Even if John Elway hadn't led the Broncos to another Super Bowl victory, he'd still be an almost inescapable presence in Denver. Every eight minutes or so, he's on TV and radio in commercials for the John Elway AutoNation USA dealerships.

AutoNation USA is the much, heralded chain of automotive retail stores that Republic Industries Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has been promising will change the way the nation buys cars. Three years ago, Republic began opening dozens of AutoNation used-car megastores and also buying up new-car dealerships. Following disappointing profits last year, Republic says it intends to overhaul the AutoNation used-car megastores by coupling them with new-car franchises.

The 17 stores in Denver are the prototypes for a new national AutoNation concept, and Republic is betting the farm on them. They may be Republic's best chance to make good on the promise to drag car selling out of the 1950s and into the 21st century. The big unanswered question is whether Republic's retail strategy can make a difference in one of the last and largest retail-distribution systems to escape major overhaul in the past 15 years.

The company's goal is to marry the convenience and economic efficiencies of so-called superstore retailing with the famously inefficient process of buying a car. Think of a Home Depot or Barnes & Noble for cars.

Republic's Denver dealerships look much like regular new-car dealerships. The difference is in the selling: Each car in an AutoNation dealership has a tag in the windshield with a fixed, discounted price that doesn't budge.

Republic says it won't provide specific market-share gains or losses or revenues for the Denver stores until the end of the first quarter. Meanwhile, the entire auto industry--including thousands of car dealers and automotive executives gathered this weekend in San Francisco for the National Auto Dealers Association convention--is watching.

"Without exaggeration, [the Denver project] will mean a wholesale restructuring of the industry," says Mark Rikess, president of the Rikess Group, which used to work with Republic.

Not everyone is so sure. "I'm intrigued, but I'm not convinced," says Maryann Keller, an auto analyst with ING Barings Furman Selz. "A traditional retail model is simply invalid in buying a car. It's not the same thing as buying a sweater. It's more like buying a house."

Since it first appeared in 1996, Republic has cobbled together about 400 new-car

franchises in the top 50 markets. It has struggled to convince skeptical investors that it knows how to sell cars better than old-fashioned dealers do.

As dealers whom Republic bought out have dumped their shares, Republic's stock price has fallen by almost 50% since last spring. Then, in December, Republic said fourth-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations and blamed missteps in the used-car strategy it was following.

For the old AutoNation, Republic had been buying up tons of used cars and selling them at fixed, no-haggle prices under the AutoNation name. It didn't take long for Republic to find out the concept's fatal flaw: It was impossible to control the costs of buying the used-car inventory, so the fixed retail prices became a big problem.

Republic shifted gears. The Denver AutoNation stores sell some used cars, which come in as trade-ins, but for the most part they are new-car dealerships. They still are wedded to the idea of no-haggle pricing. Republic hopes to work out the kinks in Denver, and eventually put the concept into place at the 400 new-car franchises that it operates around the country, and also at most of the 42 AutoNation used-car megastores that still operate under the old format.

Since Republic first appeared in 1996, it has been aggressively snapping up dealerships and franchises around the country. Meanwhile, more than a dozen other dealer-consolidation companies have popped up. Even the big car makers are testing aspects of the AutoNation strategy.

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. are each taking steps toward creating their own retail dealership networks, by investing in or buying dealerships around the country. DaimlerChrysler AG has vowed to stay true to independent dealers, but it is using technology to link its 4,400 dealers to a gigantic database intended to aid salespeople, much like one linking the AutoNation stores. Mercedes-Benz is even weighing its own haggle-free policy at its more than 300 dealerships.

It all increases the pressure on the new AutoNation to succeed. Says Steve Berrard, Republic's co-chief executive, "The [car] market is finite...So how do you grow bigger? By market share. The only way to get that is to take it from the competition."

Some of the Denver ads poke fun at traditional dealerships, contrasting traditional dealers--the spots call them "guys in plaid"--with AutoNation's promised low prices and no haggling. Others' ads highlight AutoNation's customer service, including a "fast-or-free" guarantee. Future ads are planned to promote a frequent-buyer program and a super cheap brand of gasoline AutoNation has in the works.

Denver is a good place for Republic to test drive the new AutoNation. The city likes cars. According to car-dealer statistics, there are about 1.8 million vehicles on Denver's roads--a lot for a city of two million people. In the south Metro area alone, almost 30% of households own three or more vehicles. During the past few years, Republic has been buying up Denver auto dealerships, including Mr. Elway's. One of the few things they haven't changed about them is his name.

Republic's Mr. Berrard has hired some veteran retailers, including John Costello, a former senior executive vice president and general manager of marketing for Sears, Roebuck & Co. He was named Republic's president in December.

Customers who step into one of AutoNation's Denver stores are greeted by a sales associate, just as if they were at Wal-Mart. "Find out what the future of car-buying is all about," promises a booklet the greeters hand out. Signs are emblazoned with Mr. Elway's picture and the AutoNation mantra: "It's about lower prices. It's about higher standards. It's about time."

Last fall, Republic trained hundreds of salespeople in the company's no-haggle selling system. The sales associates worked on their pitches with hours of role-playing sessions. They tell shoppers, they are compensated equally for every car they sell--not according to traditional dealers' system in which they earn more for selling more-profitable cars.

To set customers at ease about trading in used cars, AutoNation associates offer appraisals good for seven days at any AutoNation dealership. The Denver stores have dedicated Internet sales consultants, who deal only with customers who come to them via electronic-mail and car-buying sites on the Internet.

One couple browsing at the store says they've been looking for a minivan for 10 months and like the idea of no dickering. Says 35-year-old Rose Anne Landau, "I always feel as the consumer that I'm going to end up leaving that last $100 on the table because I don't want to haggle."