 2008 Challenger SRT8. He got his car, No. 6304 out of the 6,400 made, when he returned to his home in Georgia. He’s still driving it today with more than 200,000 miles on the odometer.
When I refreshed that blog page to check a fact, there was a new lead item. FCA had taken the rare step of telling prospective customers to beware of unscrupulous Dodge dealers who might be taking advantage of customers who were doing what Johns did; namely, putting in advance orders for a special vehicle. In this case it’s the 707-horsepower Dodge Hellcat.
Unfortunately, Dodge says, a “handful of dealers appear to have accepted large numbers of SRT Hellcat orders without regard to available supply and without advising their customers that orders may not be filled, if at all, for many months or longer.’’
Many of the prospective buyers are looking for what I call a “modern collectible.’’ However, dropping one step to the Challenger SRT 392 will save you 15 grand and be an absolute blast to drive.
Future Considerations
We were in Miami Beach at the end of February to get a briefing on Honda’s coming subcompact HR-V SUV, which was introduced at this winter’s Los Angeles Auto Show.
Technical specifics, driving impressions, and pricing guidelines are embargoed until April 30, although attendees were encouraged to send out teaser photos via Twitter and Instagram. Colleague Keith Griffin (good friend but no relation) is poised to write a First Drive later this spring, and I can’t wait to do a full review of this Fit-based small SUV.
If you’re going to be looking to buy in this expanding market segment, it might be wise to wait and see this Honda offering.
Future Considerations (con’t.)
Civics Lesson:Word from Honda is that the next generation Civic will have an optional, smaller (1.5-liter), turbocharged, four-cylinder engine option. The new powerplant is aimed at helping Honda achieve future federal emissions and fuel economy mandates.
It’s a Date: With so much snow on the ground, it’s hard to believe that in some years car lovers already would be looking forward to dusting off their rides for spring. Here are a couple of dates we’re looking forward to:
April 19: The 4th annual swap meet and show at Fitchburg Airport.
April 26: Northeast Region El Caminos “snow shake’’ at Jimmy’s Pizza Bar on Rte. 125 in North Andover.
July 25-26: The Misselwood Tour d’Elegance and Concours d’Elegance are back on the North Shore with Sunday’s Concours at Endicott College in Beverly. This year’s feature marques are Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.
Used Car Prices: The North American Auto Dealers (NADA) are predicting a 3 to 4.5 percent drop in used car prices as a result of the large number of new car sales and the number of cars coming off lease since the auto industry has rebounded. One exception: Pickup truck prices are expected to rise.
Flex Time? One of the best road trip vehicles I’ve ever tested was a Ford Flex. It’s now seven years old, still carries the Consumer Reports “recommended’’ seal, and sells well in California but nowhere else. Too bad it couldn’t become one of those California fads that sweeps across the nation.
Apple, Google & Autos: With so much computer software in today’s autos and both Apple (electric car) and Google (self-driving cars) getting more and more involved in the industry, there’s a big story brewing. It may be the penultimate item here today, but the suspicion is that Apple CEO Tim Cook’s words will be prescient: “None of us wants to have different platforms in different parts of our lives. We want one seamless kind of life. I think that’s huge for our future.’’
The Last Word: Thanks to longtime friend and Northeastern News editor Gil Peters for the gift of a die-cast model of perhaps the favorite car I’ve owned, a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad Wagon.
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