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Mazda Dealerships Redo Mirrors New HQ Office

Mazda North American Operations, in the midst of a “Retail Evolution,” has chosen a different agency to help it implement a new dealership design concept.

ChangeUp Inc., a Dayton, Ohio-based design and branding firm, is helping Mazda dealers develop architectural and construction plans to ensure the automaker’s requirements for facility design are incorporated—including an open floor plan and use of high-end natural materials that aim to deliver “business transparency … strong curb appeal and a comfortable environment.”

“As Mazda continues to evolve—from our vehicles, to our employee workforce—the dealership experience is an important area of focus in making sure that our customers have a great experience with Mazda, in a way that remains consistent across our brand,” Chief Executive Masahiro Moro said in a statement about the switch.

ChangeUp, which set up an office in Irvine, replaced Interbrand Design Forum in Cincinnati. The global agency had had the Mazda account “for a number of years,” and was involved in the automaker’s previous design program and the initial phases of its current one. It’s also worked with Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. and Volcom Inc. in Costa Mesa, and publishes the annual Best Global Brands and Breakthrough Brands reports.

Mazda, which has nearly 600 dealers in the U.S. and Mexico, said the two parted ways because “ChangeUp simply presented themselves as the right partner for the future implementation and forward-looking progress of Mazda dealerships throughout the United States,” according to the company.

The switch had little effect on the owner of Capistrano Mazda, Miles Brandon, who tore down his old showroom late last year and in April broke ground on the new one. He said several of Interbrand’s people who were working with him on the project for a little more than a year jumped ship and joined ChangeUp’s team in Orange County.

Brandon, who also owns Capistrano Volkswagen, purchased the dealership in 2015 from Eric Phillips and moved it from its longtime home in Laguna Hills down the freeway to San Juan Capistrano. The Mazda sales team operated in an outdated showroom that Volkswagen built in 1963, and are “looking forward to working out of trailers for nine months” until the new dealership showroom is completed in November.

Brandon is keeping the 7,500-square-foot service department in the back of the building and adding a two-story showroom that will total about 11,300 square feet. It will feature two stacked “jewel” boxes to help prominently display key vehicles, as well as a customer lounge, parts boutique and a conference room that Brandon plans to keep open for public use.

“The design is very bold and sophisticated, simple yet elegant, and we’ll have a very transparent showroom,” he said. “Where you expect walls, we have no wall—we get the glass—so it will be really light and bright. Customers don’t like being cornered in a small office somewhere.”

Mazda will pick up a portion of the project’s $3 million price tag. ChangeUp communicates with the dealership daily and has been flexible when it comes to minor plan deviations that “can save a few dollars and do not detract from the design,” said Brandon, comparing the current experience to his 2002 project to build a new showroom for his Volkswagen business. “They are better with common sense stuff, not just saying, ‘No, this is the way it will be’… [Working with Mazda] just feels like a true partnership in every aspect, whether it’s building our business or doing what it takes to keep improving the Mazda brand.”

The automaker introduced the Retail Evolution concept in 2015. It supports Mazda’s overall effort to brand itself as a company that “continues to push technology, engineering and design thresholds to deliver cars and crossover SUVs for people who cherish driving.”

The concept, infused with “subtle Japanese influences of scale and proportion,” is also evident throughout the five floors at Mazda’s new, 97,000-square-foot headquarters at Irvine Co.’s 200 Spectrum high-rise.

“The forms and materials throughout the space are highlighted by bold, dark accents, feature lighting and a material palette of textural neutrals,” according to Irvine-based architecture firm LPA Inc., which is tasked with the design.

“The open plan includes a large number of collaboration, team and focus spaces and standardized sit-to-stand workstations throughout to allow for the potential of a free address environment,” says a company information sheet about the project. “Demountable glass walls and sliding doors were used at the office fronts and meeting rooms. The eighth floor includes a hosted cafe for Mazda employees and a state-of-the-art multipurpose room.”

Mazda sold 297,773 vehicles last year, a 6.7% decrease from 2015. Its sales through June dipped 2.6% compared with the first six months of last year, about the same as the national pace of auto sales.

Brandon said he has no regrets about his 2015 investment in the brand and the facility buildout.

“I’m very happy with my decision. The people are great, the product is great, the direction they are going is great. This facility will help us tie a lot of that together. We’ll have a place to do business that will fit a lot better with the product and processes.”

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