Business is changing for Gurjit Jalli.
A year after he changed his used car business to sell to the public, Jalli is building an indoor showroom for high-end luxury vehicles.
The 4,500-sqaure foot facility, which is being built on the Prince Road property of Jalli's OnCar Automotive, should be completed by the first half of June.
"The concept is to give (customers) a very nice environment and a feeling of 'wow,'" said Jalli as he surveyed the bare concrete room that will soon undergo its transformation.
The showroom will hold between 15 and 20 cars. The models should include Ferraris, Maseratis and Bentleys - a sector of the car industry Jalli said Augusta is missing.
"Basically people don't have to travel out of town to get a taste of these cars," he said.
Jalli first entered the used car industry in 1992 as a wholesale company, selling cars bought at auction to used car dealerships.
But as the industry became more competitive in recent years and profit margins got thinner, Jalli said he thought it was time to make a change to maintain the bottom line.
Opening up the used car business to the public last year has allowed him to achieve that, he said.
"We changed our strategy as the economy changed," Jalli said. "Instead of going out of business, we made some changes to get ahead of the game."
The wholesale business now sells about 100 cars a month, compared to 250 cars a month five years ago and as many as 500 cars a month 16 years ago, Jalli said.
The new showroom, which will cost about $500,000, also will house offices and a lounge for customers. Jalli said the new facility hopefully will give customers a comfortable environment to make purchases.
He said he believes his dealership is different than other used car lots because he sells each car personally and doesn't pressure people into buying.
"We're trying to create a new concept of car buying," he said. "That's our main goal."
Good luck! Keep us posted on the grand opening.
Man, as a veteran of high line euro market, I've been saying we need this. I don't know of many shops around here that can handle the maintenance and repair of these types of cars.
"Luxury vehicles, like this Ford and Honda you see behind me..." Also, seems to me that if the used car lots aren't buying from him like they used to that this would mean consumers aren't buying from the used car lots like they used to. So why would becoming the used car lot yield any different results?
If it doesn't appeal to the $6000 set of wheels crowd it will be a flop.
I Have bought a car from him and it was a geat experince. And yes it was a high end car.
My son purchased a car from him within the last six months and it was a great experience. There was no pressure like you find in some of the other car lots and he got a great deal on his vehicle.
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