Local car dealer still reigns supreme

Alicia Robinson

By adding the almost 3.7-acre “Stuttgart West,” Mercedes-Benz dealer

Fletcher Jones Motorcars is maintaining its dominance as the largest

U.S. seller of the German-made cars.

“We have more Mercedes-Benzes than anyone except the factory

itself,” Fletcher Jones General Manager Garth Blumenthal said.

The company opened a storage facility for 600 cars a few months

ago on the Quail Street property once home to Jim Slemons’ Mercedes

dealership, which Fletcher Jones purchased in 1991 from bankruptcy

court, Blumenthal said.

Fletcher Jones only leased the property originally and gave it up

to move to Jamboree Road and build an upscale showroom.

The company bought the land about three years ago and began

storing cars there last fall, Blumenthal said. Cars that didn’t fit

in the main showroom had been stored in Irvine on leased space, which

was less convenient because it was farther away, he said.

The opening of the new lot has brought new life to a property that

was vacant for several years. The Newport Beach City Council approved

a plan for a 304-room extended-stay hotel on the Quail Street site in

1998, but that never materialized, senior city planner Jim Campbell

said.

Fletcher Jones is working on landscaping at the site now, but

Blumenthal said the car storage is likely to be a temporary use.

“We’re looking at another location for another facility and

another showroom down the road, but it’s not going to be at that

location at this point,” he said.

The new facility will likely be in Newport Beach, he said.

One bonus for car shoppers is that the cars at the new storage

site will be unaffected by a company-wide price increase and will be

sold at their original prices, Blumenthal said.

Fletcher Jones has continued to grow in recent years, reporting

sales of more than 7,400 cars and almost $500,000,000 in business in

2003.