Luxury Car Dealers?

[nashvillebillionare]

Does anyone think that Nashville could be able to support a luxury car dealership (Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, etc.) any time soon?

p.s. I heard a rumor from a family friend that owns a bentley and a ferrari that she heard from Bentley in Maryland that Bentley is interested in opening a dealership here, she also overheard that it may be operated by the owners of Andrews Cadillac??

[franktown]

I would say we could possibly support ONE and one alone, and it would need to be in Cool Springs/Brentwood/Franklin probably supported by another dealer. So the Andrews Cadillac possibility makes sense to me. In the past Thoroughbred Motorcars sold Triumph, M.G., Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Lotus...so it might be hard to get those to re-enter.

[it's just dave]

Years ago, Nashville had E. Gray Smith, a Rolls dealer. It always fascinated me as a kid seeing them. The first time my dad took me to the dealership was in the early 60s...I got sticker shock. I couldn't imagine a car costing $18,000, but that's when you could get a Stingray for $3500.

There was talk not too long ago about the property on Demonbreun where Dan McGuiness pub is being used for a new Rolls dealer, but there was a problem with having a car dealership in that location. People didn't want it and the issue of the actual safety of the cars came up as well. There certainly doesn't need to be any Pabst bottles tossed at a Rolls windshield.

Even if I won the Powerball, I think I'd jet on down Miami way to buy the cars. Would be so much more fun than spinning around MetroCenter.

For now, old beater truck will travel.

[ATLBrain]

Dave, you always seemed like a ragtop guy to me.

[it's just dave]

Ha Brain, hopefully the parking brake on the rag will thaw out in time for a weekend spin. Ol' Trusty Crusty got me to work on time today, though.

I've got my sights on a Bentley Continental GT convertible. Well, I can dream. Maybe I could swing a test drive someday. I'd better start working on my script.

[MidTenn1]

Years ago, Nashville had E. Gray Smith, a Rolls dealer. It always fascinated me as a kid seeing them. The first time my dad took me to the dealership was in the early 60s...I got sticker shock. I couldn't imagine a car costing $18,000, but that's when you could get a Stingray for $3500.

There was talk not too long ago about the property on Demonbreun where Dan McGuiness pub is being used for a new Rolls dealer, but there was a problem with having a car dealership in that location. People didn't want it and the issue of the actual safety of the cars came up as well. There certainly doesn't need to be any Pabst bottles tossed at a Rolls windshield.

Even if I won the Powerball, I think I'd jet on down Miami way to buy the cars. Would be so much more fun than spinning around MetroCenter.

For now, old beater truck will travel.

[smeagolsfree]

Seems as if I remember hearing a year maybe two that there was going to be an upscale car dealer in Franklin. I dont remember the brand . Does anyone else remember this??

[franktown]

Well, MB built a new dealership, Infiniti built a new one, Lincoln is building one at the McEwen exit, but other than that I don't know of any that have/are going in anytime soon. The big thing about one of these going in would be location, location, location - either a top notch place in GH, West End/Belle Meade (only certain spots though), or Franklin/Brentwood. I, personally, love urban car dealerships when I see them in Europe, and having one in DT would be interesting and I think if done correctly could have a chance.

After looking at their dealer networks, I'll rate their my guess as to likelyness (based on relativity to one another, not on overall probablility)

Aston Martin - 6 or 7 (may be better now that they're owned by Private Equity)

Ferrari - 3

Bentley - 8 (they're in more non-huge or Sunbelt markets)

RR - 5 (higher if they just took part of BMW of Nashville's space like Mini)

Maserati/Alfa Romeo 9 (the SE is their second biggest market behind CA, AR wants to re-nter the US market with a bang and they've been adding)

[ATLBrain]

I drove up to Chattanooga just yesterday for biz, and I was travelling up Brainerd Rd. behind a Bentley. It was a very new model that I had never seen before. That might be partly the reason why I didn't recognize it as a Bentley at first. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I thought it was one of those newer T'birds that look like the old '50s T'birds convertibles... but this one looked slightly different, and it had a big "B" on the decklid. Duh, I don't notice stuff like that until it's in my face. Of course, as I passed it, I saw big differences between it and the T'bird. It is a beaut.

[nvestnbna]

Years ago, Nashville had E. Gray Smith, a Rolls dealer. It always fascinated me as a kid seeing them. The first time my dad took me to the dealership was in the early 60s...I got sticker shock. I couldn't imagine a car costing $18,000, but that's when you could get a Stingray for $3500.

There was talk not too long ago about the property on Demonbreun where Dan McGuiness pub is being used for a new Rolls dealer, but there was a problem with having a car dealership in that location. People didn't want it and the issue of the actual safety of the cars came up as well. There certainly doesn't need to be any Pabst bottles tossed at a Rolls windshield.