That’s one of the reasons the new Bugatti showroom in Irvine will be so important once construction is completed on the space next year.
The showroom and service center will join the portfolio of high-end badges that are part of the Newport Beach Automotive Group, led by Dealer Principal Pietro Frigerio, which sells and services Alfa Romeo, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini and the McLaren brands.
“I always considered OC as the real birthplace of car culture in the whole world, in the U.S. especially,” Frigerio said of the group’s decision to be in the Irvine Auto Center complex in the Spectrum area of the city.
Despite the Newport Beach name, most of the group’s brands, except Alfa Romeo in Costa Mesa, are in Irvine.
The group’s Lamborghini Newport Beach showroom in the Irvine Auto Center was completed in February of last year with McLaren Newport Beach and Koenigsegg Newport Beach also under construction nearby. Those two will open early next year.
Low Volume Sales
Frigerio is a longtime executive within the exotics space, previously serving as chief operating officer of Automobili Lamborghini America LLC from 2005 to 2010.
Following that stint, Frigerio went on to Lamborghini Newport Beach as general manager, before acquiring in 2017 the Lamborghini and McLaren Newport Beach dealerships.
The 1,500-square-foot Bugatti showroom is part of a 3.5-acre parcel Frigerio and business partners Dr. Trung Minh Nguyen and Robert DiStanislao acquired for their dealerships.
Bugatti will house two display models and a digitally-enabled configuration table for vehicle customization. The showroom is one of the first in North America to tout the new retail design for Bugatti.
“It’s a very unique brand and unique positioning at the moment,” Frigerio said of Bugatti.
“A new car starts in the range of $3 million for the cheapest one. We’re not talking about a car in itself. We’re talking about a significant investment, the value of a house sometimes. So, the approach to customers here is not really customers but offering something more than just product. It’s offering the lifestyle.”
Even a pre-owned Bugatti retails for more than $1 million, Frigerio said, meaning he and his team will likely sell a handful of cars annually as opposed to 10, 20 or more.
Luxury Demand
The group’s team of 80 appears adept at the art of the deal, with last year seeing the group move 592 units, which is up 9.2% from 2019.
That’s no easy feat in a year that saw limitations on how much business could be done in person, in addition to inventory and supply chain challenges.
“We didn’t know what to expect, so we went into a bit of a very slow mode and safe mode trying to keep everybody employed. That was the first objective,” Frigerio said of last year. “And then we started selling cars through the internet where there was obviously social distancing.”
The team had a bit of an advantage with more than 40% of sales pre-COVID occurring through the internet.
“I think in every segment, in every product [group], people do a lot of homework online, from reviews to anything from Instagram or just Googling and finding information,” Frigerio said. “So, that’s exactly the same process. We were doing it before COVID and we’re still doing it.
“Sometimes people are surprised we have customers buying $3 million-plus cars without putting their nose in a showroom. Our sales team, they don’t work 8-to-5. They work 24 hours and they’re offering a concierge service.”
Within a little over a month after the initial lockdown, demand started picking up, which Frigerio said could have been partially due to sheer boredom among his base of clients sitting at home.
The group attracts buyers nationally, but Frigerio pointed out they are lucky with Southern California’s strong car culture. More than half of the group’s customers hail from the region, which is why he and his business partners are investing in facilities and a presence in Orange County, he said.
Frigerio noted being in OC means the buyer base is not as much reliant on a Hollywood-focused clientele, but rather attorneys, doctors, business executives and those in the information technology space.
“They’re normal people in a way,” he said of his clientele. “We don’t have the Hollywood scene. We don’t have the Wall Street scene. We’re not in Silicon Valley. Orange County is very sleepy, so it’s more family-based customers. They bring their kids in. They’re more product enthusiasts.”
