“Young Gun” dealer fulfills dream with new Hyundai dealership in Campbell River, B.C.
Scott Kilby, dealer principal and general manager of Campbell River Hyundai
THE FIRST THING you notice when you pull off the four lane North Island highway leading into Campbell River, B.C., is a large sign on the front of the new Hyundai Dealership.
Look up and you’ll see the clean, white showroom through the large panes of glass displaying three or four glistening new vehicles.
The man behind the glass is Scott Kilby, dealer principal and general manager of Campbell River Hyundai, who is beckoning to give you a tour of his new facility which opened in December of 2014.
Kilby’s love of cars began when he was a teenager who first started washing cars at his local dealership. He quickly rose up the ranks to become part of the management team, and then became the owner of his own franchise.
Kilby was also profiled in 2012 in Canadian auto dealer as one of the up and coming “Young Guns” in our industry, and he has certainly lived up to that promise in the past few years.
“Anyone who comes in here says, ‘I can’t believe how good this looks!,’” says Kilby, a Campbell River native who has visitors responding so positively to the new design that he’s now offering up to two tours of his dealership a day.
When customers visit dealerships to either buy a new vehicle or get their current one serviced, they rarely notice their surroundings, says Kilby. Now, customers are actually stopping to turn their heads and look at the design of the building. And they should.
A NEW IMAGE
At 8,500 sq. ft., the new Hyundai Campbell River dealership, located at 1853 Meredith Rd. in the northern part of the city, sits on a spacious nine acre lot.
But what’s special about this new Hyundai dealership is it’s one of the first ones to support Hyundai Canada’s new corporate image — everything from the paint colours on the walls to the designs of the desks and the tiles on the floor have been redesigned.
Instead of blue and white, silver, black and bronze now dominate the colour scheme. The old, rounded furniture has been replaced with square-shaped desks and service counters, for a clean and crisp look.
Make a right past the boardroom, and you’ll encounter an open customer lounge. Kilby wanted the dealership to have an open concept feel — with the exception of the service side, which has a separate entrance for customers.
To make everyone feel welcome in his dealership, Kilby designed a handicap and wheelchair accessible entrance, and has gender neutral washrooms.
Beyond looking clean, the new facility is also extremely functional. Technicians service vehicles in a shop complete with six bays, including separate and unique wet and dry detailing bays.
Inside the shop is a state-of-the-art Hunter alignment rack worth $80,000 with a scissor lift, ideal for heavy lifting in a confined space. Even the ceilings make efficient use of space with overhead airlines and exhaust hoses.
HOW IT STARTED
Kilby says he had already broken ground on the construction of his new dealership in May of 2014 when he got the call from Hyundai Canada, who was announcing a new corporate image program and wanted to know if he might be interested in including the new look in his dealership.
“They really could have said ‘You’re doing this whether you like it or not.’ But I got the opposite,” says Kilby, adding he had been approved initially to design his dealership with the old image and branding in place.
It also helped that Kilby’s wife owns a Home Hardware building centre in Campbell River.
Kilby says his wife was able to help obtain some of the architectural details like tiles and find the suppliers quickly who could provide products similar enough to Hyundai’s concept. Otherwise, details like tiles could have resulted in a 12-week construction delay.
“I couldn’t believe the support I received from Hyundai Canada on this reno. They hid the panic button from me and it’s something I’ll always be grateful for,” says Kilby.
OVERCOMING HURDLES
But that didn’t mean the building process was not without its challenges.
After refusing to remove a Hyundai divider in the showroom that Kilby says was eliminated from the new look, city staff responded by rejecting his development permit. There was a lot of back and forth on the sizes of some of his signs, which contravened bylaws, so he had to bring in city councillors to inspect them.
Besides the issues with construction, there was also the matter of his staff. When Kilby decided to build a new dealership, he knew it would require a new image, as well as a new attitude
to back it.
So from January to March before construction began, he hired a brand new team. That included a new service manager, F&I manager and a sales manager — who was, in fact, a good friend who used to be Kilby’s sales manager in the early 2000s when he worked the floor as a sales person.
“I really made sure I kept in mind what I wanted from this team. I wanted customer service to be number one,” says Kilby, adding he wanted to start training all the new staff by March so they would be ready to serve the customers come completion.
In early March, Kirby celebrated with a party where the Mayor cut the ribbon to signify the dealership’s grand opening, along with a mix and mingle of about 100 people.
And even though this dealership is completed, he’s not stopping there. Kilby says he has plans to make good use of his nine acre lot. “This will be the first store of many. There’s a lot more to come from Campbell River.”
With this Young Gun, you can count on it!
