Dealership eyes new home
![Dealership eyes new home](/uploads/pictures/2024/07/thumb761/AUTOFILE_dealership-eyes-new-home_2024-07-31_10-22-101.png)
Lexus of Auckland City, part of the Giltrap Group, has announced it is due to move into a new purpose-built facility in Newmarket in October.
The two-storey building will feature new models and a cafe-style customer lounge on the first floor, while the offices of vehicle sales representatives will be located on the ground floor.
Giltrap Group says it is creating a customer-focused site that foregoes the typical exterior car yard and sales office format.
Instead, all the facilities, from customer lounge, product displays and offices are indoors. Even customer parking will be within the new building.
The facility will also add to the luxury automotive precinct at the Newmarket end of Great South Road, Auckland.
The dealership will officially open in October and the business, founded in 1990, will continue to operate out of its current site on Great North Road until then.
Sharlene Van Dijk, chief executive officer of new Lexus of Auckland City, says her team looks forward to welcoming customers to the new building later this year.
“Lexus is about sumptuous interiors, beautiful design and the best in automotive technology,” she adds. “We really wanted to reflect those qualities in our new home of excellence.”
Andrew Davis, Lexus New Zealand’s vice-president, explains the new dealership symbolises one of the marque’s core brand values, omotenashi, which means to “wholeheartedly look after guests”.
“Customer service is at the heart of the Lexus experience,” he continues. “In a Lexus dealership, customers are a valued guest, where knowledgeable people are on hand to help, whether it be to test drive or purchase a vehicle or have your vehicle serviced.
“We and our dealership partners are very much in a growth mode with Lexus. We had a record year in 2023, reaching more than 1,300 new vehicle sales, more than 90 per cent of which were electrified.” he says.
The new Lexus of Auckland City development comes soon after a new dealership for Lexus of Christchurch officially opened in May.