Northern Nissan embarks on new era

BY GIANNI UBRIACO

After being away for 20 years running his own Chrysler dealership down south, Mike Keaney has returned home to Sudbury and is now the sales manager at Northern Nissan.

Keaney first started in the automotive business working for Gardner Motors in 1976, before moving on to become the sales manager at Mike Doyle’s Dodge Chrysler Inc. He now works for Northern Nissan owner Chris Laking, who first went into business at the same time as Keaney. Both also attended St. Charles College and Laurentian University.

“It’s funny how it’s gone full circle,” Keaney said. “I’m enjoying being back quite a bit.”

After just two months on the job, he’s already set a goal of moving the company to selling levels that would be above the national average within five years, and to continue to grow from there.

For the time being, he said he’s looking forward to the second week of October. That’s the time when the building directly next door to Northern Nissan gets knocked down. He said the move is expected to give the dealership more parking room for at least another 50 vehicles.

“We’ll have more autonomy, you’ll be able to see us better, we’ll have more space to park our new vehicles, and more room for our used vehicle department,” Keaney said. “That will relieve any pressure for service parking, and when people come in to look for a vehicle. So, there’s a lot of potential for growth here. Once everything is cleaned up and with Vale going back to work, we’re looking to be well-positioned going into the new year.”

Also on the horizon is the release of Nissan’s new sports crossover vehicle — the Nissan Juke. Set to roll in this September, the newest edition to the Nissan family aims to combine the power of a sports utility vehicle with the agility of a sports car — all for under $30,000, fully-loaded.

It will be the first Nissan to get the company’s dual-fuel injector technology. The system uses two injectors per cylinder, which allows fuel to flow in reduced streams under less pressure. Additionally, the Juke will be offered as either a two-wheel or four-wheel-drive package.

“That’s just going to add to our lineup,” Keaney said.

Nissan’s lineup already boasts a variety of vehicles to choose from, but Keaney said the company will undergo a facelift within three years, due to the fact that the company now has a new national truck manager, Jason Legere, who’s mandate is to sell more Nissan trucks, like the current Frontiers and Titans.

“The buying populous is going to win at that because they’re going to have another couple of winning trucks to look at.”

For the time being, Keaney will work with sales consultant Richard Mazzuca, who’s worked at Nissan for more than a decade, as well as two-year sales representative Jason Brunet. “They can blow your doors off with their product knowledge,” Keaney said.

“We do our best to strive to have that homey, non-pressurized family atmosphere,” he added.

With features like Nissan’s economical continuously variable transmission, which is featured on many of the company’s products and comes with a 10-year, 200,000-kilometre warranty, Keaney said everyone should give Nissan a second thought.

“Even though there are a lot of good products out there, today’s informed buying public can see the value in Nissan products.”