New car dealerships being built off Airline

Two new car dealerships are breaking ground in coming weeks about a half-mile apart from one another on Airline Highway, south of Pecue Lane. Paretti Jaguar Land Rover Baton Rouge is building a new 26,500-square-foot facility at 13934 Airline Hwy., while brothers John and David Fabre—owners of Infiniti of Baton Rouge and Acura of Baton Rouge—are building a 7,800-square-foot facility for a Subaru dealership at 13399 Airline Hwy. “It’s directly across the street from us,” John Fabre says, of its proximity to the Infiniti and Acura dealerships. “We expect to have it open in about eight months.” Subaru has never been represented well in Baton Rouge, Fabre says, and the brand will provide car buyers with a broader price range—that is, a less expensive option compared to the Infinity and Acura brands. Fabre says the Subaru dealership could initially employ 15 workers and sell 40 vehicles a month. In fact, the vehicles are already available on the Infiniti and Acura lots, Fabre says. Paretti Vice President Mike Rase says the Jaguar and Land Rover dealership, which opened in 1997, is moving from its currently leased facility to property it bought about five years ago. “The time has come for us to make a move,” Rase says. The new Paretti facility will be half the size of its current facility but will have a “better flow to it,” replete with a test track where car buyers can drive Land Rovers and a Jaguar performance center displaying the racing heritage of the vehicle brand. —Adam Pearson