Courtesy Garvey Kia
By Paul Post
Garvey Kia is scheduled to move into its new state-of-the-art dealership on Wednesday, May 20 followed by a grand opening celebration with area dignitaries in June.
The 25,000-square-foot, two-story building is adjacent to the firm’s former site at 483 Quaker Road, which continues as a Volkswagen dealership with future remodeling plans.
Kia generates approximately 65 percent of the company’s revenue.
“It was really a business need,” owner and President J.P. Garvey said. “We were selling so many cars next door that we had to expand. It’s the biggest, best and most technologically modern dealership in the North Country. Kia had a really big role in the design process, but a lot of the details were up to us. Every day there were a hundred decisions that had to be made.”
Garvey is the only Kia dealership between Albany and Plattsburgh, and its market includes most of central Vermont, too.
The new building has a variety of unique features, from environmentally sustainable elements and a spacious customer lounge to a top-of-the-line network computer system and employee amenities such as a shower, secure locker room and full-service break room and kitchen area.
Garvey declined to cite the building’s cost, but a rooftop solar panel system alone cost nearly $1 million.
Some auto dealers burn waste oil to heat their shops in winter.
“We have a waste oil boiler that converts waste oil into radiant heat to heat the shop, service drive and balcony area, too,” he said.
One of the building’s most innovative elements is a fully automated loading dock and freight elevator, somewhat unusual for a car dealer, designed specifically for the company’s e-commerce division.
In addition to auto sales, Garvey is also the largest dealer of Kia accessories in the U.S., offering factory-authorized products such as floor mats, roof rails and tow hitches. It developed this line of business more than 10 years ago.
“We sell direct to consumer for people who want to enhance their vehicle,” Garvey said. “They can go to their dealer, but it’s easier to go online and buy from us.
The loading dock “is one of the biggest investments in the building,” Garvey said. It’s modeled after the kind used by rail cars, which have different heights, to serve the different types of trucks that make deliveries to the dealership, from FedEx vehicles to 18-wheel tractor-trailers.
A large storage area for e-commerce business was also part of the building’s design.
Garvey said the Kia expansion will create seven new jobs, primarily service technicians, with many more to follow. “We’re doubling our service capacity so we’re hoping to add quite a few technicians to better serve customers,” he said. “There’s more room for e-commerce staff and salespeople so we’re looking to add more of those people, too.”
A touch screen in the sales area allows customers to “build” a new car by viewing and choosing specific options such as color.
Kia, a Korean automaker, began selling cars in the U.S. in 1993-94 with corporate U.S. headquarters in Irvine, California. Garvey has been a Kia dealer since 1998.
Primarily targeting a middle-class market, vehicles range in price from $25,000 for the K4 compact sedan to more than $65,000 for the EV9, a three-row SUV, and include traditional internal combustion engine, hybrid and fully electric vehicles.
“We’re a big believer that the market has to meet customers where they are,” Garvey said. “Kia is looking at all the power train options, which gives consumers the most choice. With the uptick in fuel prices, the biggest growth the last few months has been in hybrids.”
Congressional termination of federal tax credits for new, $7,500, and used, $4,500, electric vehicles has hurt those sales, he said.
But the new dealership property has a dozen Level 2 EV chargers and four high-speed DC Level 3 fast chargers.
All technicians are fully trained to handle every type of vehicle.
Customers can drop cars off inside in an enclosed environment. A fully functional service drive has two drive-through vehicle quick checks.
There’s also a delivery module for customers to pick up new vehicles.
Much of the building’s concept is from Kia’s retail architect, ChangeUp, with an emphasis on creating an open, welcoming atmosphere. But Garvey spared no expense on wide-ranging details, from noise-reducing acoustic tiles to mounted chrome fire extinguishers.
Garvey worked closely with Ethan Hall of Glens Falls-based Rucinski Hall Architecture. V&H Construction of Fort Edward completed the 18-month construction job.
“I can’t tell you how much time we spent on this,” Garvey said. “There are 15 global design firsts in this building meaning we’re the first Kia dealership in the world to put them in.”