About Us

NORTH PENN IMPORTS
Volkswagen & Mazda
165-181 Bethlehem Pike
Colmar, PA 18915
Press Release: Business History
February 1, 2013
North Penn Imports is in its 43rd year of business selling Volkswagens and Mazda’s at the same location on Route 309, Colmar. The Dealership has grown over those years to keep up with the population growth in the Bucks and Montgomery County regions.

In 1971 the original dealership lot was 3 acres in size.

In 1974 a full-service Auto Body Shop was constructed on the property to become a full-service VW facility.

In 1976 a brand new car franchise became available and the owners were successful in acquiring which was MAZDA a new line of cars that were unique in the Lansdale market.

In 1988 with the area’s population and sales growing the dealership underwent a major expansion, doubling the size of the showroom, and adding more storage space to the parts department and customer service areas.

In 1992 an additional 2 acres behind their VW building was purchased to provide for much needed new car inventory storage.

In 1997 the dealership’s growth continued with the service and body shop expansion project which doubled the number of service bays from 10 to 20. Also added were new offices for the body shop and rental car departments, in addition to a 4 bay new car detail area, all done to keep their service satisfaction at the highest level for their customers.

By 1999 it was apparent to the owners that further expansion would be necessary and that year purchased the 2.3-acre property adjacent to the dealership. It would be used initially for additional new car inventory storage until additional ground could be purchased for a new dealership facility.

In 2002 the needed piece of the puzzle occurred when North Penn Imports acquired the 1.5-acre property just south of the dealership and planning began for the new Volkswagen Marketplace dealership.

In 2003 construction began on a new state of the art Volkswagen Marketplace showroom and service center. It would be the largest exclusive Volkswagen facility in the Tri-State area at 25,680 Square Feet with many customer amenities such as a café style waiting lounge with free beverages, newspapers, wifi connections, flat screen TV and business work area. The new facility will provide their customers with a comfortable sales and service environment and enable them to maintain their position as the #1 volume VW dealer in the Philadelphia area sales district.

The building is completed and the new VW Dealership opened for business on August 2, 2004.

In addition, this building was designed with recycling and energy savings in mind. To save energy a boiler that burns waste oil was installed which heats water that runs through pipes to heat the floors in all the workshop areas. As for recycling, every oil filter removed from a vehicle is compressed, drained and stored for disposal; all antifreeze removed from vehicles is stored and sent to a recycling company. Over 18 tons of cardboard and paper is recycled annually. In addition, all batteries, mufflers, brake drums, fenders, plastics, and scrap metal is sent to a recycling facility. As of June 2011 the company was certified by SWS as a landfill-free company, that is all of our trash produced is either recycled or sent to Montgomery county’s trash to steam plant to produce electricity.

In 2007 the next project began with the complete renovation of the Mazda dealership showroom and service departments. The entire interior and some exterior areas were demolished to build an all-new facility using the Mazda designed color schemes. Construction was completed on January 5, 2008, and sales and service operations commenced in the new facility.

In 2011 the dealership acquired the adjacent 2-acre property and building from Schwan’s Frozen Foods.
The property and building will allow for additional vehicle storage and expansion of their service and parts business.

North Penn Mazda has earned the President’s award for three consecutive years and is the recipient of the 2010-2015 Mazda “Gold Cup” This prestigious award is given to the top 150 Mazda Dealers in the country based on Dealership sales, service, and customer satisfaction. Today the entire North Penn Imports Volkswagen and Mazda dealerships are situated on an 11 acre automotive complex on Rt.309 in Colmar with two 26,000+ sq. Showrooms and Service centers, along with an 8,000 sq.ft. Auto Body shop and Rental Car fleet to serve their growing customer family.

The owners, employees, and management of North Penn Imports would like to thank all of our customers and friends for their loyal support over the last 43 years.