Alam Khan never thought of himself as a desert dweller or a small-town auto dealers. But the new owner of Diamond Hills Chevrolet Buick GMC is now both. Khan figures to boost business at his new store with digital marketing, more training, and even by selling more Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles.
“I’m asking the factory to boost our allocation” of Volts, he tells Automotive Buy Sell Report.
Buying a dealership in a hot market might be a sure thing, but those kinds of dealerships are hard to find these days. Seeing the potential in an available dealership and making that work is Khan’s plan.
Khan is a believer, not just in the Volt but in all his GM brands. “All the vehicles GM makes today are every bit competitive with import [brands],” says Khan.
That’s important because Khan is looking beyond Banning, where Diamond Hills is located, to nearby markets with a heavy import presence to grow his sales.
Banning, Calif. is a small town off Interstate 10 around 23 miles west of Palm Springs. Its population is only around 30,000. But Banning is in Riverside County, with a population of 2.3 million. And people are moving to Riverside County – the population grew by 6.4 percent from 2010 to 2014 compared to 4.2 percent for the State of California.
Then there is the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area. The median income in those areas aren’t especially high, but there are some extremely wealthy pockets in both. So, ultra-luxury imports such as McLaren and Maserati share the road with mass market import and domestic brand cars and pickups.
“We feel very competent we can compete in this market place,” says Khan.
He plans to emphasize digital marketing to reach what he calls “the battleground markets” of the surrounding cities. “We have to adapt to the future,” he says.
Khan will also boost staff training to explain the “tremendous amount” of technology in today’s cars.
GM has a great truck lineup and the Chevrolet Cruz is a great small car, says Khan. “We have a mix of cars we can compete with,” he says.
That includes the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt is a range-extended electric vehicle, meaning it has a small gas-powered engine that recharges the electric battery, giving it a range equivalent to a gas-powered vehicle. Banning has not historically been a big market for electric vehicles of any kind, Khan admits, but he thinks more marketing will change that.
“We have to change our own perception that people don’t buy EVs in Banning. I don’t think that is the case,” he says.
Nearby Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley are also big markets for vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, says Khan. If he can create awareness about his dealership, the customers will come from there, Khan figures.
“If they can drive a Prius, I say our Volt is better than a Prius,” he says.
Khan had experience converting Prius owners to Volt drivers at his previous dealership in the San Francisco Bay Area. There, advertising and ride and drive events getting people to try out the Volt allowed him to “put a pretty good dent” in the Prius market.
Made for the car business
Khan’s initial background was in the neighborhood grocery business. The rise of big box stores such as Costco was hurting that segment, however. Meanwhile, Khan helped a friend purchase a Honda at a dealership in Gardena, Calif.
After hearing Khan negotiate the deal, the general manager of the dealership walked out of his office and told Khan, “Son, I don’t know what you do for a living, but you are made for the car business.”
Five years later, when he was considering new careers, Khan saw an advertisement for free training by the California New Car Dealer Association and remembered that remark. He enrolled.
“It was life-changing,” says Khan.
He rose to be general manager at several import-brand dealerships and owned an Acura dealership in the Bay Area, among others.
Most recently, Khan owned a Chevrolet dealership in the Bay Area but closed it due to a loss of lease. He had been talking with Performance Brokerage in Southern California about acquiring a new franchise. A Performance broker one day mentioned to Khan that the Banning dealership was available “but wasn’t sure I’d be interested in the market.”
Khan didn’t even know where Banning was initially, but he and his Australian wife drove down to check it out. He bought the dealership with help from GM, which also finances his flooring.
He plans to add to the current 60 or so employees, especially in the sales department. Khan plans to grow his footprint in the market and is looking for opportunities.
He and his wife moved to nearby Indian Well. “We are trying to get used to the desert lifestyle,” he says.
