Drivers along Morse Road on the Northeast Side can see a shiny, new economic indicator.
Germain Mazda held a grand opening this week for the first new-car dealership built in central Ohio since the recession. The showroom, at 4330 Morse Rd., is the region's only stand-alone Mazda dealership.
"It's been cool to build something from the ground up," said Rick Germain, a co-owner.
The general manager is his son Paul, 27, who set up the dealership in a way that embraces technology. He wants to appeal to all ages, but he thinks the brand has a special appeal to younger drivers.
"My generation of car buyers do it differently," Paul Germain said.
By that he means that younger buyers will do almost all their research online. When they get to the dealership, they want an easygoing sales experience, not a hard sell.
Mazda, which is based in Japan, started selling cars in the United States in 1970; its market share peaked in 1991 at 2.7 percent, according to Ward's Auto. The share has hovered around 2 p ercent in the past few years.
In the first four months of the year, Mazda sold 103,529 new vehicles in the United States, which makes it the 11th-ranked automaker, right behind Subaru and ahead of BMW. For perspective, leader General Motors has about eight times Mazda's sales.
James O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda in North America, said the brand is on an upswing that began in the past decade with the introduction of the midsize Mazda 6, the first in a wave of new designs. He was one of several Mazda executives who came to Columbus for the grand opening of Germain Mazda.
"We went back to what are our core roots," O'Sullivan said. "We've been known for great design, great driving dynamics and great value."
At one time, Ford owned about one-third of Mazda, but it sold almost all its share during the recent economic downturn. Although Ford is no longer a major shareholder, it continues to be an important partner in several joint ventures, O'Sullivan said.Mazda has clear assets but also faces brutal competition, said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Edmunds.com. "It's always been a well-respected brand in terms of its products and marketing, but it's had a difficult time getting its voice heard against the noise of Toyota, Honda and Nissan," Krebs said.Those three brands are also based in Japan and have had much-larger shares of the U.S. market. They also have a much-larger retail presence in central Ohio.
Mazda has not had an area dealership to itself since the 2008 closure of Mazda Direct, a franchise that was just east of Germain Mazda's site. The region's other Mazda stores share space with other brands.
Aside from the significance for the brand, the new dealership is notable for the region's auto sales. Since the recession began, more than a dozen new-car franchises have shut down or been consolidated.
On the plus side, several stores have opened, but all involved repurposing existing buildings.
Germain Mazda represents the first new-construction project for selling new vehicles in at least four years. The dealership has about 25 employees and represents an investment of about $2.7 m illion.Its arrival will be followed soon by the new Coughlin Toyota dealership in Newark, which is to open early this summer.Germain Mazda's parent company is Germain Motor Partnership, co-owned by Rick Germain and brother Robert Germain Jr. They own Germain Ford, Nissan, Lexus and Mazda in central Ohio, plus franchises in the Naples, Fla., area.Their brother Steve owns Germain Motor Co., which has the Germain Honda, Toyota, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz dealerships in central Ohio, some stores in Florida and a new acquisition in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Ann Arbor franchises are Honda, Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi.
Germain Motor dates to the 1940s, and it once included all the family's holdings before Rick and Robert started their company at the beginning of 2011.Rick Germain says the creation of the new company gave all members of the family more flexibility and makes it less complicated to get the next generation involved.Paul, a member of that generation, worked his way up through a variety of jobs at the family's businesses. Most recently, he was sales manager at the Nissan store, which is west of the new Mazda location.
"Here, we are able to do things right from the start," he said, about the fun of a new business. "There are no bad habits to break."
