AUTOMOTIVE : Irvine’s New Mazda Retailer Will Be County’s 2nd Foreign-Owned Dealer

Tustin Acura, which opened its doors in March, 1986, has been in the unique position of being the only foreign-owned new car dealership in the county. Its parent is the Dah Chong Hong Trading Corp. of Hong Kong, which owns a stable of about 30 auto dealerships in the United States, mainly on the East Coast.

Now, in what appears to be a sign of the times, a $2.2-million Mazda dealership being built at the Irvine Auto Center and scheduled to open in July will become the second auto retailer in the county that is wholly owned by a foreign corporation.

Its parent, Indomobil America, is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia.

An Indomobil spokesman declined to comment on the firm’s plans for investing here, saying the timing wasn’t right.

But other dealers and several auto marketing specialists said that with car sales down and most dealers struggling to maintain what they have, there is little domestic money available for starting a business or expanding existing dealer networks. This is especially true in an area like Orange County, where land costs are so high.

And that opens the area to overseas investors, who see less domestic competition for franchises.

Campbell Automotive Group in Irvine, which now owns seven dealerships and two auto body repair shops in Orange and Riverside counties, saw the handwriting on the wall in 1988, when it sold a 50% interest to a British firm, Lex Service PLC, to raise money for expansion. Since then, the company has acquired two new dealerships and is about to open a third--the county’s first Saturn dealership--thanks in large part to the cash infusion from Lex.