AUGUST 20, 2018 15 Longo breaks down online language barrier Toyota store embraces its customers’ diversity with Spanish website Spanish step Longo Toyota in El Monte, Calif., built a Spanish-language version of its website to communicate more directly with its ethnically diverse market. Vince Bond Jr. vbond@crain.com L ongo Toyota, the sprawling Southern California auto dealership that has built its business model around embrac- ing the diversity of its customer base, has developed a store website for Span- ish-speaking shoppers. then, all of a sudden, now I want to buy a car, but now I’m at an English piece.
We make sure the whole journey is in Spanish to make that person more comfortable.” T e site, which took around three months to create, is more than just a front door into the site’s existing pages. It’s a near match of its English-language counterpart with all of the necessary inventory listings and links to other key areas such as service and parts. It also includes a staff page showing the store’s Spanish-speaking staff ers, just as the English site does. Creating a site to accommodate Span- ish-speaking consumers makes sense for Longo Toyota in a diverse Los Angeles market where Hispanic buyers are key.
Harrington said Toyota has a 23 percent market share among Hispanic con- sumers in the Los Angeles area. Overall, the dealer- ship sold 19,746 new and used vehicles in 2017. T e Spanish site builds on Longo Toyota’s suc- cess over the years using landing pages and micro- sites geared toward eth- nic buyers. T e only omission, for now, is integration with Roadster’s Express Storefront platform, which lets consumers handle vehicle trans- actions online without coming to the dealer- ship. Longo Toyota began using Roadster’s system last year, but Express Storefront doesn’t yet support Spanish. Roadster said it plans to have Spanish-language capabilities by the second half of next year.
Harrington: “A lot of effort” T e portals, targeting Hispanic and Asian prospects, focus on nameplates popular in those demographic groups, ranging from the Camry and Corolla to the RAV4 and, in the case of Asian buyers, the Sienna minivan — which ranks 11th among Asian consumers, according to IHS Markit vehicle registration data through April. While Longo Toyota’s English site has a Google translation tool for ethnic shoppers that converts some of the text to any of sever- al languages, the store said it can miss certain nuances and doesn’t change text embedded in images, including some of the fi ne print on special off ers.
T is can lead to translations that aren’t complete or entirely accurate. The Spanish website, a near match of the English version, took around three months to create. T e fully native Spanish site ensures that the wording comes across more naturally and accurately. dent of Longo Toyota. A Korean site is also a possibility later. Harrington believes a Chinese site would take about six months to develop. “We’ve had landing pages for years, but they’re small,” Harrington said. “We’ve been successful focusing on languages and greet- ing our guests as they want to be greeted.
We’re expanding that eff ort [with the Spanish website] because of that success.” a Spanish is the fi rst language to get the full website treatment, but it’s possible that the El Monte, Calif., store could follow up with a Chi- nese site next, said Brendan Harrington, presi- “We take a lot of eff ort to make sure there are no links from the Spanish site to an English site,” Harrington said. “It wouldn’t make sense if you’re going down the funnel and D E A L E R S D E A L E R S H I P B U Y / S E L L Tovar/McCrary BUYER: Rogelio Tovar SELLER: Dean McCrary OLD NAME: Dean McCrary Imports in Mobile, Ala. NEW NAME: Gulf Coast Auto Group MORE:
Performance Brokerage Services represented the buyer in this transaction. Gulf Coast Auto Group sells Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and Volvo brands. McCrary will continue to own and operate two other dealerships, a Kia and a Mazda store, that were excluded from the sale. 25 with Ford Joseph Thurby, dealer principal of Riverside Motor Sales, a Ford dealership in Markleysburg, Pa., receives a 25-year award from Megan Carlini , Ford Motor Co. Pittsburgh regional manager. 25 with FCA Jerry Brickner, president of Brickner’s of Antigo, a Chrysler- Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership in Wisconsin, and Jane Brickner, offi ce manager, received a 25-year award for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep from FCA.
Zeigler/LeFevour BUYER: Zeigler Automotive Group SELLER: Ray and John LeFevour OLD NAME: McCarthy Ford of North Riverside in Illinois NEW NAME: Zeigler Ford of North Riverside MORE: This is Zeigler Automotive Group’s 26th dealership acquisition and fourth Ford dealership location . 50 with Toyota James Kari, third from left, dealer principal of Kari Toyota in Superior, Wis., receives a 50-year award along with Wayne Kari, co-owner, and Chris Kari, general manager, fourth and fi fth from left.
Presenting the award from Toyota Motor North America’s Chicago regional offi ce are Jamie Farley, market representation manager, Michael Lemay, assistant general manager, and Mark Nazario, right, general manager. Virginia offi cers T e Virginia Automobile Dealers Association has elected offi cers for 2018-19. Mark Tysinger of Tysinger Motor Co. in Hampton will be chairman. Other offi cers will be Dave Perno of Priority Automotive in Richmond, vice chairman; Tom Bates of RK Chevrolet in Virginia Beach, treasurer; Emily Beck of Marlow Motor Co. in Front Royal, secretary; and Tom Barton of Beach Ford in Virginia Beach, immediate past chairman.
How to submit dealer anniversary awards How to submit information about a dealership acquisition: Go to autonews.com. Put your cursor on “Dealers” on the dark blue bar. A menu will open. Click on “Dealership Buy/Sell.” Click on “CLICK HERE” in the light blue box at the upper right. That brings up a form. Fill it out. Click on “Submit.” Submissions which award is given. We invite news items and top-quality photographs. You may email a photo in jpg format and at high resolution (300 dpi) to autonews@crain.com. Photos for 25-45 years should have only two people posed shoulder to shoulder. Photos for 50 or more years should have no more than six people.
25 with Infi niti Tim Dahle, dealer principal of Tim Dahle Infi niti in Murray, Utah, received a 25-year award from Infi niti Americas. Please tell us names (left to right), titles, dealership name and city, franchise(s) held and franchise for Orders To request a custom framing of your milestone announcement, contact Lauren Melesio at 212-210-0707 or lmelesio@crain.com. BEST PRAC TICES