By the numbers
Subaru’s U.S. sales: › 582,675: Vehicles sold in 2015 › 13.4: Percent increase in sales over 2014 › 24: Consecutive months of 40,000-plus vehicle sales for the company Source: Subaru of America
Tim Kelly talks in a construction area at Kelly Subaru in Chattanooga about planned renovations.Chattanooga auto dealer Tim Kelly says he has spent most of his career fending off manufacturers from “shoving cars down your throat.”
But with Subaru sales soaring, he’s trying to land more cars to sell at his downtown Chattanooga dealership.
Kelly has begun a more than $1 million makeover to the Riverfront Parkway Subaru store in part so he can coax added product out of the Japanese automaker. He’s counting on a 20 percent increase in inventory.
The dealership will be “a signature” Subaru location, according to Kelly. It will meet company checkpoints for what it terms clean and uncluttered space, clear lines of sight, strong Subaru brand identity and the overall feeling of quality.
“The only way [to get more cars] is to become a dedicated Subaru facility,” the dealer said.
Kelly also said it was simply time to do the revamp, noting a full renovation hadn’t been done since 1971 when the dealership was constructed amid the Golden Gateway urban renewal initiative.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.
However, Kelly said he had to do battle with the carmaker over keeping the Subaru store downtown rather than moving it to auto row off Highway 153.
“For Subaru, this is the right location,” he said.
Kelly said Subaru offers all-wheel-drive vehicles, and there is more mountainous and hilly terrain near downtown than in East Brainerd. The dealership is close to Lookout and Signal mountains and the hills of North Chattanooga.
“Customers told us that they don’t want us to move,” Kelly said. “For its customer base, this tends to be a more convenient location.”
Kim White, who heads the nonprofit downtown redevelopment group River City Co., said the dealership can stand out with its central city location.
She said that with all the new housing being built in the central city, “his customer base is moving downtown.”
“He gets the importance,” White said about Kelly.
Officials have said that more than 2,000 apartments are planned, underway or recently completed in the downtown area.
Kelly said the dealership, when work is finished in May, will feature all-new showroom glass with the entire inside refurbished. A large slate chimney and fireplace will sit in the middle, the auto dealer said.
Plans are to change the display area outside the building, he said. Also, because the new extension to the Riverwalk will pass by the dealership, a water bench will be added, Kelly said.
“That’s consistent with our demographics,” he said. “A lot of runs will come past.”
Additionally, the dealership’s service facility will undergo renovation, an automatic car wash will go up, and a new body repair shop will be built, the businessman said.
Kelly said the dealership has purchased a nearby tract where the new repair shop will be constructed later this year.
Subaru’s sales have kept climbing since the Great Recession ended. In 2015, for example, the company outsold the Volkswagen brand in the U.S. by a wide margin, 582,675 to 349,440.
“We’ve been operating on under-30 day inventory of cars for two years now,” Kelly said. “It has been difficult for new and used customers.”
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.