It’s been a car lovers’ paradise for the past five decades — and now Auto Alley is set to click into development overdrive as it transforms into a sophisticated gateway to Parramatta.
Back in the 1970s and ’80s, the Church St location was home to the “Big Four” of Holden, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi as the catchy TV jingle called on punters to, “Come on out to Parramatta and walk down Auto Alley”.
Today, as one long-time boss of an Auto Alley car dealership says, it has changed from targeting mums and dads in the mass market, to more of a prestige strip with the arrival of Mercedes Benz, Audi and Lexus.
“We’re pretty much the last of the Big Four still here,” Terry Shields Toyota general manager Mark Turner said of his business, which opened in the Alley 45 years ago.
“Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi still have a representation here, but Toyota is the largest original one still standing as the Alley’s turned into a prestige car location.”
Mr Turner, who started at the Toyota dealership back in 1994, described Auto Alley as a “motor show, 365 days a year”.
“It’s a place that people have always gravitated to,” he said.
“The car market over the years has slowly drifted away from the traditional Aussie passenger sedans to SUV vehicles and 4WDs.
“Whether it’s for work, through salary sacrificing, or personal use, people now want to choose a car that represents their image, which is become more sophisticated. And that’s why people are buying a Lexus, or a high-range Toyota, BMW, Audi, Volvo, Skoda or Range Rover.”
Latest data shows Toyota is the dominant force in the new car game, selling almost a fifth of all vehicles in Australia last year.
The Toyota Hilux was the most popular car for the third straight year with 51,705 sales, almost 10,000 vehicles clear of the second-placed Ford Ranger.
Mr Turner said the quality of cars sold across the board was “better than ever”, despite the collapse of the car-manufacturing industry in Australia.
“The standards are incredibly high,” he said. “And there’s so much more value for money in any car you buy now.
“The public buy based on the product, service and reliability. It would have been nice to have kept car manufacturing in Australia, but the quality of cars being sold in Australia has only improved.”
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