The new dealership, which is a redevelopment rather than a greenfields project and has an imposing 110 metre frontage to Parramatta Road, is less than 10km from ASG’s existing Five Dock Volkswagen outlet.
ASG director Dwyer Ogle said Leichhardt Volkswagen was “in the final steps of being completed”.
Mr Ogle, originally from Ireland, said he was planning to start operations by March 17, St Patrick’s Day.
The Leichhardt dealership, which includes an 18-bay workshop, will be ASG’s fifth Volkswagen outlet and brings the number of new-car franchise outlets to 23. ASG has this week announced the purchase of six additional franchise outlets and a financial services company (see separate article).
Speaking exclusively with GoAutoNews Premium, Mr Ogle said Leichhardt would have the latest Volkswagen corporate identity “and will also have some new ideas that we have designed that can be rolled out to other Volkswagen dealerships”.
“These ideas have been designed in conjunction with Volkswagen Australia and particularly its managing director, Michael Bartsch, who has been brilliant at being intimately involved with rolling out new concepts,” he said.
“We have designed the dealership so it moves around the customer, not the other way around.
“This is done by using tablets so the sales people can better interact with the customer throughout the dealership.
“That means we can discuss sales and vehicles or servicing or parts with the customer in the coffee lounge or bar, or the showroom in front of a vehicle, or in the children’s area that we have created at the centre of the showroom.”
The children’s area has been designed as the focus of the showroom. Mr Ogle said it allows parents to feel comfortable looking at and talking about our vehicles knowing that their children are within eyesight.
“It is one of the features of the Leichhardt building that will take buying a car to a new level,” he said.
“The new ideas mean we can have a more interactive discussion with the customer rather than just sitting down at a desk and looking at paperwork or a computer screen,” he said.
Leichhardt Volkswagen will also aim to reduce paper in the office as much as possible.
“We are working closely with Volkswagen on the new dealership and we expect many of the concepts we have will be extended to our other Volkswagen outlets,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean that the ideas would naturally flow to the dealerships of our other brands.
“The philosophy at Autosports Group is that each brand in the group has its own identity and the execution of new ideas would be different depending on the character and requirements.”
Though Leichhardt Volkswagen will be a stand-alone dealership, some of the pre-delivery and parts reconditioning will be carried out at ASG’s larger Five Docks Volkswagen outlet.
By Neil Dowling
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