Eagers Automotive secures a showroom in Fortitude Valley for its electric vehicle business

Australia’s largest vehicle retailer is re-imagining the way it sells its products after securing a new showroom in Brisbane for its electric vehicle brand.

Eagers Automotive increase their stake in BYD distributor EV Direct.

Australia’s leading vehicle retailer Eagers Automotive has secured a showroom in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley after the shelving of the long awaited and much hyped $1bn AutoMall at the airport.

Eagers sold off at least two large inner city sites on a long-term leaseback basis in anticipation of the move to the 51.3ha site that was first announced in 2015.

However, industry sources say Eagers, which signed up to the Brisbane Airport AutoMall in 2017, is now rethinking its space requirements. It’s understood that at this stage the properties they own or have on a leaseback basis are currently sufficient.

Brisbane-headquartered Eagers and the industry in general has a preference to own properties, and any new space requirements will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Eagers recently secured a five-year lease with options on a two-level building on a corner site at 358 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley, that was previously occupied by Porter Davis Homes’ which collapsed in March.

C Property’s Danilo Maruca, who struck the deal with Jack Chuang, said the property was only vacant for a short time, and it will be the Brisbane flagship for Eagers electric vehicle brand BYD.

“We had been working with Eagers on a number of other sites through the Valley, Newstead and even parts of Bowen Hills and Albion,” he said.

Australia’s largest automotive dealer, Eagers has a five-year lease with options on a two-level building on a corner site at 358 Wickham St that was occupied by Porter Davis Homes.

“They were attracted to this building because of its size and location and the fact that it has a history as a vehicle showroom, with Lamborghini and Lexus having occupied it in the past,” Mr Maruca said.

In July, Eagers announced it had acquired an additional 31 per cent ownership interest in EV Dealer Group, the exclusive national retail joint venture to sell BYD electric vehicles.

Eagers now has an 80 per cent ownership interest with JV partner BYD distributor EVDirect.com.

Over the past decade, Eagers has had a major rethink about is space requirements, moving away from a sole focus on tradition dealerships. Moving to the Brisbane Airport Auto Mall was a factor in its decision to sell off high profile dealership sites in the inner eastern suburbs of the city.

In 2019, the Seymour Group paid $61m in a seven-year leaseback agreement for a 1.8ha Eagers dealership site at 99 Breakfast Creek Rd, Newstead. Seymour recent won development approval for a $1.5bn urban village.

It will comprise a mix of residential, hi-tech future industry — including robotics, computer-aided design and communication technology — and retail uses and up to eight buildings ranging from 12 to 15 storeys.

In the same year, Brisbane investment manager Marquette Properties and partners paid $55.5m for three lots at 11 Evelyn St, 79 Breakfast Creek Rd and 7 Creswell St, Newstead, covering just over a hectare. It also was sold on a seven-year leaseback arrangement.

An artist’s impression of the BNE AutoMall.

At the time of the announcements, Eagers had signed on to lease 61,400 square metres of the AutoMall precinct at the airport.

The facility was to have featured a 2.4km test track designed by V8 race car legend Mark Skaife, auto dealerships, exhibition and conference activities, an event area, driver training schools and regional offices.

However, it suffered serious development delays and in early July the project was canned.

In a joint statement at the time, they said a mutual decision was made to not proceed with the AutoMall project at Brisbane Airport.

“This decision has been driven by a number of factors, including the economics of a performance track in a changing world,” they said. “Both parties remain open to exploring future opportunities at Brisbane Airport.’’

In its August half year results report to the ASX, Eagers said its network strategy included the AutoMalls as well as lighthouse facilities aimed at early adopter customers, pop up locations, innovative retail formats, traditional dealerships and fulfilment centres.

Eagers chief executive Keith Thornton said the company’s half year performance reflected the strength of the business, its diversified portfolio and unique geographic footprint.

“Our performance also benefited from the contributions of strategic acquisitions and partnerships executed in 2022 and 1H23, particularly in the new energy vehicle segment where we are building a unique and market leading position,” he said.

A couple of years ago Eagers opened its $40m AutoMall West – a two-level showroom and service centre over 2400sq m at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre in Brisbane’s western suburbs.

The shopping centre initially hosted eight new-car brands including Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford, Volkswagen, Honda and Subaru with space available for events to show featured launch and heritage models and other brands.