Colorado Springs-area automobile sales are putting the pedal to the

Colorado Springs Business Journal, Dec 17, 2004 by Marylou Doehrman

Phil Long is a large corporation with 15 Colorado franchises that sell about 30,000 cars a year total - half-used and half-new, said Bob Fenton, a managing partner with the dealership. And the franchises in Colorado Springs are making money. We lost 14 percent in sales from 2003 to 2004 in the Denver-metro area, but the Springs market was up 4 percent from 2003 to 2004, Fenton said. He agreed that 0 percent interest rates over 72 months and rebates from manufacturers as high as $5,000 have pushed the new car market.

Ford came out this year with a 2004 F-Series truck and that has meant record sales for Phil Long, Fenton said. Ford has sold 940,000 of the F-Series trucks nationwide, outselling Dodge and Chevy combined, he said. It's ignited the truck market. Full-size pickup truck sales in Colorado exceeded the total share in the United States by two points, according to the Colorado Auto Outlook report. Trucks are a huge market in Colorado, Fenton said, but he attributes Phil Long's success to the military.

We tend to take this area for granted when it comes to the military, he said. But we should be grateful for the economic impact of the military. There is so much put into the community when you have 50,000 active duty military here. Fenton said the Iraq deployment of the soldiers shocked the Springs automobile industry, but their return has propelled sales. The local economy is healthier than the rest of the Rockies because of it, he said.

Dormire and Colton said the military's presence has not affected their car sales. Colton said he is too far north, and Dormire said he experienced no impact when the soldiers returned last spring. June was one of our worst months, he said.

The military has traditionally been a focus for area car dealers, but enticing incentives have attracted a variety of buyers. It's all over the board as far as the target market, Barrow said. Baby boomers are definitely buying new cars and the incentives, like being able to walk in and buy a new car on a six-year contract with no interest, make the used car less desirable and pulls people from all age groups - from 25 to 75. But Barrow added that the people buying cars have higher than average incomes.

And those with a high income can afford to fill up their tanks regardless of exorbitant gas prices, which have dampened sales in some areas, Barrow said. However, sport utility vehicles that are smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient - what he refers to as SUV lights - are popular, Barrow said.

The trend toward fuel efficiency is on the upswing.

The hybrid car, which is all electric or a combination of two sources of power, is catching on. Barrow said manufacturers are cranking up the production of hybrid cars. Almost every manufacturer has one on the drawing board, he said. The SUV hybrid is tremendously successful, Barrow said. At an automobile show that he attended, he said Toyota featured a hybrid prototype of a large truck the size of a three-quarter ton Chevrolet Pickup that would get 50 miles to the gallon. We've come a long way baby, Barrow said.