Italy’s Automobili Lamborghini Holding SPA is trying to help reopen its largest U.S. dealership, Lamborghini Orange County, which abruptly closed this week.
“This is our first priority,” said Pietro Frigerio, chief operating officer for Automobili Lamborghini, a unit of Germany’s Volkswagen AG that is in the process or relocating its North American headquarters to Santa Monica.
The automaker declined to say how it was helping or provide any word on the status of Lamborghini Orange County.
The Santa Ana dealership, the nation’s top seller of pricey Italian Lamborghinis, closed due to undisclosed financial issues that aren’t related to the economy.
“We do not have all of the information and, therefore, cannot comment on the status of Lamborghini Orange County’s financial situation,” Frigerio said.
He said the management at Lamborghini Orange County made a few “unfortunate business decisions, independent of Automobili Lamborghini, which have caused the current issues that they are trying to resolve now.”
Siblings Vik, Nora, Sossi and Astrid Keuylian own and run Lamborghini Orange County.
Their 4,000 square-foot Calabasas Lamborghini dealership, which opened in 2007, also is closed.
Calls made to the family haven’t been returned.
Earlier this week, the dealer’s receptionist said it was undergoing an “ownership change” and would reopen in about 10 days.
Phones weren’t being answered Thursday.
Representatives for the state attorney general’s office and the Orange County district attorney’s office said they have no information about the dealership’s closure.
Lamborghini owners for now will have to turn to Lamborghini Beverly Hills or Lamborghini San Diego for service.
Herb’s Garage in Costa Mesa also works on Lamborghinis.
The Keuylians also own the Santa Ana-based Commonwealth Volkswagen-Audi dealership, which is open. The family bought that dealership last year.
The family had been in the process of moving their Lamborghini dealership to Coast Highway in Newport Beach.
Vik Keuylian also is a developer. Sossi Keuylian is on the New Motor Vehicle Board, a program within the Department of Motor Vehicles that regulates and settles disputes in the new vehicle industry.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to that position in January this year.
