Lamborghini Discussion on the Lamborghini Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, Gallardo, Reventón, Aventador, and new Huracán.

Oregon's only authorized dealer closing?

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Old 12-13-2009, 03:53 PM
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Originally Posted by roytoy2003
I would somewhat agree with this statement for a NEW car. I have customers that will ONLY buy a car under factory warranty. When it approaches expire time the car is let go and into another factory warranty car they go. In this case it MAY limit the amount of new cars sold in the areas that do not have factory service within thier comfort zone.

However, for the used car, I think just the opisite. More and more "Private" shops of highly qualafied and mostly ex factory trained techs are opening up in several locations. Their service is of high quailty, as they have to maintain this level for repeat business..not to mention their prices for the most part shame the factory service centers.

You already have established locations such as Driven Exotics in central Cali, Evans in Central USA, Bobalief in San Diego, just to name a few off of the tip of my head..you also recently have Grant that was with LOC now having his own location in Orange County.

So, IMO, as less and less cars, (new) are produced...which in turn will make for less and less cars to hit the second tier market, (used 2 year or so cars) in decent shape..the supply to choose from will have a price reflective of the vehciles available.

Two othe factors to keep in mind, that I have personaly witnessed in the last 6-8 months.

As the US Dollar remains weak and export transport fee's have declined..more and more cars are "leaving" the USA soil. I have seen a change of approx 10% cars leaving that I sell to approx 35% now...and getting more and more requests from outside the USA. This is not only the older units, i.e. Countach, Miura, Diablo..but as of recent I sent out 2 LP560-4 cars as well as a LP640.

Secondly, since the USA has fallen from 60% market share of Lambo sales to under 30% of late...Lambo has been concentraing on feeding their new and upcoming markets first...such as China, UAE, Russia and the like...leaving USA with ORDER only cars. This is a wise business decision as they would prefer to place their "in stock" cars in locations that not only have a greater potential for sale, but in almost every other market a higher return on their dollar investiment on the sale of the car.

I would not be one bit suprised if you see the total of Authorized Dealers in the US to drop to 15-17 locations, with only maybe a handful of cars making it here. That has already been seen with the sale of less that 38 LP640-SV and less than 67 Lp640 this year.

But as with all things related to "decrecenary" spending funds...only time will tell. One thing is for sure, there is no way a "Stand Alone" Authorized New Car seller of Lambos can survive. It MUST have other lines of vehciles to sell in its showroom to keep the doors open.
This was was thought out and very well written; I for one thank you

All of your points make great sense and particularly those as associated with the value of the USD, international transportation cost, and the fact that the demand for many unique gals has grown in other counties when compared to the USA which has brought many buyers to the USA looking for gals to take home. I have seen this with many marquees and the growth rate of this practice continues.

Now with regards to the purchase, sales, and service of Lamborghinis; I referenced the Gallardo as the one to be hardest hit because it IMO was and has remained the cash flow for the company with the V-12 gals remaining a very small boutique market. Without the Gallardo or a similar gal that is able to be sold in numbers sufficient to support a dealership network the network will collapse as has been seen with the likes of other marquees. This will not diminish the draw to or interest in the gals but rather it will IMO significantly reduce the number of folks willing to write the checks. Folks will forever be drawn to and love the Lamborghini but sadly many will purchase a marquee that they can drive and have serviced without the need to ship her out of town.

Certainly you are correct in sharing that there are some wonderful independent facilities scattered about however IMO unless Lamborghini makes it easier for them to access parts and internal support then their hands will to some degree remain tied. The politics as associated with the dealership network has remained interesting to say the least.

As we know very well; there are many types of car owners however if one is to follow your lead and “drive them” then relatively easy access to service and support becomes a key factor. This has been IMO a significant component of the sales growth with Lamborghini for the past several years; the fact that these gals are no longer weekend warriors but rather warriors that can be driven every day has IMO been a key factor.

With regards to any solo marquee dealership in the USA; IMO most will fail or acquire additional marquees because it is far too expensive to maintain and operate a solo marquee facility and frankly I do not think that it is in the best interest of the customer. A well rounded facility; one that is not dependent on a solo marquee is typically a busier facility, has much greater day to day cash flow, as such it typically a warmer/happier place to visit.

I am a true car person and the “Bulls” have always been one of my favorites. I like the fact that they are today gals that can be exercised at any time, have relatively few operational issues, and that when they do that a strong dealer network had been established thus insuring access to service and parts; seeing what is to some degree a crash and burn as associated with dealerships saddens me and yet I also know very well that Lamborghini, Audi, VW cannot endure uncontrolled bloodletting.

Roy; during these times I would expect that your business will grow both internationally and for the boutique owners as the byproduct of that which I have shared; many folks will sadly find the need to migrate to another marquee because as cool as these gals are they need a gal that they can count on everyday (again referencing the Gallardo) and then many of the V-12 gals that have been use to sitting rather than exercised the greater portion of their life will come to market because even though exercised infrequently their owner is used to the convenience of being able to have her tended to by the local dealer; the ritual of having her tended to prior to an event only to have her tucked away for long periods afterwards has been the cycle for many owners for many years and IMO once the ability to easily access this service is gone the novelty for many will quickly become an inconvenience. We saw and lived through this cycle several years ago.

The economic shift that has been underway will likely continue for many years and IMO is beyond sad because IMO it never needed to unfold however with those guiding the economic vessel it will likely have to crash before this is accepted at which point the slow process of rebuilding will commence.

Takes care

Shadowman







 
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