Westcoast BMW a red-carpet facility

There are strong parallels between Tom Cruise’s role in the blockbuster movie (which stars the stunning BMW i8) and the story of Westcoast BMW’s stunning new showroom.

Cruise of course faces incredible hurdles before winning, and Westcoast BMW also had a few challenges to overcome – not least being that the GFC delayed the $22 million project, and that some extremely exacting requirements had been set for the design.

“The focus for the architects was to incorporate all of the latest international BMW corporate identity in a Western Australian setting of wide open spaces,” Westcoast BMW Marketing Manager Charles Kobelke said.

“We needed to utilise the wide parcel of land and create floating white panels on a seemingly unsupported structure… the emphasis is always on the BMW vehicles.

“Energy and water efficiency were priorities. With the showroom design, practically no sun reaches the glass during the hot summer months.

The entire 600 square metre roof is a catchment area for water that is then stored and used in vehicle washing and from there recycled for the gardens. This means that no scheme water is used for more than 10 months of the year.

“Planning commenced in 2007 with planning approvals granted in 2008, and building approvals in 2009. Construction commenced in May 2010 and was completed in just over 14 months. But during that time, the GFC did make the project more complicated delaying the construction phase by almost a year.”

The new facility opened late last year in the Perth suburb of Wangara, and is the West Australian capital’s second BMW dealership alongside Auto Classic in Victoria Park. It has also nabbed Auto Classic’s title as the country’s largest BMW dealer, with the Westcoast BMW greenfield development premises built to a massive scale on 140,000 square metres of land.

With showrooms capable of displaying around 25 new BMW cars, as well as a used-car facility with room for 70 vehicles, Westcoast BMW has been built to achieve future sales of up to 130 vehicles a month.

The service department resides in a spacious workshop designed to meet these expectations and the initial staff level of around 40 employees will be increased as the business grows. The northern suburbs of Perth have a demographic well suited to BMW sales, according to Mr Kobelke:

“We hope to see good sales growth in what is a strong aspirational market. Combined with its status as Australia’s largest BMW dealer, this should see strong growth for the brand in Western Australia during the next few years.

The public reaction has been very positive and the community has certainly welcomed us with open arms. Next on the plan is increasingly developing Westcoast BMW into a community-based dealership that rewards customers for their loyalty and support.”