To many, Fletcher “Ted” Jones Jr. is the face of Fletcher Jones Motorcars Inc., the Newport Beach Mercedes-Benz dealership that features him in its commercials.
But to anyone who’s bought a Mercedes at Fletcher Jones, Garth Blumenthal, the dealership’s longtime general manager, is the man.
Blumenthal runs the dealership, the largest in Orange County and No. 2 in the nation after El Monte’s Longo Toyota, for Las Vegas-based Fletcher Jones Management Group.
Jones, whose father started in the auto business in 1946, is a key part of the dealership. But day-to-day operations fall to Blumenthal.
Now Blumenthal is set to play a lead role in the opening of a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Temecula in 2009. He’s set to have an equal stake in the dealership with Jones. It’ll be the first dealership that Blumenthal’s had a piece of.
Since 1994, Blumenthal has run the Newport Beach dealership, the flagship of Fletcher Jones Management Group’s chain of 15 dealerships.
Much of Fletcher Jones Motorcars’ success can be attributed to Blumenthal, who’s set the bar for luxury customer service. The dealership offers free car washes, a putting green and rides to the airport.
In 2006, Fletcher Jones had $589 million in sales, second only to Penske Automotive Group’s mega dealership Longo Toyota of El Monte at $703 million in 2006 sales.
If December sales are as good as November, Fletcher Jones is expected to finish 2007 with about $650 million in sales, according to Blumenthal.
“We’re trying to close the gap on Longo,” he said. “That’s our goal.”
Temecula, a fast growing city east of San Clemente in Riverside County, has many former OC dwellers as residents who are familiar with the Fletcher Jones name.
The Newport Beach dealership already has buyers who drive up from that area, Blumenthal said.
Temecula also sees a lot of tourists, with its wineries and the nearby Pechanga Resort & Casino.
Blumenthal shares an affinity with the city when it comes to wine,he’s a connoisseur, he said.
The Temecula site was chosen by automaker Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, the U.S. arm of Germany’s Daimler AG.
About two years ago, Mercedes asked dealers to sign up to be considered for the right to build the dealership.
Jones, the biggest seller of Mercedes in the U.S., was awarded the dealership and enlisted Blumenthal.
They bought 13 acres of land for an undisclosed price. Blumenthal declined to disclose the total investment for building the dealership. Costs are still being finalized, he said.
The dealership is set to take up about 8 acres of the 10.6 acres that are useable, according to Blumenthal. On the remaining land, the partners may open another boutique dealership that sells a niche brand such as Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin, he said.
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Jones: won out over other dealers for Temecula dealership |
Construction is set to start in late summer. The dealership is scheduled to open by summer 2009.
The dealership will be about a third the size of the one in Newport Beach, Blumenthal said.
New Look
It’s set to have Mercedes-Benz’s new Auto Haus look,more glass and light-colored wood, among other details. The automaker is asking dealers to conform to the design, which is different than the Newport Beach dealership.
Mercedes is giving dealerships some money to retrofit. Fletcher Jones Motorcars is looking at redesigning its dealership as well.
The Temecula deal between Jones and Blumenthal has been in the works for at least a year, Blumenthal said.
He insists he won’t be working more hours. Balancing work and family life is important to him, he said.
“I see it as just taking the best practices that we have in Newport Beach and extending those practices in Temecula,” he said.
Being an owner will be new to Blumenthal, but the feeling won’t be, he said.
“I treat this business as if it’s my own,” Blumenthal said.
For the past year, Fletcher Jones has been working on “people development,” getting the right people trained to lead other dealerships.
The company plans to open five more in the next three years, Blumenthal said. Dealerships so far are slated for Ontario, Henderson, Nev., and Maui.
The Temecula dealership will be the only one Blumenthal has a stake in.
Several employees have been identified to help lead the Temecula dealership, Blumenthal said.
The Newport Beach dealership is the training hub for all of Fletcher Jones. People spend a few months working in Newport Beach to learn the standard of service and then move on to other dealerships.
From South Africa
Blumenthal, who hails from Johannesburg, South Africa, started working for a Mercedes-Benz dealership right after college in 1980.
He moved to Southern California three years later. He said Johannesburg was too small for him and he didn’t like the politics. Economically, he aspired to more, he said.
When he arrived in OC, he worked at the Jim Slemmons dealership in Newport Beach, making his way up to sales manager.
The Slemmons dealership used to be on Quail Street, where Fletcher Jones Motorcars now stores autos.
Slemmons was having financial problems, so Blumenthal moved on to Caliber Motors in Anaheim Hills, now Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim, where he was sales manager.
As the Slemmons dealership was going under, Jones bought the company and hired Blumenthal as sales manager in 1991. He became general manager three years later.
In the meantime, Fletcher Jones began building its larger, upscale dealership on Jamboree, which opened in 1997.
Since then, Fletcher Jones has set the pace for luxury auto dealers here.
There are rivals.
Newport Lexus, co-owned by David Wilson of Orange-based Wilson Automotive Group and A.J. D’Amato, opened a posh dealership in 2006 across the street from Fletcher with $65 million in fixings,a grand piano, wireless Internet access, giant TV screens, lush landscaping and a fountain in the front.
Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim opened a showroom earlier this year with the Auto Haus design.
Dallas-based Park Place Dealerships recently entered the local market by buying a dealership in Mission Viejo, now Park Place Lexus Mission Viejo.
Even big auto chains such as AutoNation Inc. are going upscale. The chain just opened a $40 million, 180,000-square-foot dealership in West Palm Beach, Fla. It plans on opening seven more luxury dealers.
For its part, Fletcher Jones finished a three-part $20 million expansion in early 2006, which included a shuttle hub and an extra service facility in Irvine.
