That's the fashion decree from Mazda, which last week celebrated the grand opening of the first dealership sporting its new store design, Retail Evolution, part of the brand's effort to project a more premium image.
The previous design, Retail Revolution, introduced in 2003, featured industrial-chic metal siding and orange and green accents. It was intended to show Mazda's youthful attitude and draw attention in the sea of whites and blues in an auto mall.
At the time, it "really fit the brand," Jim O'Sullivan, CEO of Mazda's North American arm, said in an interview. But that began to change after Mazda parted ways with Ford Motor Co. in 2009 and launched a series of cars that attracted a different audience.
"We're looking at this through a customer lens," O'Sullivan said. "We're attaining a much more sophisticated customer than we were in the past, and we want to make sure that our retail experience fits with what these customers are looking for."
Mazda began outlining the changes to dealers in July 2014. The first Retail Evolution dealership, Mazda of Everett in suburban Seattle, has a 19,500-square-foot showroom and a glass-encased platform called the "jewel box," in which a Mazda is displayed. That element carries over from the old design template, reducing costs for dealerships that already made the switch to the earlier design.
Mazda expects to finish six stores by the end of 2015 and break ground on five more, with roughly 75 projects to follow in 2016.
The company hopes that a healthy economy and a well-liked product lineup will inspire more investments than last time. In the 12 years since Retail Revolution was introduced, fewer than one-quarter of Mazda's 600 stores made the switch.
O'Sullivan said Mazda will consider financial incentives to help dealers with upgrades but on a case-by-case basis.
"We're looking at it market by market and dealer by dealer," he said. "We want to be good partners with our dealers, especially the ones that built Retail Revolution stores."
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