Tindol Subaru

Gastonia's Tindol Subaru and Tindol Ford are growing.The local dealership is expanding the building that now holds Fords to make room for a bigger selection of the Japanese-made Subarus.Tindol Subaru will cross the street from its location on the north side of East Franklin Boulevard to join the Ford lot, said Natalie Tindol, president of the company.Crews are shooting to have construction complete and the dealership consolidated by Oct. 1, in time for Tindol's 19th annual classic car cruise-in Oct. 1.Tindol Ford has been in Gaston County since 1974."We're growing and it was kind of a good, logical move for us," Tindol said. "Now feels like a good time."Dealers nationwide might agree. Edmunds.com said last week June car sales should rise more than 11 percent, by around 900,000 cars, over last year.That's a 3-percent increase over May,Tindol's plan to add more Subarus and combine two brands on one Gastonia lot has been around a while, according to the company president.But she added the line during shaky economic times, an effort she undertook as all dealers were looking for ways to grow profit.Tindol started selling Subarus around June 2008, six months into the Great Recession and about the time Americans were learning the meaning of the term credit crisis.Car loans were hard to come by for most and, in some cases impossible to get. Lenders are still cautious. Tindol says even people with perfect credit are being required to offer far more documentation than in the past.The company held on, however, depending largely on loyal Subaru drivers.Nationwide, the car maker prospered through much of the recession, posting double-digit sales gains while the overall auto market saw sales decline.Japanese manufacturers like Subaru remain stymied by production and supply shortages that grew out of the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.But Tindol thinks the affinity Subaru drivers feel for their cars will carry the brand."People who drive a Subaru don't say, 'I love my car,'" she said. "They say, 'I loooove my car.'"The daughter of Tindol Ford founder Earl Tindol, she grew up around auto fans. If she had a dollar for every time she heard someone say Ford stands for "first on race day," Natalie Tindol could probably build a dozen more dealerships."But Subaru drivers are different," she said. "Almost all of them have names for their cars.They talk about how much their pets love their cars."Tindol is responding to the enthusiasm by expanding the space devoted to the Japanese-made autos, from about 2,200 square feet in the current location to around 2,500 across the street.The consolidated lot will offer more space for more selection, she said. Tindol expects a bigger inventory and lower overhead will also help the business price Subarus more competitively.And the dealership will bring in new salespeople, a move Tindol said she would have made to keep up with demand, regardless of the relocation.