Mazda dealership in Riverhead moves to new location, under new ownership

The Mazda dealership in Riverhead is under new ownership and has moved up the road to a new location.

Riverhead Mazda is now part of the same family-owned auto group that operates the Riverhead Toyota, Riverhead Ford and Riverhead GMC dealerships on Route 58. 

A new Mazda showroom and service center will be built on property where the Ford and GMC dealerships are located, said Michael Lucki, general manager and operating partner of Riverhead Mazda. The new buildings are still in the design phase, he said, but he and the dealership’s sales and office staff are working out of temporary quarters located between the Ford and GMC buildings.

Lucki said his family business, which was founded by his grandfather in the 1950s, purchased the Mazda franchise from Eagle Auto Mall in November.  

He’s very excited about the opportunity Mazda presents. Lucki, who has spent the last seven years teaching classes for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said he’s been “very impressed with what Mazda has developed in terms of the product, in terms of the team, the manufacturer-dealer relationship, and in terms of the partnerships that they’ve developed.” 

It’s “an up and coming brand,” Lucki said, and it’s a great fit with the other dealerships his family owns — and for the market those dealerships serve.

Mazda offers four crossover/SUV models, one of which is available as a plug-in hybrid, as well as a sedan, a hatchback and its Miata sports car.

“Mazda has a good price point for what they offer in terms of value,” he said. Its 2024 models carry sticker prices starting at $24,170 for the Mazda3 sedan to $49,945 for the CX-90 hybrid. The brand also does particularly well on Long Island, Lucki said, where its sales outpace the brand’s national market share by a significant margin.

“And I also really liked their development,” Lucki said. “Toyota owns 5% of Mazda, and Toyota is developing hybrid and electric power trains with Mazda,” Lucki said. “That made me totally comfortable with their future product pipeline.  On a global scale, Toyota is a big player that last year was the largest automotive seller in the United States.”

He was already thinking about Mazda when he learned that the longtime owner of Eagle Mazda-Kia-Volvo-Chevrolet in Riverhead was selling his business to Dennis & Co. Auto Group, a major automotive dealership network in the New York metro area. He knew the people that bought it, Lucki said, and was able to strike a deal to buy the Mazda franchise from them. 

Lucki said his company is planning a two-story building for the Mazda showroom, offices and service center on the site at 1421 Old Country Road. It will be 18,000 square feet on the first floor and 10,000 square feet on the second floor. 

Lucki is a member of the third generation in the family business started by Leo Sternlicht II founded the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Riverhead in the late 1950s.  “My generation started working here in the early 2000s,” he said. His sister, Eva, and her husband Matt Baxter work at Riverhead Toyota, and another sister, Sonya, who was working at Toyota, is now a sales manager at Riverhead Mazda. There are a variety of other family members in various roles throughout the company. 

Tom Williams, general manager of Riverhead Ford, has been with the company for so long, “he’s part of the family,” Lucki said. Williams is also an owner in the Mazda dealership, he said. Williams’ brother, Greg Williams joined Mazda as its service manager.

“I was gone for the last seven years,” Lucki said, “so when I walk around the dealership, there’s family everywhere.”