Amlaham Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 That Helfman Dodge/Jeep dealership is in awful condition. It looks like most of the dealership is run out of abandoned warehouses. It's by far the ugliest dealership in Houston. Also, curious why dealerships like this one and Mercedes-Greenway haven't considered consolidating their spaces like Audi & Porsche 🤷♂️ would it not save them money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clutchcity94 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 12 minutes ago, Amlaham said: That Helfman Dodge/Jeep dealership is in awful condition. It looks like most of the dealership is run out of abandoned warehouses. It's by far the ugliest dealership in Houston. Also, curious why dealerships like this one and Mercedes-Greenway haven't considered consolidating their spaces like Audi & Porsche 🤷♂️ would it not save them money? Sort of like a combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell? 😂 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkultra25 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 23 minutes ago, Amlaham said: That Helfman Dodge/Jeep dealership is in awful condition. It looks like most of the dealership is run out of abandoned warehouses. It's by far the ugliest dealership in Houston. Also, curious why dealerships like this one and Mercedes-Greenway haven't considered consolidating their spaces like Audi & Porsche 🤷♂️ would it not save them money? Chrysler hasn't shared common ownership with Daimler-Benz since 2007. They subsequently merged with Fiat and are now under a larger umbrella group of multiple auto manufacturers called Stellantis. Even when DaimlerChrysler was still a thing, I don't recall there ever being any consideration of combined Mercedes/Chrysler/Dodge dealerships. Such an arrangement would have benefited Chrysler more than Daimler-Benz, and although at the time it was billed as a merger of equals, it was pretty obvious that the Germans were in the driver's seat, so to speak. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Dealers are usually aligned along the lines of who owns the dealer/group. see the Gillman group on SWfwy and BW8, Subaru, Chrysler/Ram/Dodge and Honda. none of those marques have any affiliation, but the Gillman family own the dealerships, so there it is. and if you go back more than 10 years, that Chrysler/Ram/Dodge was a Jeep which used to be a Mitsubishi. I don't think Helfman owns the Greenway Mercedes? depending on the relationship between brands maybe they can sell them in the same store, maybe they need to have separate stores on the same lot? so as @mkultra25 mentioned, Chrysler and Mercedes never really saw the relationship in a way that would have 1 roof selling both brands, but if Helfman owns both, they could have a single mega lot with two buildings selling both and make a more efficient use of space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amlaham Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) Wait wait, I think everyone is confused with my statement lol. I meant to say why hasn't the Mercedes Benz-Greenway dealership consolidated their space, and separately 😂 why hasn't Helfman consolidated their dealership. I made a map to show the comparison between the Mercedes Dealership (dark blue), Helfman Jeep (baby blue), and Porsche/ Audi are green. Porsche/ Audi's dealerships make more sense financially considering the larger the land the higher the property tax (yes I know this isn't always true, but I'm sure it is in this instance). Edited January 21, 2022 by Amlaham Grammar 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Now open, per an email I rec'd from them... https://www.momentumporsche.com/ 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amlaham Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Its actually a lot nicer than the renderings, which is a nice surprise! I like the fact that it also sits right across from another multi-story dealership. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmitch94 Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Amlaham said: Its actually a lot nicer than the renderings, which is a nice surprise! I like the fact that it also sits right across from another multi-story dealership. I wish they would paint the concrete on the garage that is facing towards the freeway but other than that it’s a pretty decent addition. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texas911 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Helfman doesn't own Greenway Mercedes. Its owned by Autonation . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 On 2/12/2022 at 10:36 AM, jmitch94 said: I wish they would paint the concrete on the garage that is facing towards the freeway but other than that it’s a pretty decent addition. Yeah, the garage portion is pretty disappointing (and another example of how eliminating parking requirements would not resolve the profusion of ugly parking garages). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 There is a car transport ship on fire in the North Atlantic full of Porsches and Volkswagons. Fire started in the cargo area and crew abandoned safely. Wonder if they were headed to Houston? https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/tech/ship-fire-luxury-cars/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 They were headed to Rhode Island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Found this... https://tlimagazine.com/profiles/porsche-cars-north-america-inc/ "The company receives cars into four ports in the United States – located in Providence, R.I.; Brunswick, Ga.; Houston and San Diego – as well as a port in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From these ports, the operation ships cars to a network of 190 U.S.-based dealers and 15 dealers throughout Canada." I knew Volkswagens were shipped to Houston, they used to deliver across the ship channel from were I worked at one time. Before that, Toyotas were shipped to Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBTX Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 16 hours ago, hindesky said: I knew Volkswagens were shipped to Houston, they used to deliver across the ship channel from were I worked at one time. Before that, Toyotas were shipped to Houston. Still do! You can see the lot off the 610 bridge. Blocks and blocks of assorted VW branded cars all factory wrapped in white still. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 (edited) 22 hours ago, hindesky said: Found this... https://tlimagazine.com/profiles/porsche-cars-north-america-inc/ "The company receives cars into four ports in the United States – located in Providence, R.I.; Brunswick, Ga.; Houston and San Diego – as well as a port in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From these ports, the operation ships cars to a network of 190 U.S.