After 25 Years, Auto Express KIA Moves to Its New Home on Upper Peach Street in Erie.
Erie, PA – This summer, the ever-growing Auto Express KIA Superstore moved from its 25-year home on Route 8, to a newly-constructed building on upper Peach Street.
Auto Express first opened on Route 8 in 1994. At first, it was a used car dealership operating out of a trailer with a gravel lot. Over the years, however, Auto Express expanded so much that the company nearly out-grew the Route 8 location, prompting the consideration of a new building.
“We wanted to build a new facility that would enable us to continue to grow the KIA brand,” explains Vice President, Joe Askins, “as well as our Resale Center and our Service Center.”
The new KIA dealership and KIA Service Center boast of 20,000 square feet, with enough room for 400 vehicles on its 25 acres. “The lot size is nearly three times larger than our previous KIA dealership,” says Askins, “which allows us to display more vehicles and house more inventory.”
The new Auto Express KIA Service Center is also more than double the size of the previous KIA site, and the KIA technicians now have 16 service bays with all new state of the art equipment—including the area’s newest alignment machine.
The new service center also offers a more convenient drive-thru, indoor drop-off and pick-up, while the new customer service area offers a more comfortable customer wait. “The service lounge is very spacious,” Askins explains, “with leather chairs, a large TV, free WIFI, a coffee bar with amenities, and an internet café with workstations.”
While it is a sight to behold now, the new KIA home was not erected overnight. “This took more than four years,” says Askins, “from concept, engineering, permitting, to completion. We really wanted to make sure it would have all the conveniences our customers and employees would want. And that it would accommodate our future growth.”
Auto Express KIA also wanted to make sure they used all local companies for the project. The local contractors who helped them were Frontier Construction, John Laird engineering, architect Mike Grab, Lathrop Electric, Plyler Door Systems, Rathman Plumbing, Agnello Heating , Schaal Glass, Afton Excavating and Paving, Carrera Steel, Anthony Concrete, Landers Flooring, and Danylko Landscape.
Auto Express will continue to operate out of the Route 8 location, offering pre-owned vehicles. And the company looks forward to future growth in all of its endeavors.
“We are very proud to have built the last two ground-up dealerships in Erie county,” says Askins. “We completed the FIAT/Alfa Romeo dealership in the fall of 2015 and now our new KIA dealership this summer. I think it is very important to continue to invest our businesses in Erie County and we are proud to be able to do so.”
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