Honda Cuts Ribbon on New Car Dealership

The motor’s been running since June, but Honda just pushed the pedal to the metal on its Hackettstown dealership.

General Manager Solomon Faizi and his staff at Hackettstown Honda put the grand in grand opening Thursday, hosting 100 community dignitaries and businesspersons during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the dealership’s official launch.

“Business has done exceptionally well,” Faizi said about the dealership’s traffic during the summer months. “We’re beyond where we expected be, and the community has been great.”

Aside from the dealership showroom holding some of Honda’s newest coupes, sedans and SUVs, a handful of servers treated guests to hors d'oeuvres and complimentary drinks during the two-hour event.

The 37,000 square-foot, two-story building was constructed by REDCO Engineering, was approved by the Washington Township Planning Board in December 2010.

The main structure of the building, which was built from the ground up, is one of Honda’s Generation III buildings, Kanuch said. The new design offers changes to entryways, interior lighting, and aesthetic enhancements not seen in Honda’s current dealerships.

Inside the service shop is a room containing massive steel containers of oil for use in the vehicles.

In that same room are empty containers where waste oil will be deposited once it has been removed from vehicles being serviced. That waste oil won’t go to waste, though, and will be turned into heating oil for the massive garage.

The garage contains three heating units; two of 500,000 BTUs, one of 300,000 BTUs, which will use the year’s worth of waste oil to heat that portion of the building, Kanuch said.

It’s not just about the dealership, though, according to Hackettstown Mayor Maria DiGiovanni.

“This is a great business, and it’s great for the people in the area,” DiGiovanni said. “But it’s always good to have free enterprise and a little competition. When people come here to buy a car or need to wait for a little while, they can head right up the street and grab a bite to eat (in Hackettstown) and do some shopping in the area.”

For now, it’s full speed ahead for Washington Township’s newest business.