Pflueger to replace
Schuman dealership

One heritage Hawaii automotive family will replace another when Pflueger Auto Group LLC opens the doors Tuesday at 1234 S. Beretania St., formerly the home of Schuman Carriage Co.

The company will do business as Pflueger Cadillac, Hummer, GMC and Buick, said Alan Pflueger, owner and chief executive officer. The company won a competitive bidding process for the General Motors Corp. dealership vacated by Schuman, GM said yesterday.

Schuman's closure in November shuttered Oahu's only sales outlet for new Cadillac and Hummer vehicles, though service was available elsewhere.

Pflueger has a 20-year lease on the property, which Schuman has occupied since 1959.

The company will staff the dealership with an initial crew during its opening days "and we'll be hiring more people as the business grows," Pflueger said.

Hiring is under way, and he expects to staff the new operation with as many as 90 employees in sales, service, parts, a body shop and the business office. The 117 former Schuman employees will not receive preferential treatment.

"I can't give them preference because that wouldn't be fair," Pflueger said.

The Schuman dealership has seen better days, as rain was known to pour into the showroom through light fixtures. Fixing such leaks and bringing the facility up to date will be costly.

The first of two phases of work has already begun, with cleaning, painting, and new furniture and equipment being brought in. The company will work with designers and architects from Hawaii and GM to come up with a redesign.

GM is looking forward to an updated dealership to compete against new Mercedes, Lexus, Porsche and BMW showrooms around town.

"Mr. Pflueger agreed to (build) facilities that would match or exceed the retail environments of our competitors," said Joe Rizzuto, corporate area manager for the GM dealer network.

The Pflueger family began its Oahu automotive empire in 1963 and has sold domestic and imported vehicles over the years. This is the company's first opportunity with GM, Pflueger said. Pflueger Acura is just down the street at 1450 S. Beretania, Pflueger Honda is at 777 Ala Moana and the family has other automotive operations at various Oahu locations.

Schuman was founded in 1893 as a horse-drawn carriage company and transitioned over time to sales and service of high-end American-made automobiles. It went out of business in November after it could not reach a contract with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 and company Chairman Gustav "Dutch" Schuman expressed a desire to retire.

The closure left Oahu without a Cadillac or Hummer dealer, but the Buick and GMC brands once sold by Schuman are also carried by Cutter Automotive in Waipahu.

Had Schuman succeeded in its efforts to sell the dealership last year, the transition would have been easier, Rizzuto said.

"Generally speaking, when one (dealer) sells to another, we approve the new dealer and the old one stays in business until the new one takes over," Rizzuto said. "In this case, we had a voluntary termination on the part of Mr. Schuman."

Schuman could not be reached for comment.

In this case, "we terminated that store Nov. 30, selected a dealer candidate in two weeks and got them approved in less than five weeks," he said. "In my business, that's warp speed."

Detroit-based GM chose Pflueger from eight Hawaii and mainland dealerships it had solicited for proposals, Pflueger said.

Neither Pflueger nor GM would disclose the amount.

The automaker wanted a candidate that is financially able to operate a car dealership and has a history of existing operations. "And I would say probably the most important (factor) was the customer satisfaction index. ... I think we scored very high in that department," Pflueger said.

The new Pflueger GM dealership will be operated separately from the planned development of land at Pali Highway and Beretania Street by Pflueger Group LLC. That parcel will eventually become the new home of Pflueger Honda.

Also this year, the company plans to break ground for an Acura dealership on Maui, its first neighbor island operation.