I'm confused. So they get bought and now they have no Ferraris? That makes no sense. Is it a Ferrari dealership or a Porsche dealership? I was under the impression that Ginsburg would simply own both marquis with each to it's own.
Dealership sold, I understand inventory (some) went to Houston as GR owned the stuff, Others Upstairs till the ink drys and the other things get ironed out. Hey Chet are you doing ok????
AND BTW did you happen to notice that this tread was started MARCH 26... Little birdies whisper to me....
Hey Writerguy, Cheep, cheep, flutter, flutter. Do you have anymore birdseed??? There was mention of this happening before FoD ever moved out of the old location. I was not surprised at all, especially after the way Ferrari changed after bringing in Maserati. But then, what do I know???????????????
How much do you think that management will change?? Do you think that this will be a good change for all you F-car owners?? I don't own a Ferrari or Maserati, but is this something that you're skeptical about or something you can care less about??
I won't speculate and make judgments at this time until things settle down with the new ownership. However, from a Ferrari Club perspective all indications are this will be very beneficial. Tony and then Chet were really good about welcoming us to their showroom, but that had not always been the case before their days. From what I hear the new ownership likes to be very involved with the local car clubs.
Rob you are right about this. Let's not leap to conclusions here. The fact is that car distribution is consolidating and all manufacturers are competing for different segments of the consumer wallet. Consolidating the access to a top end segment makes business sense. Especially if you maintain brand loyalty for those customers for whom that makes a difference. OTW its just a question of style, image and ego allocations per $ of available cash or loan. IOW some will buy a P car because they specifically want to and others will buy it because it rings more bells than the F or A car alternative - either way the dealership get's the sale rather than an M car or B car dealer which this one does not appear to be. For some of us, new cars may not be an option so what interests me is how they will deal with trades accross the brands which at this price level is a precarious business. Being 5% wrong on an F40 trade is a lot of $$$ - more than say 5% on an A6. Also once you take an F40 as a trade, you may have to maintain and sit with it for literally years unlless you have the margin to mark it down to levels that sell. Or else you have a policy that you never take trades on models out of production but I cannot see that in the P car business but may be applicable to the F cars because of their very low volumes. Once they stop taking trades or dealing in out of production F cars, spares volumes for those cars will decline to the point that all parts will be special orders from FoA, which is probably the case already. Now I wonder if they will give Audi A4 loaners when you take your 355 in for a 6 week engine rebuild? He heh he!
Well, change is ALWAYS worrisome. However, Boardwalk is where I take my Porsche... and I've had no issue with them. They have been very supportive of the clubs and track events. Sooo, I am optimistic that it will be a very good thing. I hope the Porsches replacing the Ferraris in the showroom is just a temporary thing until they get some Ferrari inventory... I'd miss coming to such a fun place to visit. My car goes in for its 5K tomorrow, so I guess I'll get a taste of any changes so far.
Risi owned very few of the cars you used to see on the FoD showroom. a good 95% of the cars were on consignment. It made perfect business sense for both parties. Risi had no inventory dollars tied up in the cars and the actual owners would have their cars sold for retail minus 7-10% stocking and sales fee, get full trade-in sales tax credit, making the sale minus fees plus tax credit basically a wash for full retail. It allowed the dealership to carry a larger inventory of cars and be able to swap out the showroom with cars upstairs fairly often. I do not know if Ginsberg is picking up the consignment or if the cars have been transferred to Houston. It was a 90-120 day signed consignment agreement made between the owner of the car and FoD. As far as the Porsches being in the showroom there, it was fairly forced by Audi. Audi wants all their dealers to be single point dealers and were holding any CSI money due the dealer and any other holdback cash from dual and multi-point dealers. They want all their dealers in the new "World of Audi" look buildings like Baillargeon and University also. Boardwalk was able get a concession from Audi because their building is so new if they agreed to move the Porsches out. The money being withheld was large...........Now Boardwalk can get their CSI and promotional cash again and have a great, exclusive, three exotic car point. There had been talk that Ferrari was going to combine Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Lancia into a single entity and withdraw them from Fiat. If they are to do this, there is talk of bringing Alfa to the US. With the property next to Boardwalk Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati (Man that sounds weird to me) being undeveloped, it could become a separate showroom for Alfa if that is to happen. It was planned to make that property the Risi Competizione headquarters with its close proximity to D/FW airport and transportation centers. It was closer to that happening than a lot of people knew. But then, what do I know??????? I have not called yet. Does anyone know if Danny and Steve stayed after the sale? Danny know Porsche very well and actually owns one that he is building up to race so he would remain a good fit. I guess I need to call and talk to them if they are there.......
All of us are still here. The consignment sales are a thing of the past, which is why the showroom was emptied. The lack of Ferraris on the showroom is temporary, until we can build our used inventory. The Porsches in the showroom are used cars. Porsche has not moved in with us. We will be carrying some non-F-car pre-owned inventory to bolster our volume, though. Boardwalk has a good reputation in this area, and we hope to bank on that as well as the reputation that FMoD has built.
And they now answer the phone "Boardwalk Ferrari-Maserati". So, I guess they're not FoD anymore... or even FMoD. Chet, So when a Boardwalk Porsche customer upgrades from a 911 to a 360, how are you going to explain that they don't get a loaner car when they bring it in for service any more??? Serious question... every time I bring in my Ferrari, I have to explain to my wife why she gets a loaner when she brings in the 911 to Boardwalk and I don't get squat when I bring in my Stradale to FoD.
I would hope that the dealership incorporates a loaner program now that Boardwalk owns then. I often take my P-cars to Boardwalk instead of an independent simply for the convenience of the loaner program. I can assure you my F-car will never see BFM's shop without one.