Automotive News - October 17, 2016 - Supplement - S12

12 ❙ OCTOBER 17, 2016 S M I T H V O L K S WA G E N , W I L M I N G T O N , D E L . Picking up on VW enthusiast vibe Dealership's tuner shop shows off project cars on online forum Printed in Automotive News Feb. 1, 2016 Ryan Beene rbeene@crain.com L ast spring, Arno Kissell took a stock Golf SportWagen out of the inventory at Smith Volkswagen and installed about $5,000 worth of parts on it, including an upgraded suspension, 19-inch wheels, a Neuspeed P-Flo air-intake system and tinted windows. He then posted a photo of the project car, dubbed the Ⅲ Marketing through "Arno-Wagen," on VWVorperformance tex.com, where it generated and tuning more than two dozen comcenter ments from users praising the car and a few inquiries about how to order the parts. It's a formula that has helped the Wilmington, Del., dealership not only tap into the vibrant audience of VW enthusiasts nationwide, but drive thousands of dollars more in gross profits to its parts department. The Arno-Wagen is one of six project vehicles to come out of Smith VW's performance and tuning center, launched in mid-2014 and headed by Kissell, 29. The staff turns stock showroom inventory into high-performance, one-of-a-kind vehicles using parts and accessories from both VW and leading aftermarket manufacturers stocked at the dealership. Then they share their projects on VWVortex.com, the online meeting place for thousands of diehard VW enthusiasts, with photos and detailed descriptions of the modifications. Tax advantage The forums on VWVortex.com are a clearinghouse for all things VW, from discussion threads offering technical help and do-ityourself guides to discussions about the best wheel-and-tire packages for new GTIs. Need help troubleshooting the 2.8-liter VR6 engine in a Mark-4 Golf? Vortex has a forum about it. For a dealership, a presence on an enthusiast site such as VWVortex.com is like a seat at the cool kids' table. The project-car posts help build a reputation and following for Smith VW on VWVortex, and they provide inspiration for modification-minded VW owners. The Smith Volkswagen modifies vehicles at its performance and tuning center as a marketing effort. From left, Matt Stevenson, performance and tuning service writer; Arno Kissell, performance and tuning manager; and Darryl Gatts, parts manager. dealership leverages that following by posting sales promotions for parts. And because Delaware has no sales tax and the shop stocks aftermarket brands that dealers often don't, Smith VW can offer strong deals on parts coveted by do-it-yourselfers nationwide. Dream job Darryl Gatts, parts department manager at Smith VW, says the dealership averaged about $72,000 per month in gross profits from parts sales before it launched the performance and tuning center in 2014. The tuning shop and the online push have helped to add about $5,000 to $6,000, he said. Kissell and Gatts say the project cars are considered an advertising expense. "You can spend a slew on a billboard that might not get as much [attention] as we do on a car," Kissell said. Before joining Smith VW, Kissell spent eight years at New German Performance in Maryland, a well-known VW and Audi tuning shop. It was there he learned the ins and outs of the tuning business and developed relationships with key performance part vendors, he says. When Kissell moved back to Wilmington to be closer to family, he applied for an open sales position at Smith VW, the same dealership he visited as a boy when his parents needed to service their vehicles. It turned out that dealership management had wanted to set up a performance shop for some time, and during his interview, Kissell was asked whether he wanted to spearhead the effort. "I tried to not fall out of my chair," Kissell said. Kissell's personal fleet includes a mostly stock 2001 Golf TDI as his daily driver, a modified 2007 Ram 2500 diesel pickup as a work truck and a heavily modified 1999 Golf TDI that produces an estimated 400 poundsfeet of torque and can do a quarter-mile in less than 14 seconds. And he has been a member of VWVortex.com for 11 years, so when it came time to promote Smith VW's first project car, he knew where to turn. "We knew we needed to have a presence on Vortex," said Kissell. "That is the outlet for enthusiasts. That is their meeting place." Will Barber, senior editor of VWVortex, says the site has about 882,000 members, 26,000 of whom are active every month. Barber says Smith is one of a few VW dealerships that use the forum to drum up business and engage enthusiasts, and Kissell's background helps reassure those who sometimes view visits to a dealership as a "necessary evil." "Where Arno stands out is not only does he have credibility in the community," said Barber, "but he's also now in a role where he's showing people that going to a dealer isn't necessarily something to be frowned upon." c http://www.tex.com http://www.VWVortex.com http://www.VWVortex.com http://www.VWVortex.com http://www.VWVortex.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - October 17, 2016 - Supplement