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BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
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SOUTH HILLS HONDA’S NEW FACILITY GIVES
CUSTOMERS THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN CAR BUYING
E
ver since they
bought the
business back in
2007, Elissa and Greg
Norton, owners of
South Hills Honda, had
been hoping to quickly
outgrow their location
so they could rebuiild
and make it one of
Pittsburgh’s premier dealerships for all your
automotive needs.
But like any great endeavor, the devil is in
the details, and planning to be the best took
a lot longer than just whipping up blueprints
for a cookie-cutter building.
“Things started taking shape in early 2012,“
Greg Norton said of their new dealership,
which just opened for business in December.
“It took a while to get it up and off the
ground, but fortunately our customers
and employees seem to love the finished
product.”
The new South Hills Honda has become a
stunning three-story building (with two of
those actually underground). It has a nine-car
enclosed service reception area, three-car
enclosed delivery area, four express bays for
quick service aboveground and a completely
subterranean service department.
“It’s like a giant walk-out basement house
that has been built into a hillside, and we
wanted to take advantage of the benefits that
presented,” Norton said. “Most people feel
that car buying isn’t as much fun as it should
be, so every aspect of our new dealership is
geared toward creating a more entertaining
experience for our customers. We want it to
be so inviting that people feel comfortable
just stopping by for a soda or cup of coffee.”
And it’s true: valets
take customers’ cars
from them to the
appropriate service
areas; there are two
separate customer
lounges with big-screen
TVs; WiFi is available
throughout the entire
facility; a kids’ play area
helps to keep youngsters busy while Mom
and Dad negotiate a good
deal; a 10-foot video wall in the
showroom informs customers of
the newest models and features;
and lastly, every serviced
vehicle receives a free car wash
before driving off the lot. The
dealership has even added a
new in-house Farmers insurance
agency, where customers can
compare rates and get a policy
on the spot if they like what they
see.
In keeping with Honda’s
dedication to sustainable and thoughtful
design, the facility has some green features
that will make environmentally minded
customers smile.
“We heat the majority of the building with
waste oil, using a state-of-the-art system
engineered to be ultra-clean and efficient. We
also have five 2,000-gallon
rainwater collection tanks
in the ground used for
washing cars. All the roof
surfaces slope to capture
the rainwater, which
is then diverted into a
sophisticated filtration
system that scrubs it and
makes it usable for washing cars and other
gray-water applications,” Norton said.
He also stated