Hyundai joins auto village team

Farmer Motor Group, the Westpac Tauranga supreme business of the year in 2009, is expanding its auto village in Hewletts Rd by adding the Hyundai car dealership.

The group has taken over the adjacent electrical outlet store on the corner with Hocking St and remodelled it into a five-bay workshop, parts department and 15-car Hyundai showroom.

The new facility and dealership, which will have nine dedicated staff, will be fully operational on Monday - three years after the group moved into its American-styled auto village.

"I had my sights on the Hyundai brand for three years and the expansion came with careful planning, not by accident," said Michael Farmer, managing director of Farmer Motor Group.

Grant and Craig Jacobson sold the Tauranga Hyundai franchise after operating it for more than 10 years on the corner of Cameron Rd and Eighth Ave.

Dave Briscoe, who has been with Farmer Motor Group for 10 years, is the general manager of the Hyundai dealership.

The auto village now has a complement of nine dealerships representing brands from four countries - Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge from United States, Germany's Audi, VW and Skoda, Hyundai from Korea, and Japan's Nissan and Subaru.

FMG developed the $13 million auto village after selling its site on the corner of Cameron Rd and Elizabeth St - the home of Bay Nissan and Bay Prestige for more than 20 years.

The village, a first for the country when it was built, now has 27 service bays, a cafe, childcare facilities and onsite carwash, as well as the dealerships.