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Old 04-06-2016, 02:47 PM   #1
XDCX
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Default Single point Mitsubishi Dealership For Sale in Maine

It's not unusual for me to get an email every week or so detailing a New Car Dealership that's for sale. I get the emails from a few different brokers and I enjoy reviewing the listings and seeing what the market is for New Car stores throughout the country.

There was something about this listing, however, that caught my attention:



I guess part of my intrigue is based on the conversations we've had on the forum about the challenges that would be associated with running a single point Mitsubishi store. The other part that caught my attention was the mention that the store "Operates in an inexpensive media market" - I don't think I've every seen that selling attribute pitched before.

It got me to thinking - how important is the local media market to a dealership in today's environment?

I remember in the old days a single point Dodge store in the Los Angeles Zone used to spend $100K per month advertising in the L.A. Times. It was a lot of money but it was a smart decision - the advertising drew hundreds of customers to his store from outside his marketplace.

That said, it would be insane to spend $100K on print advertising today. Can the same be said for radio and TV? How relevant is local media?
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Old 04-07-2016, 08:15 AM   #2
mryan55
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Out of local media, we do TV -- that's it.

You could say we do print, too, but only in a small, low-circulation paper in our town of 50,000. We steer clear of The Indianapolis Star. Not because there's anything wrong with it, but more because it's a game of diminishing returns.

I'm interested to see a stand alone Mitsubishi store for sale. I would have to imagine that blue sky is a non-factor for Mitsu right now. I would guess that Maine is a better market for Mitsubishi than many other parts of the country, especially with the Lancer, Outlander, and Outlander Sport all having AWD offerings around $20k after incentives, but the Lancer is so out of date that I doubt they are much of a threat to Subaru among others.

Of the Mitsubishi stores that showed up in my search online -- it seems like almost all of them would fit this description, so hard to tell who is selling.

Another random observation: It looks like there are hardly 200 new units in stock in the entire state.
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Old 04-19-2016, 04:35 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mryan55 View Post
Out of local media, we do TV -- that's it.

You could say we do print, too, but only in a small, low-circulation paper in our town of 50,000. We steer clear of The Indianapolis Star. Not because there's anything wrong with it, but more because it's a game of diminishing returns.
I know I've mentioned this elsewhere on the forum but I remember when a GM was stressing out because he approved a newspaper ad with a misprint where a Ram 1500 was being offered for at least $10K under raw cost - no one ever came to the store asking about the ad.

That incident really opened my eyes to the minimal impact that print advertising had in our semi-rural market.

On a related note, I'd hate to be a salesperson selling radio time - I know with the exception of some College Football Games it's been years since I've listened to the radio.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mryan55 View Post
I'm interested to see a stand alone Mitsubishi store for sale. I would have to imagine that blue sky is a non-factor for Mitsu right now. I would guess that Maine is a better market for Mitsubishi than many other parts of the country, especially with the Lancer, Outlander, and Outlander Sport all having AWD offerings around $20k after incentives, but the Lancer is so out of date that I doubt they are much of a threat to Subaru among others.

Of the Mitsubishi stores that showed up in my search online -- it seems like almost all of them would fit this description, so hard to tell who is selling.

Another random observation: It looks like there are hardly 200 new units in stock in the entire state.
I'd agree with you concerning the potential Blue Sky value and I also agree that MMC could be a "Poor person's Subaru Franchise" for markets where AWD is important. (I remember in the old days hearing people say that "Chrysler Dealers were the guys who didn't have enough money or credentials to get a GM or Ford Franchise" - maybe the same theory could hold true for MMC Dealers who really wanted a Subaru Franchise. )

Very interesting observation concerning MMC inventory levels for the state - it doesn't appear that it would take too much volume to be the state's top selling dealer.
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