BMW George ready to serve the garden route

Motus recently took over an existing dealership in George, which is being rebranded as BMW George. Dealer principal Leon Bodenstein has been tasked with taking this facility to new heights.

Bodenstein believes that being part of a large dealer group like Motus is highly beneficial, “Being part of a large group like Motus gives us good negotiating power with the OEM as we are seen as a collective. We are also able to distribute stock between dealers and pull stock from another dealer if necessary. A big advantage is that we don't have any cash flow issues and the group allows us to order as much stock as we want on the provision that we can sell that stock.”

“BMW’s new retail model that guarantees profit on new cars means that the same car will cost the same price at any dealer and allows dealerships to sell cars based on their relationships with customers, without getting into a price and discounting competition with dealers outside of their geographical area. Currently the return on investment for a BMW franchise is to the advantage of a big group like Motus,” adds Bodenstein.

The motor industry is currently facing a number of challenges, but these are not limited to BMW and Motus dealerships.

“The whole industry is suffering with shortages in stock. This means that we are paying very inflated prices for pre-owned vehicles and often customers are then hesitant to buy a used car because the price is not far from what a new car costs,” explains Bodenstein.

“The pricing model of pre-owned stock is tricky as we can not currently rely on Transunion values. We have to do our own research and look back at what we recently sold and purchased similar vehicles for as well as what other dealers have bought and sold for,” he adds.

BMW George features a new car floor that can house ten cars, a used car floor with a capacity of 12 cars and a workshop that can give attention to nine cars at any given time. The dealership also houses a Motorrad showroom with around 12 motorcycles on display at any given time.

 “George is expanding at a massive rate and we need to expand our dealership to meet the demand, we are in the planning phase of doing so, but nothing has been finalised yet. The next closest dealerships are in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town so we essentially service the entire garden route. Due to our location and our average customers our most popular sellers are definitely from the X range including the X3, X5 and X6,” says Bodenstein.

Bodenstein believes that BMW products are still a great buy, “BMW products offer excellent quality. Our Motorplan allows motorists to drive with confidence as there are no limitations. They only have to pay for fuel and tyres. BMW are also known for an excellent goodwill system. Customers continue to have good faith in our products and we offer a number of great solutions such as BMW Select and our guaranteed future value offerings.”

The workshop at BMW George is staffed by highly skilled, well-trained technicians, “The vehicles today rely on a myriad of electronics and there is no better place to have them repaired or serviced than at a BMW dealership. Customers realise this and the majority of them will bring their vehicles to us, even once their Motorplan is expired,” adds Bodenstein.

Bodenstein admits that while the dealership environment faces new challenges all the time, it is also an exciting time to be part of the industry.

“I see a lot of interest in electric vehicles. The BMW iX is hampered by stock shortages but there is great interest in that vehicle and I think it will represent great success in the months and years to come,” he concludes.