Woot! Mazda is coming back to Cape Cod.
Shaker to open Mazda dealership in Massachusetts
BY MARC SILVESTRINI | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — Shaker Auto Group Inc. of Waterbury has acquired the exclusive Mazda franchise rights for Cape Cod and will open a new Mazda dealership in South Yarmouth, Mass., next month, the company said Wednesday.
The new dealership will be located at 527 Station Ave. in South Yarmouth, in the refurbished home of a former Cadillac/Saab dealership, said Corey Shaker, Shaker Auto Group president.
The 15,000-square-foot dealership will include a showroom, parts department, service center and fully appointed customer waiting room, Shaker said. It will employ between 20 and 25 people, he said.
Shaker said the new facility has already been granted all the necessary factory and local approvals to begin operating and should be open by the end of January.
The new facility is located "right off exit 8 on the Mid-Cape Highway," said Joseph Shaker, who heads the family-owned company's Boston platform.
"We will be the exclusive Mazda dealer for the whole Cape," he said.
The company hopes to sell about 75 new and used vehicles per month at its new location, adding to the Boston platform's current average of about 250 new and used vehicles sold per month, he added.
Shaker Auto's Boston platform also includes Framingham Nissan in Framingham, Mass., and Wellesley Mazda in Wellesley, Mass.
The company's local platform consists of two Greater Waterbury new car dealerships: Family Ford of Waterbury and Shaker's Lincoln Mercury KIA of Watertown; and Shaker's Quick Lane, a service and repair facility on Route 63 in Naugatuck, Corey Shaker said. The local platform sells an average of about 130 new and used vehicles per month, he said.
The company's two platforms employ a total of about 150 people, he said.
Corey Shaker characterized the acquisition of the Mazda franchise in Cape Cod as an opportunity to enter a new and promising market that was brought about by the sluggish national economy.
"With sales down more than 30 percent nationally in the industry we have started to see opportunities and we plan on following through on a select few," he said. "We feel strongly that Cape Cod Mazda is one of those special opportunities."