83.9 F
San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Valencia Greets Galpin Porsche

Galpin Motors is transforming a former Saturn dealership in Santa Clarita into a new store to sell Porsches. But the goal involves more than just creating a place where the affluent can buy high-performance sports cars; Galpin wants the dealership to become a place where Porsche drivers come together. Beau Boeckmann, president of Galpin Motors, said he hopes the dealership, at 23645 Creekside Road, will open by the beginning of March. It will include a museum in the lower level and meeting rooms for Porsche clubs from not only California but from around the world. “What we are trying to have is not just a Porsche dealership but a place for Porsche enthusiasts to congregate and to come and have fun,” Boeckmann said. The location will have a Porsche Driver Selection store and also a Porsche Design store selling branded apparel and leather goods, watches, shoes, eyeglasses and electronic products. The location will also feature a small restaurant. “We are trying to bring as much of the whole Porsche experience as we can,” Boeckmann said. “We want to create something that is for the Porsche fans and enthusiasts.” Porsche AG, in Stuttgart, Germany is owned by Volkswagen AG, which has as its majority owner Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the holding company of the two families that started the car company in 1931. The company had never had a dealership for its high-end brand in Santa Clarita before. The closest showrooms are in Pasadena and Woodland Hills. One other Porsche dealership is in the Thousand Oaks auto mall, which, like the one in Pasadena, is owned by Rusnak Auto Group. Boeckmann called Porsche the most coveted brand in vehicles today. Its cars are popular, and the company is extremely well run, he added. “It is the crown jewel, so to speak, in the auto industry,” Boeckmann said. According to figures from the California New Car Dealers Association, in the third quarter of last year, Porsche had 4,109 new vehicles registered in the state. That is a 34.5 percent increase from the 3,055 registrations in the same period a year earlier. ‘Cross-shopping’ Don Fleming, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Auto Dealers Association and co-owner of Valencia Acura, said he was excited about the new dealership locating there. He was convinced it will draw consumers to the city’s strip of car dealerships found primarily along Creekside Road, between Auto Center Drive and Valencia Boulevard. “What we are all about is cross-shopping,” Fleming said. “Everybody that comes up to see the Porsche may not want a Porsche but may want something else that is in the center.” The building that the Porsche dealership will occupy started out as Saturn of Santa Clarita. After General Motors Co. discontinued that brand in 2010, it became Galpin’s Subaru and Mazda dealership. That store closed a year ago and plans fell through for it to relocate to Magic Mountain Parkway. However, Fleming said there was talk that a new Subaru and Mazda dealership would be coming to the auto center, which is one of the largest in terms of car brands in the state. “Cerritos (Auto Square) may sell more cars, but we have more brands,” Fleming said. For the Porsche brand, the most popular model remains the 911, the two-door high-performance sports car that has been produced since 1963. The 911’s suggested prices range from $97,400 to $293,200, according to the company’s website. The other popular model is the Cayenne crossover SUV, with prices from $66,800 to $161,900. In recent years, Porsche has expanded its portfolio, making its lineup quite expansive, Boeckmann said. Prices for some Porsches can go as high as the millions of dollars, he added. “They are not exactly inexpensive vehicles but at the same time they are a tremendous value because they are extraordinary cars to drive,” Boeckmann said of the Cayenne. The internet has changed the way people buy cars. Going online to research a car is the normal method, and that would apply to someone buying a Porsche as much as any of Galpin’s other brands, which include its flagship Ford dealership in North Hills as well as Lotus, Aston Martin, Lincoln, Volkswagen, Mazda and Honda stores. As for the buying experience, Boeckmann said there is nothing that can replace the experience of driving a Porsche. “As much research you can do, it can all be done online with the exception of the experience of driving,” he added. “For that, you have to come in.” To get potential customers in the showroom, Galpin will rely on the ways in which the business was built by family patriarch Bert Boeckmann. That is on repeat business, word-of-mouth referrals and by reputation. “They have an excellent reputation up here,” Fleming said of Galpin and the Boeckmann family. “They are wonderful people and I have known them for years.” Promoting the showroom will also be done by hosting events as way to embrace the Porsche community and clubs, Boeckmann said. As for expanding its dealerships beyond the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, Boeckmann said it wasn’t likely to happen. Galpin is very much a local business where he is very hands-on with the day-to-day operations.

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