Phillips Mazda has moved from its longtime home in Laguna Hills and followed its new owner down the freeway to San Juan Capistrano, where Miles Brandon has been selling Volkswagens for nearly two decades.
“When I bought [Capistrano Volkswagen] 18 years ago, it was a lot easier—I just walked in the store and took the keys,” said Brandon, who purchased the dealership in July from Eric Phillips for an undisclosed amount and welcomed his first Mazda customers a couple of months ago. “It’s a lot more work to move a business.”
The deal for Phillips Mazda included 60 new cars, a selection of used vehicles, and parts inventory worth about $150,000. Phillips’ entire service team also relocated to Valle Road next to Brandon’s VW sales and service operations.
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations was on board with the move, according to Brandon. Dealers affiliated with a manufacturer’s brand typically get exclusive rights in a specific geographic area—a system known in the trade as “open point,” with a standard radius of about 10 miles. San Juan Capistrano was eligible as an open point for Mazda, while the Laguna Hills location was just three miles from Tuttle Click Mazda at the Irvine Auto Center—an exception to the usual spacing.
“Laguna Hills was a very strange point because no other manufacturer has a dealership there,” he said, adding that the business, established in 1968, preceded the Irvine Auto Center. “The point is now closed up and (the area) divided between San Juan and Irvine.”
Eric Philips said he’s glad someone local acquired his dealership.
“They are a similar-type family, not a chain operation,” he said of Brandon. “He has a good reputation.”
Phillips, meanwhile, is working with Riverside-based Van Daele Development Corp. to turn the former dealership site in Laguna Hills—about 5 acres of land—into a 54-townhome community bordered by a small retail center.
Brandon will have a construction project of his own with a price tag of about $2 million in San Juan Capistrano next to his Volkswagen store. He plans to demolish the temporary center, where he once sold used VW vehicles, before shifting the Mazda operations there.
His acquisition follows Mazda’s introduction of a new design direction for its 700 dealerships that’s all about natural materials and open space. “Retail Evolution” features glass walls, “allowing customers a transparent view into dealership operations” and “warm raw-material tones of wood and metal” inside showrooms for an “upscale look and feel,” while “premium black, clean white, and new chrome Mazda signage” outside provides dealers with “strong curb appeal,” according to the automaker.
“We’ll be going through permitting processes this year, and if everything goes well, by the end of this year we’ll be breaking ground,” Brandon said. “It will be beautiful.”
He can draw on his successful transition with Capistrano Volkswagen, which opened its doors in 1964 as Bill Yates Volkswagen, Porsche. Volkswagen of America purchased the store in 1993, renamed it Capistrano Volkswagen, and managed the dealership’s operations until June 1997, when Brandon took over.
“It had 20 employees and sold some 35 cars a month,” he said.
Last year his staff sold more than 900 new vehicles—a slight dip from the 1,000 it moved out the door in 2014— along with 700 used models.
“The size of the (Laguna Hills) store in terms of sales and personnel was almost exactly as what I got from Volkswagen in 1997,” Brandon said. “And now we get to grow this brand, too, and we are really excited about it.”
For him personally, the purchase marks an end of a “37-year journey to get Mazda.”
“When I was 17 years old—I’m 54 now—I really wanted to buy a used 1976 Mazda RX-3 SP, and I couldn’t find one,” Brandon said, adding that he’s enjoying his 2-mile commute in a MX-5 Miata these days.
“I always liked the brand, and what’s really exciting is the combination of the Skyactive technology and really nice styling. It makes it one of the hotter brands right now. Another plus is we have Mazda North American Operations right here in our backyard, and they’ve been so great to work with. We love Volkswagen, as well, but with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, it’s a lot different situation.”
