Auto seller defies recession, moving HQ to new dealership

After 40 years selling cars, Bert Ogden Motors moved its original dealership to a new building in one of several recession-era moves to diversify its line of automobiles.

Bert Ogden Motors, the Rio Grande Valley’s largest auto dealership group, on Wednesday shifted the company’s Buick-GMC dealership down the street to a new modern building alongside Expressway 281, just north of Trenton Road.

The new, sleek Buick-GMC dealership building is a far cry from the stout, Spanish-influenced old Ogden headquarters at Trenton and Business 281. But the move makes space for the fleet of import cars for Ogden’s new Subaru franchise, said Bob Vackar, owner of the Ogden dealerships.

At a time when poor sales and a vast corporate makeover have shuttered hundreds of auto dealerships across the country, Bert Ogden is having a banner year. In addition to the new Buick and GMC store and the Subaru franchise, construction has continued on a new BMW dealership at the old Van Burkleo Motors building, 3201 N. 10th St., in McAllen.

“We’ve been looking hard at bringing on new franchises,” Vackar said. “We hit the bottom this summer. We think that we’ll start to see it come back by the last half of 2010.”

Vackar is also finalizing plans to convert the former Van Burkleo Ford at Mile 1 East and Expressway 83 in Mercedes into a Kia dealership. The existing Kia franchise at 602 W. Jackson in Harlingen will become a Hyundai dealership, another new line for the Ogden group, Vackar said.

Once Burt Ogden’s existing BMW dealership is moved to its new location, the Nissan dealership that it essentially shares space with will be expanded. Ogden will also add a fleet of commercial Nissan trucks to the lot at 721 N. Jackson Ave. in McAllen. In May, Ogden reopened a remodeled Mazda dealership at 4221 S. Business 281, adjacent to the old headquarters and new Subaru lot.

This rapid expansion of the Ogden dealership group was planned before the dramatic, recessionary downturn in sales, Vackar said. It’s part of an effort to diversify and become less reliant on Detroit’s Big Three, a lesson Vackar said was reinforced when American automakers sank into deep financial disarray last year.

Sales of cars in the Valley fell to new lows during the summer months, Vackar said. Since then, his sales this fall have been higher than sales last year, when automakers went before Congress to plead for money.

The expansion is also sign of how investment in the Valley still continues despite an economic downturn, said Ramiro Garza, president and chief executive officer of the Edinburg Economic Development Corp. and now the city’s interim-city manager.

“It just reflects what is really going on in this area,” Garza said.

Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.