UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING WAS A REQUISITE WHEN CREATING THE NEW AUDI DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER
In Canada, we are blessed with having the second largest land mass in the world for a single country after Russia. According to the 2011 census, the population of this country stood at 33,476,688 individuals. Based on a total land area of 8,965,121.42 square kilometres, that means from sea to shining sea there are just 3.7 people for every square km. That’s a lot of space to play with but like anything else, it doesn’t always reflect the whole truth.
In some of our major urban centres space can actually be at a premium. Downtown Vancouver, B.C., is no exception. Automobile dealers who operate in this part of the city have largely been confined to two major thoroughfares — Burrard Street and Terminal Avenue. Because of the cost of real estate in Vancouver today and the type of land that’s usually available for commercial purposes, many dealers face challenges in trying to maximize the potential of these spaces. Throw in stringent requirements for building permits, environmental considerations, factory imaging and other aspects and the idea of opening a new dealership here can seem daunting at best.
Yet often, when there is a will, there is a way and The Dilawri Group of Companies’ new Audi Downtown Vancouver store, located at West 2nd Avenue and Burrard is a good example.
Audi Downtown Vancouver is not only a brand-new store but a brand-new franchise
Unique challenges
Plans were first approved almost three years ago and as of May this year, the dealership is officially open for business. That being said, in chatting with Christian Dubois, Regional Director of Operations for the Dilawri Group of Companies in B.C., getting to this stage did present a number of challenges.
Christian Dubois
“It is a small lot, only 12,000 square feet,” he says. “We were fortunate that we owned the land but it took a little convincing with both the city and Audi that this was the place to be.”
Dubois notes that because space was tight and by luxury standards this was intended to be a high volume dealership (800 vehicle sales a year), some innovative thinking was required when it came to both design and construction.
“Such a small footprint and challenges with parking meant we really needed to tackle the issue of storing inventory and providing space for customers when they come to visit us,” says Dubois.
As a result, the dealership is built on six different levels (approximately 12,000 square feet for each). These comprise two levels of parking, a bi-level showroom and administrative offices. In order to facilitate the required space, extensive excavation was required, digging down 40 feet — all the way up to the sidewalk on both sides. Dubois likens the construction to building a condominium complex.
Multi-level
The centrepiece, the showroom, also presented challenges. Given the breadth of Audi’s current product portfolio and the fact that this is a high volume store by brand standards, having a showroom that held just five cars simply wouldn’t do. So a bi-level setup was really the only way to go. Dubois says that in itself required some innovative thinking, not only in terms of how to place vehicles on both levels but also in terms of the experience customers receive when they walk in.
Extra head room on both showroom levels accentuates the feeling of space
“When you have a multi-level showroom, elevators aren’t very inviting for customers who want to access the second floor,” says Dubois, “so we put escalators in.” The result creates an ambiance that’s almost like an upscale clothing store. In fact Dubois says that customers who’ve come in have compared it to the likes of Holt Renfrew. “It has a very interesting look, especially through the exterior glazing,” he says.
Already the dealership is generating a great deal of interest, not only because it’s located in a high traffic area of downtown Vancouver but because it’s so strikingly different. “We’re getting a lot of visitors, not only customers, but local residents and even passers by on the street,” says Dubois. “Many are curious to know exactly what it is.”
He says that despite being a brand new facility, the dealership has been inundated with requests by other organizations and clubs to use it as a venue for hosting events. It’s something Dubois says he encourages, partly because it provides additional exposure of the dealership and the Audi brand, albeit in a slightly different setting.
Separate service centre
Besides the unique showroom, the relatively small plot also required inventiveness when it came to service operations, since there just isn’t the space, nor the ability to have both variable and fixed operations on a single site.
As a result, the service centre is located around the corner, approximately one block away. Customers who purchase a car or crossover from Audi Downtown Vancouver are shown where to take their vehicle for service as part of the sales and delivery process.
Mike Ruth
Fixed operations manager Mike Ruth, says that the entrance, located on West 3rd Avenue, is a full drive-through which can accommodate up to three vehicles at once, yet even with a 19,700 square foot facility, some inventive methods were required to maximize service capacity and efficiency, especially in view of the number of sales and customers the dealership expects this year and beyond.
“We have a total of 12 service bays on site,” says Ruth, “including one with an alignment rack as well as an automated car wash and detail bay.” There’s actually space to accommodate up to 48 vehicles on two levels but doing so requires car stackers and two freight elevators to move vehicles in and out.
“We’re pretty fortunate in that we can accommodate this many vehicles,” says Ruth “and the stackers work essentially like lifts. We’ve got nine really long stalls on one level and we’re able to park four vehicles in each for a total capacity of 36 units. There’s also an additional six stackers on the other level to bring it up to 48.”
Because of the configuration, when it comes to fixed operations, valet service is a prerequisite for Audi Downtown Vancouver’s service customers. “There’s no parking outside the building,” says Ruth, “so once a customer drives in, our valet team will take it from there.”
Both Ruth and Dubois, who has previous experience working with multi-level downtown dealerships, say the valet service fits perfectly with the level of customer attention the dealership aims to provide, since being so close to Vancouver’s downtown core means, the idea of waiting around for your vehicle to be serviced or repaired is not a priority for many of the store’s customers.
Finding the best
As a brand new dealership, other challenges included finding the right caliber of people to work at this location, both on the sales and service side. Ruth acknowledges that a big challenge for a new point like this often concerns finding qualified technicians, especially given the level of expertise required to service today’s luxury vehicles.
First class amenities are a must for luxury retailers today
“There hasn’t been an Audi store in this part of Vancouver for 10 years, so it was tough to find suitably qualified technicians,” says Ruth. To get the best of the best required a wide search, with two actually coming from the UK. “Both of these guys are very well trained,” says Ruth “and one of them is an Audi certified master level technician with R8 (Audi’s flagship mid-engined sportscar) training — the highest you can get.”
With Audi Downtown Vancouver now operational, an exciting chapter in auto retailing is about to unfold. Dubois, who has extensive experience working with luxury automotive brands, says that the dealership itself serves as a great compliment to the Audi brand, itself a bit different from the mainstream.
Dubois says that being located on Burrard Street, in such a high traffic area, not only gives the Dilawri Group a solid footprint when it comes to catering to Audi customers downtown, it also facilitates greater opportunities for cross-pollination with other luxury brands in the group, since many luxury customers choose to have vehicles from multiple brands in their households.
“In the Vancouver area, we have approximately 25,000 luxury vehicle buyers listed in our database across all of our locations,” says Dubois. “We already represent a great number of different brands but I think having Audi in this location fulfills a need that really wasn’t here before. It’s very exciting for us.”
