New Jeep-Chrysler-Dodge-Ram Dealership Opens

With its June 13 soft opening, it looks as if a new San Juan Capistrano car dealership is rolling right along.

Located at the site of the former Performance Motorsports location on Camino Capistrano, Orange Coast Jeep-Chrysler-Dodge-Ram Capistrano is open for business.

The 2-acre car dealership lot holds at least 100 vehicles comfortably and will employ about 36 workers, according to Pete Shaver, general manager of Talon Automotive Group, the company that owns the dealership.

“We know through communication with people that live there that it’s a very tight community, and we want to introduce ourselves right," Shaver said. 

The dealership has already started selling cars, but employees are still working out a few kinks in the computer and electrical systems in other departments, according to Shaver.

In a Thursday interview, Shaver said the services department should be operational sometime next week.

The dealership plans to hold an official grand opening sometime in August, and the business website is expected to go live in a few days.

Based on the  listed in January 2011, the dealership will generate about $180,000 in much-needed sales tax revenue for the city in its first year of operation. "A lot of dealerships are suffering today. We’re not," Shaver said.

The city is invested in the car dealership and its role in rejuvenating the south side of town. It issued a to Orange Coast, enticing it to join five other existing auto dealers in the area.

Five other dealerships have closed since 2004, and between fiscal year 2008-09 and 2009-10, the city saw a 4.8 percent drop in new auto sales. If the Chrysler dealership remains open, the agency will consider doling out more money in an amount equal to about 50 percent of the sales tax generated there yearly for up to $2 million, or a total of 13 years—whichever occurs first.

Owned by the Talon Automotive Group—headed by CEO Jon Gray—the San Juan dealership is the latest Talon-owned dealership in a list that includes OC Motorsports, Orange Coast Fiat and Orange Coast Jeep-Chrysler-Dodge-Ram Costa Mesa.

According to Shaver, the San Juan dealership is part of a more ambitious goal for Talon: creating 10 dealerships in total by 2020.

"We're making people happy and selling lots of cars," Shaver said. “We know that the economy is tough, but people need to buy cars and service [their] cars, and we’re able to provide products and services at a better price than our competition."

The dealership is at 32881 Camino Capistrano.

Farther south on Camino Capistrano near Stonehill Drive, is undergoing an expansion, and construction has begun on a new 130-room . City officials are banking on higher sales tax revenues next year as a result.