Subaru Wyong is the first in Australia to showcase the new CI both internally and externally.

Opened by Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read and visiting overseas Subaru executives, the dealership sits on a greenfield site in a business park setting neighbouring some of the dealer group’s other franchises.

Central Coast Motor Group owner Terry Bond told GoAutoNews Premium that the 17,000 square metre site has Mazda, Nissan and Isuzu Ute showrooms and provision was made for Subaru and other brands to be included “if the opportunity presents itself.”

The brands have some shared facilities, including a large service centre. Mr Bond said Mazda’s service department will move out of the shared building to a dedicated workshop this month, giving space if another brand moves into Wyong. He said he was talking with another one of its brands about a satellite service at this facility.

The Subaru dealership employs three sales staff and shares aftermarket personnel. It has a qualified technician and two apprentices but will soon take on another three.

“This is a greenfield site that we developed in 2019,” Mr Bond said.

“It is about 4.5km north of Wyong – it’s referred to as north Wyong – so it’s away from the town centre.

“We made provision then for a future showroom so we had a roof structure and a floor. Nine months ago the builders started and filled it in and created a new Subaru dealership which, as a fitout, cost over $1 million.”

CCMG also has a Subaru dealership in Gosford but Mr Bond said the PMA was very long (about 120km) and 20km wide stretching from the Hawkesbury up to Swansea.

Within the PMA is Wyong which Mr Bond said is the fastest growing local government area in Australia. It is forecast that the area’s population will increase by 46,000 by 2036.

“That helps us in a lot of ways, including the fact that public transport isn’t great, so everyone here has got to have two cars and of course they have to service their cars locally,” he said.

“It’s obviously a high mortgage area but has considerable growth, which is one of the reasons why we came here.

“When we decided to move to north Wyong we spoke to planning consultants to confirm that we were doing the right thing by coming out of the centre of Wyong.

“They looked at it from a demographic and geographical point of view and they certainly said this was the place to be. Other car dealers on the Central Coast are mainly still in Gosford or still in the centre of Wyong.”

The research has paid off with Mr Bond confirming that sales are strong and held up very well despite the downturn during COVID “so generally we have had consistent business.”

“Subaru has done extremely well since opening, particularly in used Subarus. Used cars are a real bonus and even though they have more recently come off the boil in some areas, they are still strong for us.”

He said that he would like to expand the size of the dealership group on the site.

“We built it like a smaller version of a business park modelled on Peter Warren’s concept in Warwick Farm,” he said.

“So it has plenty of parking for customers and has a garden environment with manicured grassed areas and a calm environment for clients to browse and purchase. There’s a lot of space available that we can use in the future.”

By Neil Dowling