Morgan Auto Group Acquires Volkswagen of Gainesville

For Immediate Release
July 31, 2014
Gainesville, FL

The Morgan Auto Group (based in Tampa, FL) has brought their lineup of unique brands represented to 11 with the acquisition of Gettel Automotive’s “Volkswagen of Gainesville.” Morgan Auto now has 12 dealerships on the Gulf Coast and in Central Florida where they currently have Honda of Gainesville,Gainesville Buick GMC, Gainesville Mitsubishi and Honda of Ocala in the region.

“We think that there is a ton of upside to the VW brand,” said MAG CEO Larry Morgan. “Volkswagen has a diverse lineup and a loyal following and we are looking forward to growing that business.” The Morgans are no strangers to VW, their first entry into the car business back in 2004 was with then partner Jason Kuhn and his Kuhn Honda Volkswagen store on Kennedy in Tampa. “The first vehicle I ever sold was a new Volkswagen Golf,” remarked Larry’s son and Morgan Auto President Brett Morgan. “It’s a neat brand that appeals to young, educated consumers and we are thrilled to be operating in a University town such as Gainesville, FL.”

Larry and Brett stated that they will continue to operate the store from the current location while a new facility is constructed. “Operations and the Customer Experience will remain consistent and we shouldn’t miss a beat in transition,” said Larry. “We look forward to bringing some of our own priorities to the store but that will be over time. For now, our focus will be in creating and maintaining a great customer experience in Gainesville.”

The Morgans have named Veteran Dealership Manager Tony Turner the new General Manager of Volkswagen of Gainesville.

In a Challenging Economic Climate Gainesville's Buick GMC Completes $2 Million Dollar Renovation

[Gainesville, FL], August 21, 2012:  Wade Raulerson Buick GMC has been entrenched in the Gainesville community as a family owned dealership (under a few names) for over 30 years and in 2012 has undergone a major face-lift amounting to $2 Million Dollars for the Tampa-based Morgan Auto Group. 

“We feel good about the store’s reputation in the past but we wanted to show customers (new and current guests) that we believe in the Buick GMC brand and want to provide them with a better experience,” said Wade Raulerson Buick GMC owner Larry Morgan.

“Times are challenging and Gainesville residents have many options when it comes to their new or used car purchase. We wanted to say that we are serious about earning their business.”

The remodel brings a covered and climate controlled service drive and write up area to Gainesville’s Buick GMC franchise as well as a remodeled showroom to showcase current models. “For the first time in maybe forever we will have our cars right inside our showroom to demo for our guests,” recalled General Manager Andrew Vislosky.

The facility will add increased capacity and comfort for service guests, media and business access for those who need to work while they wait and a children’s play area.

“I lived here in Gainesville for three years while working with our Buick GMC store. I made some fantastic relationships here and Gainesville is a special place to me,” offered Larry’s son and partner Brett Morgan.

“We continue to invest in Gainesville not based on today’s market conditions but because we are positive about the future here in Gainesville.” The remodel is set to be completed by the 1^st week of November.

Honda of Ocala (Case Study): Using Facebook Offers to Drive RO Counts

I am smack dab in the middle of my first trial using Facebook Offers to drive repair order counts at one of our stores. My guinea pig is our Honda of Ocala dealership. I am using Honda of Ocala cause we are smack dab in the middle of a car giveaway as well and that Facebook page has quite a bit of new fans (many not our core customers) and lots of activity.

http://www.facebook.com/HondaOfOcala/ 

1) Choosing the Offer:

The offer we chose was one that had done well in previous mail outs. I wanted to make sure that the offer would never be in question only Facebook's ability to get customers attention and to get to try our service center.

One thing I have realized is that with our mail outs we had more of a captive audience: our past customer. Also most of that audience was familiar with our location and more than likely still owned a Honda vehicle. On Facebook especially within the contest of our Civic giveaway we have less than a focused target. Our Facebook fans (knowing 70% of our fans had come in the last 30 days) more than likely drove other makes and models.

What I am getting to is that perhaps our offer could have been more focused on those that drove other makes outside of the Honda brand. Also a more inexpensive offer with less bundled "features" may have been a better approach. So moving forward our next offer may be simplified at a lower price point with a focus on non-Honda customers.

2) Implementation:

The offer was built as our "Facebook Special" and was "re-shared" across our platform each day and promoted as well for $5.00. We decided to promote the ad so that "friends of our fans" would have exposure to the ad as well.

We created a separate operation code for our DMS system and began the offer on Friday August 10th at around 3pm. While it is only Tuesday of the following week and we only have around 5 coupon redemptions it's probably not too early to look at the success of the campaign from an impressions and "claimed" standpoint.

Our most successful post was our first "Offer launch" on the 10th.

3) Results of First Post

As of today we have had 828 organic impressions through our timeline. We have a little more than 1100 Facebook fans but this seems to be a good number.

The key here is seeing over 2,600 "Viral" shares meaning that our fans shared the offer to their friends. This increasingly supports the notion that people can and will use Facebook to seek and find offers much like a Groupon or discount website.

The remaining impressions were 1150 some "paid" and supported listings working out to about 4,655 total post impressions.

4) Conclusion of our " Honda of Ocala " case study:

As of current date (5 days after launch) we have 33 offers claimed with a combined reach of 8,558 and 87 Engaged Users and 65 Clicks resulting from low cost promotions. Total dollar amount spent $30.55 in promoted ad spend. Conclusion will have to wait to see who has actually come into our facility off the offer but so far Facebook looks like a viable campaign medium for our Service department.

http://www.hondaofocala.com
http://www.morganautogroup.com
http://www.facebook.com/MorganAutoGroup

The New Buick Lacrosse continues to garner praise....

The new Buick Lacrosse has lived up to every bit of the hype here at Wade Raulerson Buick GMC except for one thing...Sales! Buick's new revolution of cars has come to be in a time of economic downturn when many mature buyers have decided to stay on the sidelines. We are ok with this - for now...it has ensured that in Gainesville and Central Florida, clearly the 2010 Buick Lacrosse is the car market's best kept secret.

Just this week KBB (Kelley Blue Book) announced the Lacrosse #1 as far as the most comfortable vehicles under $30,000 dollars. Guess who finished #2? Again Buick with the Lucerne. Toyota is lucky it wasn't a Top Five List as the Camry and Avalon snuck in at #9 and #10 respectively.

I don't want to give our customers and my readers the wrong impression...we are selling some Buick product and the Buick Enclave product continues to do well. All I am saying is that we are sitting on a bonified hit and that the masses just don't quite understand this yet. I feel like I am managing the Beatles right before they signed to Capitol Records!

Then Autoweek this week caught my eye. They paired the new Buick Lacrosse CXS with the Audi S4, BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V, Hyundai Sante Fe SE, Ford Fusion Sport, Chevy Malibu LTZ and VW CC Sport. And guess what they said?




"The car that surprised me most was the Buick LaCrosse. It's good looking, quiet and has a beautiful, comfortable interior. I'm not saying it was the best car at camp from a performance standpoint, but it surprised me the most of any car there." - Wes Raynal "Autoweek" Editor

So Gainesville, Ocala, Lake City, High Springs...I ask you...how long can you stand on the sidelines?

Brett Morgan
Wade Raulerson Buick GMC
General Manager
bmorgan@waderaulerson.com

"Buick is Back!" Raves Motor Trend Magazine ...

Wow! What a cover. Glad to see that the new 2010 Buick Lacrosse and the upcoming release of the new Regal are gaining some positive traction!


By the way - actually read the reviews too - they say the new Lacrosse outclasses the Lexus ES!