Crevier Motors Climbs to No. 1 in BMW Sales : From Modest Start, Santa Ana Dealer Uses Location to Grab Top U.S. Ranking

Patty and Bob Davey were all set to plunk down a good piece of change for their first BMW. The young Tustin couple knew just where to go--to one of Orange County’s oldest “Beemer” dealerships.

On the way there, however, they happened to come across Crevier Motors alongside the Costa Mesa Freeway. And it was all over for the other dealer.

For the first six months of this year, Crevier has managed to outsell every other BMW dealer in the country.

Crevier did it by selling 511 BMWs from January through June--a 33% jump from the first half last year and 16 cars more than a Concord, Calif., dealership that ranks second on BMW’s top 50 dealers list.

$35 Million Last Year

Owner Bob Crevier says the business grossed $35 million in sales last year. If Crevier Motors sells the 1,000 cars that it expects to in 1988, gross sales will climb by another $15 million.

That’s pretty flashy for a car dealership that started off selling fewer than 100 cars during its entire first year in business in 1971.

The reason? Besides being located in Orange County--an affluent, hotbed of yuppiedom--Crevier Motors also sits on a prime site. Its 5.11-acre site at the Costa Mesa Freeway and Edinger Avenue in the Santa Ana Auto Mall, is hard to miss.

“Everything in this business is location,” explained Bob McLaren, owner of Bob McLaren’s BMW in Fullerton. “Everything else being equal, that’s the most important factor.”

So it is no surprise that Crevier Motors’ huge lot and reflective sign attracts lots of business the same way it lured the Daveys--who recently purchased a 535i.

Grudging Respect

Still, there is grudging respect--and some admiration--from competitors and industry observers, as well.

“They’re very serious about doing the job right, and they treat customers well,” said George Peterson, a Southern California automotive analyst with Auto Pacific Group of Newport Beach. “They pay good attention to detail--things like having two shifts in the service department.”

That is important in an area like Orange County where young, ambitious baby boomers have lots of money but little spare time.

With a median family income projected to hit $45,176 this year, Orange County is loaded with potential buyers for what BMW of North American calls “the ultimate driving machine.” After all, just as no one buys a Rolex watch merely to tell time, nobody spends up to $71,000 for a car just for transportation.

And the BMW--with its high-ticket price and perception of European quality--has lots of snob appeal for Southern Californians.

3 of the Top 5

It is so appealing, in fact, that of the BMW’s 430 U.S. dealerships, sales so far this year show three of the top five in Southern California: Crevier, Century Motors in Alhambra at No. 3, and Saddleback Motors in Irvine at No. 5. The lone outsiders are BMW Concord, in the No. 2 slot, and Miami’s Braman Motors, which is ranked fourth.

But the Southern California market wasn’t exactly rolling when Bob Crevier opened his dealership 17 years ago on on 1st Street in Santa Ana, just a few blocks from Orange County’s Civic Center.

BMWs then were a risky business, Crevier recalled recently. In fact, Bob Crevier only started selling BMWs because the dealership cost much less to open than the Volkswagen dealership he had really wanted.

“Automotive magazines were the only place you used to see the car advertised,” Crevier said. “It used to be that only car buffs drove BMWs, and they’d blink their headlights at each other. Now, you stop and there are four BMWs lined up across the intersection.”

And as the car’s popularity picked up speed, so did sales at Crevier Motors. A few years after opening the dealership, Bob Crevier was joined by his son, Don, now a co-owner with his father.

Built on Location

To build their clientele, the father and son relied heavily on their Santa Ana location--close to nearby medical buildings, courthouses, and business people who worked at the Civic Center but often-as-not lived in ritzier parts of the county.

The dealership did well. “A lot of people assumed because we were in downtown Santa Ana, we wouldn’t sell as many” cars as a Newport Beach dealership, said Don Crevier. “But we’re central to the county, so we really had more to draw from in all directions.”

Business became so brisk, in fact, that Crevier has ranked among the top 10 BMW dealers nationally in sales for the past decade.

In late October, Crevier Motors moved to its present site in the Santa Ana Auto Mall, expanding its size by roughly three times. The idea was to be close to the South Coast business district and to the airport, but still have direct access off a busy freeway.

Since then, Bob and Don Crevier have been discovering life in the fast lane.

The new location has room for as many as 200 BMWs. There is the new car dealership, a used-car division, a service and parts center, and Crevier Leasing, which sells and leases virtually every make and model car.

‘I BMWs’

There’s even a small boutique that sells everything from BMW umbrellas and beer steins to jackets and a teddy bear in BMW sunglasses wearing a “I BMWs” lapel pin.

The huge selection has its advantages. While BMW sales nationally have been dropping, there is no sign of a crunch at Crevier. In fact, the father and son team plan to open Crevier Hyundai in Corona in December, mostly because Hyundais sell well.

The success has come from Crevier’s target customer: 40ish executives, 70% of them men, who earn on an average $80,000-$100,000.

They are buyers willing to pay anywhere from $25,000 to $71,000 and occasionally more for such high-tech conveniences as cars that can cruise at 140 miles per hour. Not to mention extras like heated seats, telephones, dual electric systems and headrests that move up and down when the seat belt is buckled.

These days, the biggest seller is the lowest-priced model, the 325 (with a sticker price of $24,900) and the 325is, the sportier convertible model (list price $29,200).

‘You Know You Like Them’

Bill Humphreys, an attorney who lives in Laguna Niguel, for instance, came to Crevier recently on a recommendation from others in his office. He started by looking at the 325s because “I wanted a sporty car that performed well,” said Humphreys, 34, who admits that he almost didn’t buy a BMW because of its image as a yuppiemobile.

Several trips to Crevier Motors later and Humphreys had bought a larger 528e.

“It’s the kind of car where the moment you sit in them, you know you like them,” he said. And Crevier “let me browse without bothering me too much, with less pressuring. I liked that,” he said.

Eventually, perhaps within five years, Don Crevier predicts that he and his father will have maybe five franchises in Southern California--although not necessarily BMW dealerships.

After all, a lot depends on location.