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12-01-2004, 02:17 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,247
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<Table>
<DIV class=masthead>EXCLUSIVE REPORTS</DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp>From the November 19, 2004 print edition</DIV>
<H1 class=headline>Dealerships are humming along</H1>
<DIV class=subhead>Three new Hummer stores on tap in '05</DIV>
<DIV class=byline>David Giddens</DIV>
<DIV class=bylineinfo>Staff Writer</DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif"
color=#000000 size=3>
With three new stand-alone Hummer dealerships coming online in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area next year, dealers are gambling that 2004's steady diet
of high gasoline prices won't dampen the driving public's appetite for General
Motor's largest sport utility vehicle. </P>
They're also betting that Hummer's newest offering, the smaller, less costly
and more fuel-efficient H3, will help expand the brand to a new class of
customers. The H3, built on the GMC Canyon platform and expected to deliver a
combined 20 mpg combined city/highway driving, should be available late next
spring as a 2006 model. GM required dealers that wanted to stock it to provide a
stand-alone dealership for the Hummer brand. </P>
Wendy Kent Churchill says her new Hummer dealership in west Fort Worth, which
broke ground at 3535 W. Loop 820 South earlier this month, should be open in the
spring of 2005. Carl Sewell says he will open two Hummer dealerships around the
same time -- one near Love Field in Dallas and in Plano, just south of the Shops
at Willow Bend. </P>
All three will sport the same look -- a distinctive showroom featuring a
sharply curved stainless steel roof reminiscent of a military style Quonset hut,
mixing exposed steel, concrete and glass. </P>
Locally, 789 Hummers have been sold in 2004, according to Gayle Freeman,
publisher of the Freeman Auto Report, which tracks new car sales. </P>
<H3 class=subhead>Slowing sales </H3>
Churchill said Hummer sales out of her Frank Kent Motor Co. next door to the
new,10,400-square-foot Hummer dealership now under construction, took off at the
first of the year, but have slowed recently. </P>
"We haven't exactly set the world on fire, but we've done a good job of
holding our own," she said. "I'm more excited about what will happen with the
H3." </P>
Churchill said her dealership has sold 418 H2s, which typically retail for
$50,000 and get between nine and 14 miles per gallon, since acquiring the line
in July 2002. A year ago, gasoline prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area averaged
$1.38 per gallon vs. $1.50 nationally, according to the American Automobile
Association. This week, the average per gallon price locally was at $1.85 vs. a
national average of $1.95. </P>
"I think anybody would be a little concerned with gas prices where they are
-- they'd be foolish not to be," she said. "But we'll have a much more
fuel-efficient vehicle to offer now, and at around $30,000, it will open up the
Hummer market to a whole different group of consumers." </P>
<H3 class=subhead>More alternations </H3>
Sewell, whose two new dealerships will each feature 33,000 square feet of
showroom and service space, echoed Churchill's analysis, and alluded that GM
will eventually offer more alternatives in addition to the H3. </P>
"GM's plan is to offer smaller, less expensive vehicles as well as broader
series of entries into other market segments, so we are anticipating a very
broad offering from Hummer over the next five years," he said. "We felt we
needed to build dealerships of a size to adequately represent what we anticipate
will be a rather large franchise." </P>
Sewell said his H2 sales, which he began in 2002, have averaged about 50
vehicles per month. </P>
"Why buy a Hummer? The answer is 'fun,' " he said. "It's a Harley-Davidson
with better air-conditioning, more comfortable seating and no bugs in your
teeth." </P></FONT></Table>
|
12-01-2004, 02:17 PM
|
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,247
|
|
<Table>
<DIV class=masthead>EXCLUSIVE REPORTS</DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp>From the November 19, 2004 print edition</DIV>
<H1 class=headline>Dealerships are humming along</H1>
<DIV class=subhead>Three new Hummer stores on tap in '05</DIV>
<DIV class=byline>David Giddens</DIV>
<DIV class=bylineinfo>Staff Writer</DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif"
color=#000000 size=3>
With three new stand-alone Hummer dealerships coming online in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area next year, dealers are gambling that 2004's steady diet
of high gasoline prices won't dampen the driving public's appetite for General
Motor's largest sport utility vehicle. </P>
They're also betting that Hummer's newest offering, the smaller, less costly
and more fuel-efficient H3, will help expand the brand to a new class of
customers. The H3, built on the GMC Canyon platform and expected to deliver a
combined 20 mpg combined city/highway driving, should be available late next
spring as a 2006 model. GM required dealers that wanted to stock it to provide a
stand-alone dealership for the Hummer brand. </P>
Wendy Kent Churchill says her new Hummer dealership in west Fort Worth, which
broke ground at 3535 W. Loop 820 South earlier this month, should be open in the
spring of 2005. Carl Sewell says he will open two Hummer dealerships around the
same time -- one near Love Field in Dallas and in Plano, just south of the Shops
at Willow Bend. </P>
All three will sport the same look -- a distinctive showroom featuring a
sharply curved stainless steel roof reminiscent of a military style Quonset hut,
mixing exposed steel, concrete and glass. </P>
Locally, 789 Hummers have been sold in 2004, according to Gayle Freeman,
publisher of the Freeman Auto Report, which tracks new car sales. </P>
<H3 class=subhead>Slowing sales </H3>
