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Drive either direction on Shawnee Mission Parkway and you will find new car dealers with knocked down buildings. To the East, Hummer of Kansas City will be constructing a Quonset hut styled dealership featuring a 20' high "H" entryway into the new adult playground. To the West Shawnee Mission Ford decided they loved the dust and commotion caused by the recently completed road construction and so they decided to stir up a little dust on their own lot. Driving past the dealership on Wednesday morning, bulldozers were actively destroying the old showroom while relocated sales staff looked on in awe from their temporary mobile offices. Noting that seldom do "front-end" employees get to retire after fifteen years at the same dealership, General Manager Merl Desmarteau received his send off from Marcus Allen's Broadway Ford in a retirement roast on June 16, 2004. Merle and his wife Nan (Cecil Van Tuyl's former assistant) retire to Surprise Arizona to watch the Royals every year when hope springs eternal. All new car dealership websites in the area are listed on the www.kcautosource.com website and will be published in The Pitch's Autobuzz Buyers Guide on July 1, 2004. Will you be listed correctly? Surf on over to http://kcautosource.com/kc_dealers.asp and review your listing. Remember to call your Pitch account executive at 816-561-6061 to reserve your advertising spot. You think the car business in Kansas City is competitive? Try producing a local car show airing on PAX 50 TV opposite Jay Leno and David Letterman every Friday night! Proving that KC is indeed a "car town" CARTUNZ, the car show reached highest rated program on PAX TV 50! According to Nielen ratings, CARTUNZ captured 25% of Leno's audience one recent Friday night! Call Kerwin Looney, Producer at 816-728-2722 and congratulate him. (hint -advertising rates are considerably cheaper) Is John McCarthy a genius or just lucky? In moves calculated long before press coverage of Mitsubishi woes and before the praise of J.D. Powers lauding Hyundai quality, McCarthy shed the Mitsubishi brand and purchased Hyundai from Sunflower Auto Group. The move gives the McCarthy empire two Chevrolet, two Nissan and two Hyundai stores. Expect more acquisitions. Speaking of acquisitions, Kansas City will soon have their second Mercedes Benz dealership. Jay Wolfe European Motors set to open July 1, 2004 on 103rd near State Line will give Aristocrat Motors competition. Love it or hate it the Scion is here. Many won't understand or connect with the brand but it's creating so much buzz that Nissan announced they will bring their box to the US market. Just in case you are keeping score, according to the research firm AutoPacific, American buyers could choose between 47 separate nameplates in 1947. By 2009 you could choose any one of 274 nameplates. |
