Corwin Auto Group recently broke ground on a new Ford dealership in south Reno near the corner of South Virginia Street and South Hills Drive.
Corwin Auto Group recently broke ground on a new Ford dealership in south Reno that not only positions the Fargo, N.D., company to increase its share of new Ford sales in Northern Nevada but also significantly boost its service capabilities, a Corwin Auto Group executive said.
Tanner Corwin, general manager of Corwin Ford in Nampa, Idaho, told NNBW during a recent video interview that there was always a plan in place to replace the dated Ford dealership on Kietzke Lane. Corwin Auto Group purchased the old Jones West Ford in July 2020, and in April of last year Corwin added its flag to the GMC, Buick and Cadillac dealership on Kietzke Lane as well.
The old Ford dealership is actually right-sized at 16 acres, Corwin said, but the layout of the property and the age of the existing infrastructure weren’t conducive to an extensive remodel. The auto group purchased 16 acres of land near the corners of South Virginia Street and South Hills Drive. The land underneath Jones West Ford was not part of the acquisition.
“When we purchased Jones West Ford, part of the deal we made with the manufacturer was that we would have five or six years to build a new facility,” Corwin said. “It’s a big space, but it’s just old. We knew Day 1 we would build a new store. We ended up in the south part of town because there was available flat land.
“I’m pretty sure if we pushed we could have bought the land (on Kietzke Lane),” Corwin added, “but there really wasn’t anything to salvage on that facility. Because of the way it is positioned, any way you slice it, it was just impossible. It’s a great location – it’s centrally located, there’s a lot of foot traffic and it has interstate views. But the new facility will be significantly larger from a square footage and capacity standpoint.”
Corwin expects to open its flagship Ford dealership in Northern Nevada in the third quarter of 2024. The new $25 million facility will be just under 100,000 square feet.
Olaf Anderson Construction of Fargo is the general contractor on the project. The contractor has completed several projects for Corwin Auto Group, including a new Toyota dealership in Bellevue, Wash., and a new vehicle collision repair center in Fargo. Construction is expected to last approximately 16 months.
“They will use all local subcontractors, but they really understand the product we want and what we need,” Corwin said.
Increased service capacity is a primary driver behind building the new dealership, he added. The new service center will be completely indoors, with customers entering through high-speed rollup doors. Corwin said there will be approximately 75 hoists to service vehicles, which is about 70 percent more than what’s at the old dealership.
“There will be many more efficiencies, so we will be able to do a lot more service work,” Corwin said. “It will really help us service the customers we are earning in Reno. We need to make sure we have the service capacity to keep our current and new customers happy.”
Sales volume is expected to increase significantly as well, Corwin noted. Jones West Ford underperformed at about 25 new car sales per month prior to the acquisition. Since then, the dealership is averaging around 150 new car sales per month and expects to jump to around 200 or more per month from the new south Reno Ford facility. Used car sales, meanwhile, continue to outpace new vehicle sales, he added.
“Getting down to South Virginia Street and into a new facility will give our customers a fresh start and something they deserve – they deserve a better experience than we can provide them in that old facility.”
Justin Russell, general manager of Corwin Ford, will move over to the new dealership. Another major driver of the new facility will be service and sales of electric vehicles. The old dealership lacks that capacity as well.
“We need to be an EV dealer with Ford – it’s very important to us, and it’s very important to Ford. But we cannot satisfy Ford’s EV requirements in the current facility.”
The current Ford dealership employs around 125, but the new dealership is expected to employ more than 160, Corwin noted.
“We think we can sell a lot of new cars once we are in the new facility,” he said. “But we will have to grow into it, and as we grow our headcount will grow.
“Reno is a terrific car market, and it’s a great place to do business; we love it,” Corwin added. “It’s a very large single-point market. There aren’t many markets that have (as many people) and only one of each franchise.”
