Sometimes less is best. That’s the thinking behind St. Louis Motorcars’ decision to sell its Maserati franchise to Ed Napleton Automotive Group. The franchise had simply become too hoi polloi for the luxury dealership group.
“We are an exotic car dealer. That is where our passion lies,” Graham Hill, dealer principal at St. Louis Motorcars tells Automotive Buy Sell Report.
When St. Louis Motorcars acquired the Maserati franchise in 2003, there were only around three dozen dealers in the U.S., says Hill. That has nearly tripled. Sales volume has also ballooned.
“We aren’t equipped to [sell a volume brand] and we don’t have the desire to do it,” he says.
Maserati is on a mission to grow its sales. In 2013, when it sold around 6,300 units globally, the brand announced it aimed to boost its global sales volume eight-fold by 2015.
In 2014 it sold around 13,400. In 2014 it sold around 36,500. Sales growth for 2015 should be flat, according to Kelley Blue Book. Maserati says it expects to sell 60,000 units globally in 2016.
To meet that ambitious growth target, the automaker is greatly expanding its product line. It has added moderately-priced models such as the Ghibli sedan to its lineup and Maserati plans to launch a new SUV model, the Levante, in early 2016. More new models will follow. It has become a high-volume brand.
With the sale of Maserati, St. Louis Motorcars now owns Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Lotus, and Aston Martin franchises.
The Napleton Group, based in Westmont, Ill., acquired the St. Louis Maserati franchise on January 31. It will move the franchise from the St. Louis area to the Napleton Group’s St. Peters, Mo. campus, build a new facility, and change the name to Napleton Mid Rivers Maserati.
When he and his partner J.J. Mills decided they wanted to sell Maserati, Ed Napleton, a good friend, “was our first call,” says Hill.
Napleton, the 32nd largest dealership group in the U.S. with 33 dealerships across five states, is a better fit for Maserati now that the brand is increasing its sales volume, says Hill.
A matter of focus
Hill says he has “always been in the exotic car business.” He came to the U.S. from England nearly 20 years ago and got a job at a Rolls Royce dealership in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He was the youngest Rolls Royce salesman in the U.S., says Hill, now 53.
Hill was there for 18 years. Then he noticed Bentley was starting to do well.
“I decided I wanted my own dealership,” says Hill. He knew the brand reps from his work at the Rolls Royce dealership, and was awarded a franchise. His partner, J.J. Mills, is the son of one of Hill’s clients at the Rolls dealership.
There was no Bentley dealership in St. Louis, so they opened the franchise in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield. St. Louis Motorcars was founded in 2001. More luxury brands quickly followed.
“I know a lot of people in the business, I approached them one by one and parlayed the other franchises,” says Hill.
The group now sells around 300 units annually, evenly split between new and used, says Hill.
He enjoys working with the kind of people who buy his expensive exotics, says Hill. And with all of his brands changing product cycles in the next 24 months, Hill figures he needs time to focus on them. Keeping Maserati didn’t make good business sense.
“Hanging on to a franchise that doesn’t fit into our business model is nonproductive,” says Hill. “It is a matter of focus, and what we like to focus on is the high-end cars.”
He and Mills will be plenty busy with their current brands, and with new model launches such as the Bentley Bentayga SUV, due later this year. The showroom space occupied by Maserati will be devoted to Bentley and renovated.
There are still a few franchises that they would like to acquire, says Hill. He won’t reveal their names. But they will be low-volume and exotic.
“It is all about the exclusivity of the product,” says Hill, “About sexy exclusive sports cars and luxury cars.”
