Auto Park Filling Up

New Honda Dealer in Clarksville

by Len Lazarick

Jim Coleman Honda, the first new Honda dealership in the region in 12 years and the sixth automobile dealership at the five-year-old Howard Auto Park in Clarksville, opens later this month.

“It's a great marketplace,” said Jim Coleman, owner of Cadillac, Toyota and Infiniti dealerships that bear his name in Bethesda. “We think five years from now it's going to be even greater.”

Coleman said, “We contacted Honda a number of years ago,” proposing a new dealership in Howard County, as did other potential dealers. “We felt it would be a tremendous growth area,” he said, and “after Honda did a market study, so did they.”

Auto dealerships are like franchises that can be bought, sold or inherited. But the new Honda dealership is what is known an “open point” award, where the manufacturer determines it wants to open a new dealership in a specific market and then solicits proposals from those who would like to own the franchise there.

“Obviously, it's very competitive,” said Coleman. “Honda and Toyota are the number 1 and number 2” selling automobiles in the Washington area and “anybody could be a candidate.”

Coleman, who lives in Potomac, said the Clarksville location “reminds me of Bethesda 10 years ago.” The demographics and “quality of life” seem to be very similar.

“I love it when I go into Clarksville,” said Coleman, where the hardware and other small retailers still give the old Howard County community a country crossroads kind of atmosphere.

While locating the new Honda dealership in Columbia, next to existing Ford and Pontiac-GM dealers, was an option, he noted that car dealerships of the future will be in auto parks like the one developed in Clarksville by the Win Kelly Chevrolet organization. “I give Win Kelly a hell of a lot of credit,” said Coleman.

Win Kelly, the former Prince George's County executive, purchased the long-time Chevrolet dealership on Hall Shop road in 1986. According to Kevin Bell, president of Win Kelly Chevrolet, they “had a difficult time finding a suitable property” closer to the population center of the county.

In 1993, the organization purchased the 48-acre tract just north of Route 108 and east of Route 32. “We believed that if we and Chevrolet were looking for a site, other manufactures would be looking for facilities too,” said Bell.

“It's very attractive to the community because it's all self-contained,” and it is attractive to customers and dealers as well to have competing makes and models in one location. “People literally walk from one showroom to the other,” said Bell.

“The more franchises you have out there the better,” said Coleman. “Toyota is Honda's number one competitor,” with “similar quality products... There's a lot of cross-selling there.”

Antwerpen Toyota Village, the long-time Clarksville Toyota dealership, moved down the street into the Howard Auto Park. “It's to our advantage to have him there,” said Coleman, “and it's to his advantage to have us there.”

The Auto Park also contains Antwerpen Dodge and Ourisman Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep Eagle dealership, acquired from Shelly Warsaw this year.

In March, the Kelly organization opened “Win Kelly Auto Mart( Used Car Discounters” as a completely separate operation. “It's been very successful for us,” said Bell.

With the opening of Jim Coleman Honda, Bell said there will now be 3,500 to 4,000 cars, trucks and SUVs available at Howard Auto Park.

“We're ready to compete at any level,” said Bell. There are still “a couple of sites” at the end of Auto Drive ready to be developed.

According to state and national figures, car dealerships are having one of their best years in history. “Howard County is growing dramatically and the economy has been fantastic,” said Bell.