Jeff West and his Aston Martin Newport Beach team of 20 have maintained a laser-like focus on reestablishing the luxury auto brand in Orange County since last year.
The payoff: “The brand has undergone a total rejuvenation and rebirth,” West said.
The general manager of the Crystal Cove dealership, the luxury automaker’s top U.S. dealer based on year-to-date 2019 sales, cited a broader business plan put in place in 2015 by Andy Palmer, chief executive of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Hld PLC as part of the momentum.
The CEO’s plan calls for the U.K.-based manufacturer to roll out seven new vehicles in seven years.
For West and team that means a coterie of new high-end product to pitch to clients and the local strategy has deployed multiple tactics, starting with a sole focus on the Aston Martin brand versus sharing its vision and real estate with other car lines.
West last worked for Aston Martin up until 2006, when it did share dealership space with Land Rover and Jaguar.
“That singular focus makes a big difference and is a big result of our success, along with the new products we’ve gotten since then,” he told the Business Journal. “As a dealership, our challenge at the beginning of last year was relaunching the brand … not only the vehicles but the Aston Martin brand.”
OC is the focus: “We’re in the community; we’re doing more events.”
The area is key to Aston Martin’s U.S. activity. In addition to its best-selling dealership in Newport Beach, the U.K. company’s Americas operations are run by domestic president Laura Schwab out of Irvine.
SUV, IE
The dealership relocated to Crystal Cove in March and moved its service department to Tustin.
It’s also marketing farther into Long Beach and eventually plans to get the brand and business into the Inland Empire through Riverside.
Last month, the dealership debuted a refreshed website, which West said aims to emulate the Apple online experience. On the product side, Aston Martin in July will introduce its $189,000 DBX SUV following an initial reveal this year in Beijing.
West has navigated the industry’s ebbs and flows for more than 30 years, mostly in retail sales. He got into it working at his dad’s dealership, before coming to OC in 1986 with his wife, Nancy, HR director at South Coast Plaza, and working with several brands.
When Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Ed Glazer’s U.S. Auto Trust bought the local franchise from Pendragon PLC in July 2018 for roughly $4 million based on current exchange rates, West was recruited to head the new dealership, focused on Aston Martin.
U.S. Auto Trust more recently in May struck a second deal with Pendragon for the Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Newport Beach, according to a London Stock Exchange filing.
The Jaguar Land Rover deal is valued at about $40 million, regulatory filings indicate, based on current exchange rates.
Higher Ed
In line with the idea of focus, the two dealerships will maintain their separate sites.
And there’s also that revamped website, to address how people shop today.
“The entire process is changed,” West said. “Shopping is done online.”
He added, “People are far more educated when they come into the dealership. The days of driving through an auto mall and seeing an Aston Martin dealership and saying, ‘Hey why don’t I stop there?’ are gone.”
What begins electronically continues experientially.
“Our goal is to give them the best experience they can possibly have once they come through our doors,” West said. “It’s an experiential difference and that’s what we provide.”
West and his team are gearing up for December, historically the dealership’s biggest month. One-third of sales come in the fourth quarter and they’re expecting that again this year before turning to 2020’s new product—and continued efforts to grow the brand regionally.
“There’s so much excitement … with the launch of the SUV in the middle of next year and a whole range of hypercars we expect to launch in the next few years. Those are really the parts of the business that are really exciting.”