Churchill said Hummer sales out of her Frank Kent Motor Co. next door to the
new,10,400-square-foot Hummer dealership now under construction, took off at the
first of the year, but have slowed recently. </P>
"We haven't exactly set the world on fire, but we've done a good job of
holding our own," she said. "I'm more excited about what will happen with the
H3." </P>
Churchill said her dealership has sold 418 H2s, which typically retail for
$50,000 and get between nine and 14 miles per gallon, since acquiring the line
in July 2002. A year ago, gasoline prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area averaged
$1.38 per gallon vs. $1.50 nationally, according to the American Automobile
Association. This week, the average per gallon price locally was at $1.85 vs. a
national average of $1.95. </P>
"I think anybody would be a little concerned with gas prices where they are
-- they'd be foolish not to be," she said. "But we'll have a much more
fuel-efficient vehicle to offer now, and at around $30,000, it will open up the
Hummer market to a whole different group of consumers." </P>
<H3 class=subhead>More alternations </H3>
Sewell, whose two new dealerships will each feature 33,000 square feet of
showroom and service space, echoed Churchill's analysis, and alluded that GM
will eventually offer more alternatives in addition to the H3. </P>
"GM's plan is to offer smaller, less expensive vehicles as well as broader
series of entries into other market segments, so we are anticipating a very
broad offering from Hummer over the next five years," he said. "We felt we
needed to build dealerships of a size to adequately represent what we anticipate
will be a rather large franchise." </P>
Sewell said his H2 sales, which he began in 2002, have averaged about 50
vehicles per month. </P>
"Why buy a Hummer? The answer is 'fun,' " he said. "It's a Harley-Davidson
with better air-conditioning, more comfortable seating and no bugs in your
teeth." </P></FONT></Table>
|
12-01-2004, 02:17 PM
|
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24,247
|
|
<Table>
<DIV class=masthead>EXCLUSIVE REPORTS</DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp>From the November 19, 2004 print edition</DIV>
<H1 class=headline>Dealerships are humming along</H1>
<DIV class=subhead>Three new Hummer stores on tap in '05</DIV>
<DIV class=byline>David Giddens</DIV>
<DIV class=bylineinfo>Staff Writer</DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif"
color=#000000 size=3>
With three new stand-alone Hummer dealerships coming online in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area next year, dealers are gambling that 2004's steady diet
of high gasoline prices won't dampen the driving public's appetite for General
Motor's largest sport utility vehicle. </P>
They're also betting that Hummer's newest offering, the smaller, less costly
and more fuel-efficient H3, will help expand the brand to a new class of
customers. The H3, built on the GMC Canyon platform and expected to deliver a
combined 20 mpg combined city/highway driving, should be available late next
spring as a 2006 model. GM required dealers that wanted to stock it to provide a
stand-alone dealership for the Hummer brand. </P>
Wendy Kent Churchill says her new Hummer dealership in west Fort Worth, which
broke ground at 3535 W. Loop 820 South earlier this month, should be open in the
spring of 2005. Carl Sewell says he will open two Hummer dealerships around the
same time -- one near Love Field in Dallas and in Plano, just south of the Shops
at Willow Bend. </P>
All three will sport the same look -- a distinctive showroom featuring a
sharply curved stainless steel roof reminiscent of a military style Quonset hut,
mixing exposed steel, concrete and glass. </P>
Locally, 789 Hummers have been sold in 2004, according to Gayle Freeman,
publisher of the Freeman Auto Report, which tracks new car sales. </P>
<H3 class=subhead>Slowing sales </H3>
Churchill said Hummer sales out of her Frank Kent Motor Co. next door to the
new,10,400-square-foot Hummer dealership now under construction, took off at the
first of the year, but have slowed recently. </P>
"We haven't exactly set the world on fire, but we've done a good job of
holding our own," she said. "I'm more excited about what will happen with the
H3." </P>
Churchill said her dealership has sold 418 H2s, which typically retail for
$50,000 and get between nine and 14 miles per gallon, since acquiring the line
in July 2002. A year ago, gasoline prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area averaged
$1.38 per gallon vs. $1.50 nationally, according to the American Automobile
Association. This week, the average per gallon price locally was at $1.85 vs. a
national average of $1.95. </P>
"I think anybody would be a little concerned with gas prices where they are
-- they'd be foolish not to be," she said. "But we'll have a much more
fuel-efficient vehicle to offer now, and at around $30,000, it will open up the
Hummer market to a whole different group of consumers." </P>
<H3 class=subhead>More alternations </H3>
Sewell, whose two new dealerships will each feature 33,000 square feet of
showroom and service space, echoed Churchill's analysis, and alluded that GM
will eventually offer more alternatives in addition to the H3. </P>
"GM's plan is to offer smaller, less expensive vehicles as well as broader
series of entries into other market segments, so we are anticipating a very
broad offering from Hummer over the next five years," he said. "We felt we
needed to build dealerships of a size to adequately represent what we anticipate
will be a rather large franchise." </P>
Sewell said his H2 sales, which he began in 2002, have averaged about 50
vehicles per month. </P>
"Why buy a Hummer? The answer is 'fun,' " he said. "It's a Harley-Davidson
with better air-conditioning, more comfortable seating and no bugs in your
teeth." </P></FONT></Table>
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