Lexus Used-Car Dealership to Open in July near Dayton, Ohio

Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Jim Bohman

January 19, 2004

Jan. 19--WASHINGTON, Ohio -- Lexus of Dayton, a successful luxury car dealer for 14 years, has broken ground for a separate "pre-owned" Lexus facility on Lyons Road.

The $3.2 million facility, between Yankee Street and Washington Church Road, is scheduled to open in July.

The used car location, with a five-car indoor showroom, will ease crowding at the dealership on Yankee Street at Miamisburg-Centerville Road (Ohio 725), according to owner and occasional racer John Higgins.

"We're totally out of space here," said Higgins, who opened the franchise in 1990 in partnership with a more famous racer, Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal. Higgins bought out Rahal 10 years ago.

Higgins said Lexus officials looked into the future and forecast that the Dayton dealership will sell more than 1,100 new cars in 2008, up from the 750 in 2003 and an expected 840 this year. The agency opened in 1990 with a target of moving 280 new cars the first full year.

"In December, which normally is not a monster month, we sold 96 new Lexuses in Dayton," he said.

By comparison, the two Columbus-area Lexus dealerships together sold more than 2,000 new cars last year, he noted.

"Because we're the only Lexus dealer in town, when we sell 800 to 900 cars a year, we end up with that many new service customers," Higgins said.

He said Lexus customers tend to keep their vehicles a long time. "They get passed down through families. So, after 14 years, we've got 11,000 to 13,000 Lexus products to service with no room for expansion here."

The new building at 1777 Lyons Road will be solely for the sale and service of used Lexus cars, Higgins said.

It will have 10 bays for service plus four bays for reconditioning.

When that is up and running, the new car dealership will be enlarged.

"This building will be gutted and we will get a second showroom in the front plus another 5,000 square feet for service," Higgins said.

The company added 4,000 square feet of service area last year.

When the updating is completed, the new car building will have 30,000 square feet under roof.

The new site will have about 18,000 square feet of floor space on a 4.5-acre lot.

Half of the site will be landscaped and framed with a low stone wall.

"This won't be a four acre piece of blacktop with bright blaring lights," Higgins said. "Cars will be shown in small display pods with landscaping around them. There will be 840 feet of stone wall wrapped around it."

The Lexus agency has 46 employees, many with the company from the beginning, Higgins said.

Another 12 will be hired for the used car site.

Lexus' marketing plan, he said, "is to treat its certified pre-owned cars almost as another brand with a factory warranty to 100,000 miles."

Higgins, 55, who earlier in his career raced Porsches, still gets out now and then.

"I'm getting ready to go down to Florida for the 24 Hours of Daytona and run in the sports car race." He said Lexus will provide engines for some of the teams.

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(c) 2004, Dayton Daily News, Ohio. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News