Nav Bhatia, the Toronto area dealer who has earned international acclaim as the Raptors superfan, owns the new Genesis Mississauga retail experience
Genesis Canada broke ground on two new showrooms in the Toronto area March 31 as the luxury brand’s plans to create a brick-and-mortar presence coast-to-coast gain momentum.
“Now we’ve got brand visibility on the street and we’ve got a place for Genesis to call home,” said Genesis Canada Executive Director Lawrence Hamilton, as company officials and distributor partners put shovels to the ground in Mississauga, Ont.
The new Genesis Mississauga retail experience, will cover more than 10,000 square-feet (900 square-metres) and include space for a three-car showroom, offices and a service area. It is helmed Nav Bhatia, the Toronto area dealer who has earned international acclaim as the Raptors superfan. Though it will be a standalone shop, it is next door to Mississauga Hyundai, which Bhatia also runs as dealer principle.
A long-time Hyundai dealer, who owns three of the brand’s locations in and around Toronto, Bhatia was the first dealer to become a Genesis distributor when Hyundai’s luxury brand was setting up Canadian operations and scouting locations five years ago.
Bhatia said his Genesis business has been good even under its current digital model, but he expects the new physical location will help customers with the touch and feel aspects of the car-buying experience.
“I think the business is going to go really up,” Bhatia said, pointing to the state-of-the-art building to show off the vehicles and pent-up demand from two years of pandemic.
Mississauga Genesis will join a fast-growing, country-wide list of Genesis shops. All 30 of the brand’s Canadian distributors are at various stages of building brick-and-mortar facilities.
Locations in London, Ont. and Estrie, Que. are already open, while construction is currently underway on nine other sites. Genesis also has five ground breakings planned for the next 90 days, including two on March 31 alone.
Along with the official start of work in Mississauga, Genesis Yorkdale at the north end of Toronto also kicked off construction on a new facility March 31.
The site, overlooking a busy stretch of Highway 401, will house both the Genesis Yorkdale experience centre and Toronto Hyundai, which is relocating from a nearby location. The joint dealership will have a single service area for both brands, and is expected to cover roughly 37,000 square-feet (3,500 square-metres), according to the Marsim Auto Group.
Because Hyundai picked from its network of dealers when selecting Genesis distributors — eventually elevating 30 Hyundai dealers to also become distributors for the luxury brand — co-locating is common, Hamilton said.
