BMW Kingston to open this week

KINGSTON, ONT. – The latest addition to the BMW dealer network is set to open for sales on Monday.

BMW Kingston, located on Bath Rd. in the city of 117,000, will be the first BMW rooftop operating between Ottawa to the east and Ajax to the west.

Scott Douglas, general manager and managing partner, told the Kingston Whig-Standard the area represents a huge market for the brand, especially with service work.

“Kingston is a little bit recession-proof because of the government jobs, the penitentiaries and the military,” he told the paper. “Obviously, having Queen's [University] here as well. So there's a lot of people who would be considering BMWs as well here.”

Reports indicate the ground-up build cost roughly $13 million and took seven months to complete. The paper reports the 14,000-square-foot facility sits on a staggering seven acres of land and features a 2,100-square-foot showroom with room for up to eight vehicles.

Douglas added that inventory would hopefully ramp up to between 50 to 60 new and pre-owned vehicles on site soon.

The dealership is part of the Zanchin Auto Group.

Growth for the luxury German brand has been mixed this year with year-to-date sales up 16.6 per cent over 2014 (including MINI).

While passenger car performance has been very strong with 9,578 units sold over the first half of the year besting the same-time-last-year tally of 7,673, SUV sales have turned down 0.1 per cent.

In a market that can’t seem to get enough SUVs, the automaker’s X lineup – X1, X3, X4, X5 and X6 – has managed 7,626 units sold through to the end of June this year. The number at the same time last year was 7,634.

- With files from the Kingston Whig-Standard