-based dealers and 15 dealers throughout Canada." I knew Volkswagens were shipped to Houston, they used to deliver across the ship channel from were I worked at one time. Before that, Toyotas were shipped to Houston. Per this tracking, the last time this vessel came to Houston it stopped by Halifax and Davisville (near Providence RI) on the way here. https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/felicity-ace-mmsi-371427000-imo-9293911 Dunno if it was meant to continue on to Houston this time. Edited February 18, 2022 by nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 6 minutes ago, nate said: Per this tracking, the last time this vessel came to Houston it stopped by Halifax and Davisville (near Providence RI) on the way here. https://www.myshiptracking.com/vessels/felicity-ace-mmsi-371427000-imo-9293911 Dunno if it was meant to continue on to Houston this time. Doesn't sound good for anybody who ordered one in Houston. Do all the dealers not keep stock on hand for immediate sales or are they all ordered then you wait for it to be shipped? Last I heard the shipping company hired a tug to take the burning ship to the nearest port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 14 minutes ago, hindesky said: Do all the dealers not keep stock on hand for immediate sales or are they all ordered then you wait for it to be shipped? You can buy from dealer stock or you can order - the proportion of stock vs order varies from make to make. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgriff Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 I was at Porsche North Houston a few months ago. They didn’t have any 911s, Boxsters or Caymans. I was told to get a new 911 would take about 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 16 hours ago, hindesky said: Do all the dealers not keep stock on hand for immediate sales or are they all ordered then you wait for it to be shipped? The premium German auto manuf do both. They have a good inventory of stock vehicles for people that want a car. Now. And they have well-established build-to-order programs for that type buyer. My X3 was custom ordered. My wife's Cayenne was right off the lot. And thanks to the pandemic, everything I just typed gets thrown out the window. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyDriveKid Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 On 1/21/2022 at 4:43 PM, Amlaham said: Wait wait, I think everyone is confused with my statement lol. I meant to say why hasn't the Mercedes Benz-Greenway dealership consolidated their space, and separately 😂 why hasn't Helfman consolidated their dealership. I made a map to show the comparison between the Mercedes Dealership (dark blue), Helfman Jeep (baby blue), and Porsche/ Audi are green. Porsche/ Audi's dealerships make more sense financially considering the larger the land the higher the property tax (yes I know this isn't always true, but I'm sure it is in this instance). Could be wrong about this, but I'm assuming Helfman is getting a pretty fantastic deal on the dirt (literally, if they haven't changed it since I went car shopping there a few years ago) that they are leasing under CenterPoint's utility easement. It might be nicer from a customer service standpoint to consolidate inventory into a garage, but I doubt land gets much cheaper than what they're using now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 Wish they would paint the parking garage gray or white, looks cheap like this. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 They suspect the ship Felicity Ace continues to burn due the the electric cars lithium-Ion batteries which can't be put out with water. 4000 Porsches, Bentleys and other luxury cars. 🥵 https://qz.com/2130711/electric-vehicles-make-it-harder-to-quell-fire-on-felicity-ace-cargo-ship/?utm_source=YPL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 The great thing about that story is that nobody got seriously hurt, so I can just revel in pure, unadulterated schadenfreude. A ship full of luxury cars on fire in the middle of the ocean feels like the only good thing to happen in 2022 so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 I'm not feeling any schadenfreude. They're just cars, some of which the buyers have been waiting for months. And a significant number of them were VWs. You know, the "People's Wagon". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Exactly. They're just cars. And brand new VWs aren't particularly cheap and are *absurdly* expensive to maintain. Also don't think too hard about who originally qualified as "people" in the eyes of VW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 (edited) On 2/19/2022 at 8:17 AM, astrohip said: The premium German auto manuf do both. They have a good inventory of stock vehicles for people that want a car. Now. And they have well-established build-to-order programs for that type buyer. My X3 was custom ordered. My wife's Cayenne was right off the lot. And thanks to the pandemic, everything I just typed gets thrown out the window. definitely, during any 'normal' time, across all makes, models, etc, there's a 100 day inventory. aka, if a dealer can sell 50 cars in 100 days, they have 50 new cars on the lot at any given moment. that's average, so your Fords, GM, Toyota, they'll probably have like 125 days inventory, where Porsche may only have 75 days of inventory. anyway, that was pre-pandemic. now (as of January), the average is 18 days. so if we use the same assumptive metric of 1 car every 2 days, now the average inventory is 9 new cars on the lot at any given time. and most of those probably already have a deposit for someone to buy. all supply chains are wonky right now, predominantly this car shortage is caused by the chip shortage, which it'll take to the end of the year at least before this is starting to be corrected, but it's other supply chain issues. even getting a car that's already been built to the dealership is hard these days. specific to Porsche, I have a friend that ordered a new one back in December, I think it was a 918, he was quoted September before delivery. certainly that is now pushed. the short answer is, if you don't have to buy a car right now, don't. on an aside, with oil (and gasoline as a result) going up because of this Russia/Ukraine thing, people who can't afford to put gas in their trucks and need to downsize to something more economical are going to be in a very tough position by summer. Edited February 22, 2022 by samagon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Felicity Ace sank yesterday as it was being towed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicity_Ace 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 On 3/2/2022 at 5:54 PM, hindesky said: Felicity Ace sank yesterday as it was being towed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicity_Ace I guess now the deep sea creatures have something to read. (In addition to the cars, there were tens of thousands of books on that ship.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 Looks like they are replacing the old storage woodshed. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrohip Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I *think* they were using it for the construction workers. Lunch area, tool storage, meetings, etc. Now that the primary const phase is complete... *poof*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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