BMW opens in Pleasant Grove
BMW North America officially opened its second luxury dealership in Utah on Wednesday.
Owned by John H. Firmage Sr., the 30-worker Pleasant Grove dealership serves as a satellite location for BMW of Murray, the primary BMW dealership in Utah, said Dan Leslie, marketing manager for BMW North America.
Firmage, president of Firmco Financial, also owns the Murray dealership.
“Sales at the Murray store were up to the point where demand for the vehicles exceeded the store,” Leslie said. “We encouraged the Firmages to open in Pleasant Grove because a good number of our customers are coming from Utah County, and Murray is a little too far of a drive — especially for servicing.”
The Murray dealership sells 75 new BMWs per month, and 25 certified pre-owned vehicles per month. The 37,000-square-foot Pleasant Grove dealership, which began operating in late November, is selling between 15 and 20 new BMWs per month. But over the next five years, the Utah County dealership is expected to sell between 40 and 45 cars per month.
“We’ve done extensive market studies on the demand for BMW and found Pleasant Grove to be an up and coming area in the Salt Lake metropolitan area,” said Leslie, a Denver-based marketing manager of 11 dealerships in the Rocky Mountain region including the two in Utah.
“Its demographic profile met the type of income level, upwards of $90,000 annual income, and lifestyle of our typical BMW customers. As our logo says, BMWs are ultimate driving machines. So our customers are typically athletic, outdoor thrill-seekers.”
Leslie said the 3 Series Sedan, the most popular BMW vehicle, accounts for between 60 percent and 70 percent of all BMW vehicles sold companywide. It retails at $35,000.
Even with gas prices at record highs, he said he doesn’t see demand for BMW luxury vehicles declining.
“Most of our vehicles, except for the larger SUVs, average 27 miles and 30 miles per gallon range,” Leslie said. “With new and stricter restrictions on EPA testing for fuel efficiency, there’ll be a dramatic decrease in the so-called economy vehicles’ fuel efficiency.”
Pleasant Grove Mayor Mike Daniels said city officials worked with both BMW and the property owner to help the dealership locate in Utah County. That included helping to build an access road to the BMW dealership.
That hard work has paid off.
“We checked on the sales tax revenues generated by car dealerships in Murray, and found car dealers, especially new ones, are among the top producers of sales tax revenues,” Daniels said. “The Pleasant Grove location is already doing better than they had anticipated for the first four months of operation.”
Grace Leong can be reached at 344-2910 or gleong@heraldextra.com.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C6.