"Given the size of New Mexico, it's a challenge to get our parts to our customers on time, undamaged, and at an affordable price," Baumann said.  The union of wholesalers--which now includes Parts Plus of New Mexico, U.S. Distributing, and Factory Motor Parts--is a group effort to raise customer service while controlling the rising cost of deliveries, he said.

Shops using the NMPX delivery service can place multiple purchases with participating wholesalers and receive them on a single truck, Baumann said.  Keynote runs 10 trucks daily, he added.

Formerly served by Galles Chevrolet's delivery trucks, NMPX now delivers daily to smaller rural New Mexico towns, such as Santa Rosa, Clovis, and Tuscany, said Robert "Whitey" Olsen, parts manager at Bob Turner Ford in Albuquerque.  "The service is still there," he said.  "Galles did a heck of a job."

There are several advantages for a shop to use NMPX, Baumann said.  "The shop owner doesn't have multiple deliveries," he said. "The same driver takes care of payments and returns with no hassle."

Participating franchise dealerships are Galles Chevrolet, Bob Turner Ford, Karl Malone Toyota, Montano Acura, the Garcia dealerships, Southwest Hyundai, Saturn of Albuquerque, Melloy Dodge, Melloy Nissan, University Volkswagen Mazda, Sandia BMW Mini, Mercedes-Benz of Albuquerque, Porsche of Albuquerque, and Audi of Albuquerque, Baumann said.

New to the group are Parts Plus of New Mexico, U.S. Distributing, a Motorcraft and ACDelco distributor; and Factory Motor Parts, Baumann said, pointing out that there is no exclusivity for dealerships or distributors, even though some are competitors. 

 
The goal, he said, is to keep shops buying from suppliers in New Mexico and aggressively protect the market from out-of-state vendors.