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Koreans are getting serious
December 10, 2006

Winnipeg's south end is making room for two new dealerships.  The Waverley
Automall is about to welcome two new Korean franchises:  Murray Hyundai
and Horizon Kia.

Horizon Kia has had some history in the city, with origins on Portage Ave and
the vacated Orion Chevrolet dealership at Country Club Rd.  The franchise has
since relocated to the south end of Winnipeg under temporary conditions
while the new dealership is under construction.  Located at the west end of the
Waverley Automall, Horizon Kia will be the build to Kia Motors facilities
guidelines, giving the brand its first legitimate chance at healthy sales in the
city.

Shortly after the opening of Horizon Kia, Murray Hyundai will open its doors to
its new dealership location between Murray Chevrolet Hummer and Sunshine
Toyota.  The lot has been used as an overflow lot for the huge Murray
Chevrolet Hummer dealership on the east side of Waverley Blvd.  Murray
Hyundai will be a welcome change for the Hyundai brand in Winnipeg.  The
two existing Hyundai dealers have facilities that are not consistent with
Hyundai's direction as a brand and do not meet current Hyundai new dealer
facilities requirements.

At this point, all Hyundai needs is a nice new dealership in Winnipeg to grow
the brand.  The product is considerably better and the addition of a new
dealership will give the brand a further boost in image.
Birchwood Automotive Group
plans facility upgrades
 February 14, 2006

According to The Birchwood Automotive Group's January 2006 Newsletter, the
auto group has plans to upgrade certain facilities.

Birchwood Honda Centre began plans last fall to upgrade its building.  The
much needed upgrade will yield a Honda Canada-compliant corporate image
in line with the other two Honda dealerships in Winnipeg.

Looking into the future, two stores at the Pointe West Autopark will be under
renovations. The Nissan side of Birchwood Infiniti Nissan building will receive
improvements to bring it up to Nissan Canada's corporate image, an image
made standard shortly after the dealership moved from Pembina Highway to
the Autopark.  Ortynsky Nissan has recently upgraded its facilities by moving to
the vacant ex-Mazda premises on Regent Ave.  Ashok Dilawri's upcoming
Nissan dealership will round out Nissan Canada's Winnipeg facility plans.

Birchwood Honda West is in need of additional space due to its sales volume.
The Honda dealership acquired additional parking space behind Birchwood
BMW over a year ago.  Look for the dealership to expand with the new land in
mind.
Birchwood Honda Centre
plans renovation
 November 20,2005

Birchwood Honda Centre, located on Regent Avenue, is currently renovating
its facilities to bring the dealership into Honda Canada' s corporate look. Upon
completion, the dealership will look very similar to Winnipeg's other two
Honda stores, Birchwood Honda West, and Winnipeg Honda. This will bring to
completion the upgrading all of the Winnipeg Honda dealerships.

The investment in Birchwood Honda Centre follows upgrades completed by
others dealerships on the Regent Avenue strip, including and Keystone Ford
and Frontier Toyota. Despite the consolidation of many Winnipeg dealerships
into automalls, Regent Avenue dealers remain content with the "strip" layout of
competitor shopping.
St. James opening
 November 05,2005

After many years of sales and service "1 block west of Polo Park", St. James
Audi Volkswagen has moved to its new location on Route 90, between Ellice
and Sargent Ave. The new location incorporates each brand's respective
corporate look with separate showrooms connected by a service department.
With the growing product lineup for each brand, the additional square footage
is welcomed by both the employees of St. James and its customers. The
previous location had outgrown its size years ago. The previous location had a
small showroom as well as extremely poor parking. Neither is a concern at
the new location. The decision to distance the new dealership from other
competitive brands is unusual, considering the trend to relocate to popular
automalls such as Pointe West Autopark and the Waverly Automall.
Dealerships that have left the trading area that St. James now occupies
include Sargent Hyundai/Jaguar on Sargent and Winnipeg Chrysler Jeep
Dodge. However, Route 90 is a well-travelled road and the airport is nearby.
Regardless of its geographic location, the expanded facilities will provide
countless customer benefits and an opportunity for the business to grow.
All photos are copyrighted by David Lee 1998-2007. Use of photos for commercial purposes is prohibited without prior approval.