BMW of Little Rock is relocating its showroom and service center from North Shackleford Road to 4621 Colonel Glenn Plaza Drive with a new $6.8 million facility to showcase the luxury cars.
The dealership is one of only two BMW new-car showrooms in the state and is accompanied by the only Volvo dealership in Arkansas, said General Manager Kerry Cardwell. The other BMW dealership is in Fayetteville. Volvo also is moving.
The new showroom is to open in March. The new building eventually will be joined by the dealership's collision center across the street, Cardwell said. Construction already has started.
The body shop will be behind North Point Nissan, which is owned by the same entity, Asbury Automotive Group of Atlanta. The body shop is the only authorized BMW repair station in the state, Cardwell said.
The automotive group has dealerships spread over several locations in central Arkansas, Cardwell said.
Operating as the North Point Group, the dealership also as runs Ford-Lincoln, Mazda-Volkswagen and Nissan-Toyota sales and service facilities, all in North Little Rock.
"We're looking to to expand our footprint here," Cardwell said of the larger showroom.
What kind of bells and whistles does a nearly $7 million dealership have? The facility boasts a 10-car showroom; more than 40 car "lifts" under which mechanics work on vehicles; a service drive; parts department; and a display for new-car inventory, all in one climate-controlled space.
Brinkman Constructors of Chesterfield, Mo., is constructing the showroom-service center, according to a construction permit issued recently by the city.
Asbury leases the space it now occupies on North Shackleford and has bought the property on which it's building on Colonel Glenn.
Asbury is a publicly traded Fortune 500 company founded 20 years ago this year.
German-language publication Manager Magazin reported this week that Apple is in talks with BMW about using its i3 vehicle as a model for an electric car, but it is unknown whether the car will be released commercially to the public.
Business Insider, which wrote about the electric car reported in Manager Magazin, said hundreds of Apple employees are working on the prototype code-named Project Titan.
Business on 07/30/2015