By Mark
Schadenberg
When a
community has most of the major restaurant chains, it’s safe to say that particular
city has reached a certain market size or population level. Woodstock has two
McDonald’s, four Subways, plus Wendy’s, Burger King, A&W, Harvey’s, Boston
Pizza, Pizza Hut, Kelsey’s, Montana’s, East Side Mario’s, Swiss Chalet and Mr. Sub.
Can you
say the same thing about a municipality with the arrival of major car
dealerships?
Woodstock’s
economy is driving forward thanks to a large Toyota factory building the sports
utility RAV4. It’s a terrific vehicle – I drive one.
Down
the road in Ingersoll, General Motors has a massive production facility called
CAMI.
NISSAN
The
number of car dealerships in Woodstock will soon grow by one with the opening
of Woodstock Nissan (www.woodstock-nissan.ca) at 1201 Dundas (519
537-2277) in early January (My phone call to dealer indicated Monday, Jan. 5).
We call
ourselves The Friendly City, and our lineup of car dealers also includes:
Woodstock
Ford (www.woodstockford.ca)
Woodstock
Toyota
Dubois
Honda
Dubois
Mazda
Anderson
GM
Anderson Kia
Anderson Kia
Woodstock
Chrysler
Woodstock
Hyundai
The
reason I listed the Ford store at the top of the list is because Woodstock Nissan
will be affiliated with Woodstock Ford.
Nissan
bills itself in TV commercials and in online ads as: “The Fastest Growing
Automotive Brand In Canada.”
The
Woodstock store will be located in the former Oxford Tire & Auto Centre
(www.oxtac.com) location. That respected car repair shop recently moved to 55
Springbank Ave North in Woodstock.
I
didn’t ask specific details on when the ribbon will be cut at Woodstock Nissan
-- when the cake will served and the mayor will be on-site to shake hands, but soon Oxford car
hunters will be able to test drive a Micra, Murano, Maxima or Rogue (pictured), or perhaps a
Pathfinder or Armada SUV, or Titan truck by buying locally and not travelling
to Brantford, London, Kitchener or elsewhere.
Entering
this calendar year (2014), the best Nissan sales results in Canada for one year was
about 82,000. This year, the auto builder has already surpassed 100,000 says a Nissan
press release (or two):
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"This is a wonderful achievement to share
with our employees and dealer network during the holiday season and is the
direct result of hard work, partnership with our dealers and planning to bring
the right cars to Canadians," says Christian Meunier, president of Nissan
Canada Inc. "This was a particularly exciting year for the Canadian team
with the launch of the Nissan Rogue and Micra, both very successful in Canada.”
. . .
The Nissan Rogue continues to be a hot seller
in the compact crossover segment and is the top seller in the line-up with
26,729 units sold up to the end of November, up 78 per cent year-over-year.
Rogue hits the mark with great design, high utility, an ample interior and the
right level of equipment while being easy-to-manoeuver in the city, fuel
efficient and affordable. Added to that is the availability of the Nissan
intuitive all-wheel drive system, and it is clear why the car is so popular.
(In October), Nissan Group announced total
Canadian sales for September of 10,942 units, an increase of 27.8 per cent
versus the same month last year. In addition to being its best September ever,
this sales achievement marks 14 consecutive months of record sales growth and
the seventh straight month of sales exceeding the 10,000 unit mark for the
Nissan Group in Canada.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
It
would appear the Nissan news is good news, and more promising news for the
Woodstock economy when its store opens here soon. I guess you could say the first new business to be born in 2015 locally is Woodstock Nissan.
I also
think it’s been tremendous for this city to have all its dealerships gradually
locate to the east end of Dundas – almost a car mall. It wasn’t too long ago that Chrysler had its store at the corner of Peel and Wilson where Rexall is
now, and that an Elliott Brothers lot was in the centre of Downtown where the
county’s administration building now sits.
Our
city welcomed many new businesses in 2014, Woodstock Nissan will begin the
list for 2015.
LINKS:www.nissan.ca
I don’t sell cars, but I certainly enjoy selling
Woodstock
Mark Schadenberg, sales representative
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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