Corwin Ford isn’t leaving Pasco’s Autoplex but a big expansion is planned at a new site
Corwin Ford is building a heavy-duty service complex in west Pasco.
The regional Ford dealership is adding a service facility, but not moving, said Mario Wierzchowski, dealer partner. Its high-profile site on Pasco’s Autoplex Way will remain the spot where most customers go to buy vehicles and have them serviced.
The addition will double the size of its service department and provide an off-campus spot where bigger, heavier vehicles can be serviced.
While still in design, it’s expected to have about 40 service bays and will focus on commercial vehicles, including recreational vehicles built on Ford chassis.
Wierzchowski said the expansion is driven by sales growth and the accompanying demand for service.
Corwin Ford sells about 350 vehicles a month, more than three times the volume it did 10 years ago, when Corwin Automotive Group bought the local dealership from Russ Dean.
The added sales drove up service demand, creating a chokepoint for the business.
Corwin added a quick lane service line at the Autoplex five years ago. It deployed a fleet of mobile service vans to provide oil changes and fleet calls three years ago.
Still, it can take months to schedule complicated jobs such as transmission work.
Up to 90 customers visit Corwin each day, about half for service.
Finding itself landlocked on Autoplex Way, the dealership and its parent company spent a year looking for a secondary service location. They chose an 8.5-acre site in the Broadmoor area with visibility from the freeway and easy access to all of the Tri-Cities.
It sketched out plans for a 50,100-square-foot project, billed in public documents as a “new automobile dealership.”
The language sparked confusion, with customers reaching out to find out if Corwin was leaving its current location. It’s not, Wierzchowski promised.
The new facility will be on the south side of Sandifur Parkway, next to Outlet Drive., and probably won’t even have customer-facing amenities.
Its service bays will be equipped with heavy duty lifts that can handle the weight of work trucks and their gear, as well as RVs.
A 12,000-pound truck loaded with 6,000 pounds of equipment can quickly overtax a standard lift, he said.
The new facility will better serve RV owners with vehicles built on Ford bases.
The approval process for a conditional use permit is pending with the city of Pasco, which affirmed the project won’t harm the environment in a decision released in late January.
Corwin Ford is one of 18 dealerships operated in nine states by Corwin Automotive Group, based in Fargo, N.D.
It employs about 130 in Pasco, with about 80 people in the service department. Wierzchowski expects to add 20 people, mostly technicians, when the new facility opens in spring 2026.