Area dealership earns visit by Mitsubishi executive

Watch your back, San Antonio. Grand Mitsubishi in Bensenville is gunning for your title.

The West suburban dealership's sales in the past quarter made it the sixth highest-selling Mitsubishi dealer in the country. San Antonio is No. 1.

The Grand Avenue dealership sold about 250 new cars and another 250 used cars over the recent four-month period, a feat that drew the attention of Hiroshi Harunari, president and chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Motors North America.

Harunari paid a visit Monday to the dealer's new owners, Keith Schumann and Jim Allegretti.

Harunari, who lives in California, said he regularly visits dealerships to support and encourage their sales teams.

"This is my 170th dealership I've visited," he said. "My dream is to visit them all."

There are about 500 Mitsubishi dealerships in the U.S.; about 17 are in the Chicago area.

Schumann and Allegretti, both auto industry veterans, attribute the success of their 33-member sales team to good customer service and a loyal customer base.

"People that have a Mitsubishi come back and buy another one," Schumann said.

Allegretti said Grand Mitsubishi not only successfully competes with other area Mitsubishi dealers, it competes with other makes and models, including other imports.

"The import buyer is a pretty astute customer. They shop all the imports," Allegretti said.

Brand loyalty is something that is getting harder to maintain, Harunari agreed.

For example, a recent study by J.D. Power and Associates reinforces the notion the public generally perceives imports as superior to domestically-manufactured vehicles. Harunari said it's difficult these days to define "import."

Mitsubishi builds its Outlander and Lancer in Japan, while the Eclipse, Endeavor and Galant are put together at the company's Normal plant in Illinois.

"Japanese cars use more domestic parts," Harunari said. And cars made in the U.S. often use parts made in Japan.

Customer service is one way a dealership can separate itself from the crowd, the men said.

Allegretti said Grand Mitsubishi recently scored 971 on a 1,000-point scale rating customer service, as measured by the J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction index. That score pleases company executives.

"We appreciate their contribution to Mitsubishi," Harunari said, pointed out the importance of customer service. "They treat customers so well."

Grand Mitsubishi's best-sellers, Schumann and Allegretti said, are the Outlander crossover SUV and the Lancer, a compact, four-door sedan.

"With the Raider pick-up truck, we're outselling all the other dealers in the area," Allegretti said.

Of course, they say, sales strategy also calls for converting non-Mitsubishi loyalists into new customers.

"We're trying to make inroads to the people who, in the past, may not have wanted them," Schumann said.

The dealership strives the achieve a 70 vehicles-per-month sales goal the new owners publicly posted in the showroom. After all, they have to look good next to San Antonio, where customers are driving away about 120 vehicles off the lot each month.

Schumann is optimistic those kinds of sales numbers could become reality in Bensenville, given time.

"We find the customers are very loyal," he said.