Zooming Toward a Better Future for All
New Hyundai dealership open,
Genesis in the works at Lakeland Automall
M ore than 13 years ago when Lakeland Automall owner Greg Balasco purchased the business from current Lakeland mayor Bill Mutz and Marcy Mutz-Wickenhamp he made a strategic decision to stay put and help catalyze the expansion of an integral corridor near the downtown.
“We anchored Memorial Boulevard by putting 35 million dollars into this campus…and this is one of two major arteries to get into our beautiful downtown,” Balasco says. “This is right off of I-4 and we need to continue to focus on gentrifying Memorial Blvd.”
Balasco reels off a number of nearby developments that have followed suit during the time he has helped grow Lakeland Automall from a business of roughly 100 employees in 2010 to more than 360 employees today.
Forty Acre Truck Stop sold to a developer who built a logistics center, several brand new gas stations were constructed, Lakeland Ice Arena has become a haven for family fun, and a number of other once dilapidated properties on W. Memorial Blvd. have been renovated and turned into successful local ventures.
“Our vision was to clean up this property and make it attractive for their families to come here,” Balasco said.
“Cleaning up” the property is one way to describe a radical transformation that included building out a Fresco’s restaurant inside the Automall’s Ford dealership, and celebrating the grand opening of a completely remodeled Hyundai dealership in March.
Lakeland Automall is still in full-on expansion mode. The company recently built a new body shop, they are building a 30,000 square foot warehouse, and they plan to open a state-of-the-art Genesis dealership on the property by early 2024.
We anchored Memorial Boulevard by putting 35 million dollars into this campus…and this is one of two major arteries to get into our beautiful downtown.”
Balasco said he has been impressed by Hyundai’s ability to swiftly gain significant market share in automotive sales, and he is counting on its leadership to be able to do the same with Genesis, its luxury brand.
“Right now if you get in an Audi or drive a BMW or a Mercedes, and then you drive a Genesis, you’re going to be hard pressed to find big differences,” he says. “Other than Genesis vehicles are $30,000 to $50,000 cheaper. But technology, fit, finish, drive—they are extraordinarily close, if not identical.”
This is just Balasco’s latest bet that he believes Lakelanders will respond positively to. When he arrived at Lakeland Automall in 2009 he built a familial relationship with the Mutz family before he took the reins of the business, and it is still meaningful to him to be able to make an impact that carries on the legacy of one of the community’s most revered families.
“Every day we do things to honor everything Bill, and his father, Oz, did and it’s just humbling because they are wonderful people and left big shoes to fill,” Balasco says. “Bill and I are like brothers from another mother, and not a day goes by where if I have a big decision to make I don’t sit back and say, ‘What would Bill do?’”
Balasco decision making methods seem to be working pretty well so far—especially for a guy who entered the automobile industry as a salesman when he was student at American College in Washington D.C. who had no intentions of making a career out of selling cars.
Lakeland Automall has earned Ford Motor Company’s President’s Award for top sales and service the last six years running, and is at the forefront of the electrical vehicle trend.
Balasco admits he is more of a purist who likes to hear a big engine rumble, but he understands new technology is setting new trends.
By 2024 the dealership will have seven level 3 electric charging stations available 24/7. That plays well with the fact their dealerships feature EV models like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and F150 Lightning along with the Hyundai IONIQ5 & IONIQ6. Genesis is also joining the electric revolution by adding the fully-electric G80 and new GV60 in the fall of 2023.
Lakeland Automall boasts Lifetime Warranties on all new vehicles, just one way the business is competing with the plethora of car buying options in Central Florida. Balasco said his commitment to customers is to provide “honesty, ethics and speed.”
“Customers don’t want to come and live in the dealership. They do a lot of research online, which they should…and some of them put in requests for further information,” he says. “When they come in, 80% of their journey has been accomplished and the 20% of the journey is to touch it, drive it and then get documentation done.”
He said his team is ready to spend as much time in-person with a customer as they desire, but they are also equipped to sell and deliver vehicles to customers who never step foot in the dealership.
With ground expected to be broken on the new Genesis dealership in the next few months, Lakeland Automall plans on continuing to increase its footprint in the community through giving back. The dealership supports non-profits including United Way of Central Florida, SPCA and Humane Society.
Bill and I are like brothers from another mother, and not a day goes by where if I have a big decision to make I don’t sit back and say, ‘What would Bill do?’”
