Anyone know who owns Central Florida CJD?

[XDCX]

I'm curious if anyone knows who owns Central Florida Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge or knows about the history of the dealership.

The reason I ask is that was the name of the dealership listed by the person who sparked last month's Security Advisory.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting anyone from the dealership did anything improper, it would just be interesting to learn if the store had any connection with Auburn Hills. (MID, Dealer Council, etc.)

On a final note, for those of you who can't sleep at night because you're wondering how you're going to cover your fixed expenses while Chrysler's in "hibernation," check out the photos in this link - click here (http://www.cfchrysler.com/dealership_photos.htm)

[DealerEx]

I can't recall the dealer's name...and it may not even still be the same dealer...but I remember seeing that facility, along with a couple of others, that was shown to all the dealers at a big SWBC dealer meeting in Dallas back around 2003/2004. It was in a video presentation showing us what the "forward thinking visionary dealers" were doing to prepare to move forward into what they called the "unlimited future potential" of Cerberus and Chrysler. Had all the Wheels from Detroit there pumping us up and encouraging us to make the committments necessary to take advantage of our potential. I remember the dealer at that facility...younger guy maybe in early 40's... talking about how he was so excited about the future, and as I recall, I think he said the new facility was in the 37 million $ range at that time. For some reason I'm associating the word "Orange" in the name of the dealership, but I may be totally off base on it. I remember it, because the amount of money just seemed so outrageous to me, and to all the dealers I was friends with, when we talked about it at the lunch afterwards.

[srt]

I also remember seeing this as one of "trophy" stores of the future. This was one I thought might have been owned by Penske. I saw this several times in presentations by Gary Dilts.

[79LilRedExpress]

Beautiful store.
Interesting Web Site... Did you notice the US Patent Appl ?
~ I know nothing about web design but the app seems very detailed.

[ohiobuckeyes]

Mouth Hanging Open.............................................. .........

What a beautiful store. Do not want to bill in floor plan nor utillies.

[XDCX]

This was one I thought might have been owned by Penske. I saw this several times in presentations by Gary Dilts.

Thanks for the thought. I just checked Penske, Sonic and AutoNation and none of them have this store listed as one of their dealerships.

Given the amount of capital required to open this store, it seems logical that it would have been a public store. :confused:

When I get caught up tonight I'll check to see what the sales volume was for this store last year.

[DealerEx]

I have found out it is FAMILY owned dealership...don't know them, but their name is Smith. Saw it in an article from the Orlando Sentinel where the dealer offered to pay to have a graphic design company come up with a new "ram logo" for a local high school after Chrysler's trademark infringement department had forced them to stop using the Dodge Ram's Head design for their school athletics programs. Had a quote from the dealer's wife and the dealer.

[XDCX]

I have found out it is FAMILY owned dealership...don't know them, but their name is Smith. Saw it in an article from the Orlando Sentinel where the dealer offered to pay to have a graphic design company come up with a new "ram logo" for a local high school after Chrysler's trademark infringement department had forced them to stop using the Dodge Ram's Head design for their school athletics programs. Had a quote from the dealer's wife and the dealer.

Thanks for the update - I remember the story about the Ram logo and the local dealer stepping up to fix Chrysler's P.R. mess. I'll have to do some digging and see if I can find that story again.

That sure is an impressive facility for a family owned dealership. I imagine that store needs to generate $10K of gross every day just to cover their rents, taxes and flooring. :eek:

[DealerEx]

I think you're pretty close at that number...30 mil at 6% for 20 years is 215K per month on the mortgage...I'm out in a small rural area of Texas and even at my tax rate the property tax on that amount would be 600k per year so thats another 50K per month, flooring 400 units got to be $10mil+... adds about 65k per month...$330K per month...a LARGE nut!

[XDCX]

$330K per month...a LARGE nut!

Can you imagine what it looks like when you factor in the variable expenses? I bet you could sell 150 - 200 cars at a decent gross average and still lose money. :eek:

Hopefully he has a really good Service and Parts business to offset some of the overhead.

[XDCX]

I have found out it is FAMILY owned dealership...don't know them, but their name is Smith. Saw it in an article from the Orlando Sentinel where the dealer offered to pay to have a graphic design company come up with a new "ram logo" for a local high school after Chrysler's trademark infringement department had forced them to stop using the Dodge Ram's Head design for their school athletics programs. Had a quote from the dealer's wife and the dealer.

Thanks for your research, but I found the article and the Smiths own Orlando Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge and the dealer in question is Central Florida C/J/D. Here's a link to the news report - click here (http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2010/02/chrysler-sorry-over-make-mary-rams-flap.html)

So the mystery remains, who owns Central Florida CJD? :)

[XDCX]

So the mystery remains, who owns Central Florida CJD? :)

I couldn't sleep not knowing the answer, so I looked it up on the Internet. :rolleyes:

According to the State of Florida the dealership is owned by Terry Taylor - a mega dealer Florida.

And based on this excerpt from a 2008 news article, I don't think he's losing any sleep over his rent factor - "Car dealer Terry Taylor — who is asking $72.5 million for his Palm Beach home — recently paid $21.22 million for a house in the nearby town of Manalapan."

[Noah]

Just stumbled across this thread, so I had to take a look. It is one helluva store. Guy's nuts. btw, he currently has 120 new in stock. Times are apparently not good at Central Florida CJD.

Some quick mental gymnastics...
Within my feeble mind, 120 new on the ground translates to (a max of) 60 NVR/mo, in a $37,000,000 building with approx $250,000 mortgage payment/mo, another $60,000-70,000/mo in property taxes, can't even imagine what the utilities look like...

I'd guess he's currently losing enough money on this store that he may have to consider downsizing his home (again) soon.

[lsx only]

i couldnt evan afford his utility bills every month

[XDCX]

I'd guess he's currently losing enough money on this store that he may have to consider downsizing his home (again) soon.

I agree, the numbers just don't make sense. :confused:

The crazy part is I get the feeling this is the type of store Chrysler wants for their dealer network - that's why they awarded so many open points to mega dealers.

In fact, my bet is when Marchionne finally announces who the Fiat franchises will be awarded to they'll be a collection of stores just like Central Florida CJD - time will tell.....

[Noah]

.....The crazy part is I get the feeling this is the type of store Chrysler wants for their dealer network -.....

Great plan, Chrysler. This way, we can all look forward to the former sites of Taj Mahal CJD stores that will exist as vacant husks of former businesses. Much like the sites of original Walmart stores that were vacated in so many locations, even if only so that the company could build all new, larger, Super Walmart stores.

Different types of poor corporate judgement, but with the same end result:
urban and suburban blight.

[XDCX]

Much like the sites of original Walmart stores that were vacated in so many locations, even if only so that the company could build all new, larger, Super Walmart stores.

It's interesting you use the Walmart example - I was just in Lake Havasu, AZ last week and that's the exact scenario that's happened there. Walmart moved from a mall that was near the center of town and built a Super Center on the edge of town. That was two years ago and their old building still sits vacant as the remaining stores in the old mall wither and die.

Concerning Chrysler's desire for expensive facilities, they're not alone. It seems like most of the OEMs want their dealers to build showcase facilities.