Half-Way Motors Mazda Open New Location
by Scott A. Sumner
The Half-Way Motors Group are expanding again with an opening celebration of the Half-Way Motors Mazda new location near the Superstore and Half-Way Motors Nissan.
“ This project started when we first got Mazda 7 years ago. One of the conditions of getting Mazda was a new location. The expansion to this building has been about 24 months with planning, engineering and working with the city building department with 8 months of actual construction- it has been a journey,” said Patrick Trevisanutto, Managing Partner of the Half-Way Motors Group and Dealer Principal of Half-Way Motors.“ The bones were here for the building, we had to redo cosmetically everything to turn the building into the Mazda image program and then update everything internally to meet the standards required to service and sell new vehicles these days. The location alone is a fantastic change for us. The old building wasn't an ideal location for a dealership and we had outgrown the spot.”
The old building was 7400 square feet and their new building is about 9500 square feet with a larger more roomy showroom and more importantly a 50% larger shop space as well as drive in service bay.
“ Mazda has been fantastic. Globally they have been one of the smallest manufacturers but have been moving upstream with the quality of vehicles. We have the seventh generation Mazda's now and the vehicles have improved massively.The fit and finish is up to a new level. Mechanically I put them second to none.” noted Patrick.
The Half-Way Group recently opened up a brand new 21,000 square feet collision centre this year as well and will be shortly starting the renovation of the Half-Way Motors Nissan facility adding 7400 square feet to bring it up to new level. In the fall they did some ground work there to let it settle and will start building coming up shortly. Half-Way Motors Powersports just won the Ski Doo Canada Dealer of the Year award based on many factors including service which was a real honour for the group.
“ We see lots of opportunity in this city and we think it is a community that is going to grow. That is why we are making the investments in the community. It allows us to service the clients better. We have increased our staff 10% across the group to around 100 employees in total with 14 staff at Mazda.”said Patrick.
Bryan Leitch is the regional manager for Mazda Canada in Ontario and Atlantic Canada. There are 163 Mazda retailers across Canada and 70 of those are under his team leadership.
“Patrick and the team have done a great job here.The new facility is what we look for in a market. He has worked very closely with our internal teams to make sure it is set up this way. We have been on a project the last few years to go through and update our Mazda facilities across the country and this is a great job. It 's very clean and organized and provides customers what they are looking for with vehicles in the showroom and easy access to the service department with a drive through.”
In Canada the Mazda's come from Japan through the Port of Vancouver and are placed on rail across the country and then trucked to Thunder Bay. They also have plants in Mexico and Alabama which supply some vehicles.
“ Mazda is doing pretty well. We are looking forward to our path forward. The last seven years we have been on the path of a more of a premium product. We will offer vehicles that meet our customers needs. Moving forward our electrification strategy will continue as well with hybrid's and more electric vehicles into our line up. We love our products and look for our loyal fans who appreciate our quality and top safety ratings.” noted Bryan Leitch.
