“We’re moving away from traditional large locations to add small, lifestyle formats where people can come in, see a product and get information,” said Dimitris Psillakis, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, speaking to Automotive news. “You show products, but it’s not a place where you’re going to kick tires. There’s no after sales.”
The redesigned store was conceived as a way to generate leads, and after a year of operation, 70-80 leads are generated monthly. Three to five of those leads end up becoming sales.
“We give our name to people who wouldn’t know our dealership is 2 miles away,” said David Ellis, general manager of RBM of Alpharetta. “People come into this store wanting to know what it is.”
