A planning application has been lodged with the city council to realign boundaries on a large parcel of land next to the Bunnings complex.

Warrnambool Automotive Group dealer principal Josh Dwyer said the business was outgrowing the site it leased next to Woolworths in East Warrnambool. But just when it will relocate, and how much the development will cost, depends how quickly a complicated planning permit application goes through.

But Mr Dwyer said it could be realistically two to three years away before the Mazda, Subaru, Renault and SsangYong dealerships opened there.

The permit covers three separate parcels of land totalling 17.9 hectares and includes a mix of commercial and farm land.

The plans would pave the way for commercial development of the land with part to be used for an expanded car dealership, storage sheds behind Bunnings as well as creating other commercial sites.

"We're moving the Warrnambool Auto Group up there providing it all goes through," he said.

"We've outgrown our premises at the moment and we'd like to grow and keep employing more staff and bring more jobs to the area."

Mr Dwyer said it had to put an extra hoist in one of the workshops just to cater for all the work they've got coming in. "We just don't have enough space where we're at," he said.

"If we had normal stock at the moment things would be jam-packed."

Mr Dwyer said demand for new cars had tapered off a bit but the wait times for delivery were still quite long.

He said it depended on which brand and model of car but wait times were anywhere from three months to 15 months.

Mr Dwyer said with increasing electric vehicle sales the new site would allow infrastructure such as fast chargers to be installed.

The council has already approved the construction of the storage sheds.

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