On The Road To Recovery

For 22 years, has been selling Mercedes-Benz automobiles, but last night may have been the first time a governor came to visit. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was on hand, along with State Rep. Betsy Ritter and New London city councilmen and mayoral candidates Robert Pero and Martin Olsen, to officially open the dealership’s new showroom at 488 Colman Street.

For Gov. Malloy, this is another stop on a three-month long job tour which has taken him to some 65 businesses, from small mom and pop stores to large companies such as United Technologies Corp. This was his first stop at an automobile dealership, which he described as a “glaring absence” that he set out to correct.

With some 250 car dealerships in the state, the industry “is a major employer,” noted Malloy, with approximately 12,000 employees statewide. Carriage House of New London alone employs about 50 people, including six new employees to help staff the new showroom.

The “Auto House” is a model for the new Mercedes-Benz dealerships nationwide. More importantly for New London, however, Carriage House president Jeff Aiosa—who bought the Colman Street property a year ago—has taken a car dealership that had been abandoned for four years and placed it back on the tax rolls as a going concern.

As you might expect, the opening of this marble-tiled luxury car dealership was a swanky affair. Catered by New London’s new Plaza Hotel—with help from hospitality student interns from Ella Grasso Tech—there was valet parking, live music provided by an acoustic guitarist, and chair massages to ease the day’s tension.

Aiosa, however, took the opportunity to announce that Mercedes-Benz has just introduced four models which he describes as “entry level” vehicles that are a little easier on the pocketbook.

“Now we’re able to compete with everyone else on the four corners,” Aisoa said, making reference to the surrounding car dealerships which specialize in the historically more affordable Chevrolet, Ford, Subaru, and Hyundai vehicles.

Gov. Malloy couldn’t help but notice the competition. “I’m sensing you’re putting your neighbors under pressure,” he remarked, adding that it would probably prompt everyone to step up their game and lead to some healthy, “very American,” competition.

Noting that he had inherited many of the problems created by the recession, Malloy conceded that not everyone is happy with the way in which he’s tried to solve them since taking office. However, he said, he is calling the Legislature back for a special session to try to find bipartisan solutions to the economic problems facing the state with a focus on job creation.  

“We have to end the 22-year drought of job creation,” Malloy said.

On the Road Again

In recent years, the outlook has been pretty bleak for dealership owners. In 2009, the industry did $6.9 billion in sales, which Gov. Malloy noted was “a real low point I’m sure you would like to forget.” In the past year, however, the industry has grown to $8 billion.

“We are in a period of recovery,” said Malloy. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we are turning a corner.”

Aiosa shares the governor’s sense of optimism. At the height of the economic boom in the 1990s, Aiosa said, state dealerships sold 17 million new cars and trucks annually. After the recession hit, that figure dropped to under 10 million. Today, that number has grown to 13 million, “and we’re trending up,” Aiosa said. “The good news is we’re on the road to recovery.”