By Ted Biederman
MotorwayAmerica.com editor

(November 18, 2010) LOS ANGELES — Chrysler Group LLC is set to unveil Motor Village of Los Angeles, the company’s newest dealership in the United States. The facility is to open January 5.

The company-owned dealership in downtown Los Angeles finds itself in a building they built but never occupied. Now that building will serve as a showplace for the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram Truck, Fiat and Mopar brands. It will also be the first operating Fiat dealership in the nation.

The Motor Village dealership replaces the current company owned LaBrea Chrysler-Jeep which is located approximately five miles west of the new Figueroa Street location. It will continue to operate until the new facility opens. The closing of the LaBrea Avenue operation brings to an end to one of the famous Auto Rows in Los Angeles.

Iconic dealerships such as Barish Chrysler Plymouth Desoto and La Brea Dodge sat at one time beside A.E.Nugent Chevrolet, Irv White Buick (and Opel), Ulrich Pontiac and Holmes Tuttle Ford. Many of those now gone companies forged a name for themselves in pre-WW II Los Angeles serving mid-town car shoppers for decades.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne,
right, and Laura Soave, Head of
Fiat Brand North America, center,
cut the first piece of a "Fiat 500" cake,
created by Cake Boss Buddy Valastro,
left, at a corporate party at Chrysler's
new flagship dealership, Motor Village LA.

The five Chrysler Group brands join the Shammas Group (VW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Chevrolet and Cadillac) along with Honda of Downtown LA, Toyota Central and Volvo of Los Angeles in an effort to rebuild downtown’s historic Figueroa Street Auto Row. At one time metro-city center L.A. had thriving Auto Rows on Figueroa, Vermont Avenue, Crenshaw Blvd., Western Avenue and LaBrea Avenue. 



This new dealership provides Chrysler Group brands with the platform to try new, innovative and experimental displays, materials, furnishings, processes and customer services. Each Chrysler Group brand will have its own, unique and separate salon. The brand salons will remind customers of the eye-catching displays they would typically see at a major auto show.

The store will also house a café, a play area for children, a cafeteria for employees among other amenities, notes Ramon Cabral, sales manager for Motor Village.

The four-level, 184,000-square-foot Los Angeles Motor Village is located at 2025 South Figueroa St., just blocks from the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Staples Center arena and the L.A. Live sports and entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles.
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