Jeff Zonen, operating partner and executive manager, is scaling Infiniti City of Queens with lean ops, sharp deals, and no distractions. As a result, his team’s moving 150 new units a month, with no used cars and just two models on the ground.
What they’re saying: “We kind of set our own conditions,” Zonen said recently on Daily Dealer Live. “We don’t just sit back and wait for business to show up at the store—we’re aggressive and we go out there and we search for it.”
For context: He took over Infiniti City of Queens in July 2023, when the store was doing 20 to 25 retail deals a month.
Now, it’s tracking “give or take 140, 150 each month.”
It’s still new-only. Zonen said they haven’t sold a single used car since taking over, despite active sourcing efforts.
And the store is currently selling just two models.
He said the QX50 and QX55 were pulled from the pipeline due to tariffs, leaving his team with a slimmer lineup.
Even without those models, the store kept scaling—growth Zonen attributes to a formula built on three core principles.
The first? Looking at the quarter, not the month.
“Instead of looking at things on a 30-day basis, we look at things a little wider now,” Zonen said. “For this quarter, we got to sell 300 cars and this is how we’re gonna get there.”
The second is about running lean with a cross-functional team.
“There’s nothing that gets past us—whether it’s bills, whether it’s vendors, whether it’s ideas,” he said.
And the third comes down to turning inventory fast.
Why? Because when you’re paying up to $100 per car, per month, just to park inventory—aging units aren’t an option.
“My lot holds 30 cars,” Zonen said. “We rent lot space all over the place, and that’s becoming extremely expensive… $60 to $100 bucks per car, per spot, per month. It gets up there.”
That means incoming units need to be presold or moved quickly—because every day a car sits, it eats margin.
And behind it all: His team is tracking every dollar, instead of just living in the space between invoice and MSRP.
“Let’s track all the money that we have, right? All the money that the manufacturer, the factory, gives,” Zonen said. “Let’s add it all up into a big lump sum and figure out how we can sell the car, where at the end of the day, the consumer gets a phenomenal deal, we get a client out of it, and we make a few bucks at the end.”
Nothing too complicated. Just a clear view of where the dollars land, and how to turn them into deals.
Between the lines: Infiniti may be behind in EVs and autonomy, but Zonen said he’s not losing sleep over it.
“For now, this is what it is and we’re all about ICE,” he said. “We don’t have any hybrids just yet, but it looks like a lot of stuff is in the works.”
Big picture: Across Daily Dealer Live, one thing keeps showing up, and it’s that tech stacks and headcount can’t cover for weak execution. Instead, discipline wins, even when you’re operating with two models, 30 spots on your lot, and zero used cars.
A quick word from our partner
CarGurus Listings packages now come with data-driven reports tailored to your unique strategy and local market.
Backed by insights from over 40 million monthly visits to the #1 car shopping site¹, you’ll get actionable recommendations that help drive real results.
Maximize visibility with custom pricing guidance based on local shopper behavior
Increase margin by identifying when you can raise prices without reducing visibility
Move inventory faster with acquisition recommendations grounded in local demand
Don’t wait – dealers using our deal rating report have seen up to a 42% increase in daily VDP views².
Sources: 1. Similarweb, Traffic Report (Cars.com, Autotrader, TrueCar, CARFAX Listings (defined as CARFAX Total visits minus Vehicle History Reports traffic), Q1'25, USA. 2. CarGurus analysis of US dealers that changed a vehicle price based on NBDR recommendations compared to vehicles without an NBDR- informed price change from Nov 2023 through Dec 2024.
OUTSMART THE CAR MARKET IN 5 MINUTES A WEEK
No-BS insights, built for car dealers. Free, fast, and trusted by 55,000+ car dealers.
