Fletcher Jones Car Dealership Seeks to Move : Autos: Agency wants site ownership, more visibility. It might leave Newport, which would cost city heavily in taxes.

Fletcher Jones Motor Cars, the nation’s second-largest Mercedes-Benz dealer, said Tuesday that it wants to move from its leased lot to a new home that would be more accessible and visible to its customers--a lot possibly in another city.

Any move out of Newport Beach, where it has an eight-acre facility, would cost the city up to $1 million or more in annual taxes, though the exact amount is confidential, the auto dealer said.

“We are looking at other sites,” said Fletcher Jones Jr., the dealership’s owner. “Our overwhelming desire is to stay in Newport Beach. We’re in the best Mercedes-Benz market in the country. But there are some other areas we’ve looked at.”

Jones said he would like to be located near Jamboree Road and MacArthur Boulevard or near a major freeway or road. His current lease expires in December, 1996, and he wants to buy his future site.

The company has 150 new cars and 100 used cars for sale at its lot on Quail Street near John Wayne Airport.

“The biggest reason we want to move is that our current site is leased and we would like to find some property we could purchase,” Jones said. “We would also like to have better visibility.”

Irvine, Tustin or Santa Ana would make likely sites, said John Rettie, an editor with J.D. Power & Associates, an auto research firm in Agoura Hills.

“Generally, dealers like to be near a freeway off-ramp,” Rettie said. “I think it’s been shown that over the years it can make a significant difference to sales.”

A loss of the dealership would be a big blow to Newport Beach because it is one of the largest single contributors of sales tax dollars to the city. However, Jones said he does not want to move his dealership to another area, such as the Irvine Auto Mall or Rancho Santa Margarita.

Other car dealers said Fletcher Jones probably would not move to Irvine because other dealers already serve the area.

“He would be leaving one primary market area and entering another, which is already covered by Mission Viejo Imports,” said Lou Webb, chairman of the Irvine Auto Dealers Assn., a group of dealers in the Irvine Auto Mall. “He’s in a pretty good place now. I don’t know why he’d want to move.”

Still, Paul O. Brady, Irvine’s city manager, said Fletcher is believed to be looking at the Irvine Auto Mall, which has at least one vacancy.

Fletcher Jones is the nation’s second-largest Mercedes-Benz dealership in terms of auto and related sales during 1993, according to Auto Age magazine, a monthly trade publication in Van Nuys. Jones bought the dealership for $11.5 million in a 1991 bankruptcy sale involving former owner James B. Slemons.