OC - EuroCar exotic car dealership expands

EuroCar exotic car dealership expands, eyes more sales

http://auto.ocregister.com/2010/08/12/eurocar-exotic-car-dealership-expands-eyes-more-sales/40257/


EuroCar sells luxury cars to clients around the world, but in Orange County, many of its potential buyers don’t even know the place exists.

The company aims to change that, and to do so recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new digs, a 55,000-square-foot facility on Red Hill Ave. in Costa Mesa, just across from John Wayne Airport. The company said it is now the largest showroom of its kind in the nation selling pre-owned luxury cars.

EuroCar recently signed a multi-year lease on the building and renovated it to house its 100-plus inventory of pristine Bentleys, Porsches, Rolls-Royces, Mercedes-Benzes, Lamborghinis, Audis and other newer European exotics with low miles.

Owner Tilo Steurer has moved the shop a few times now, most recently from 17th Street in Costa Mesa, but says he is in this new location for good. The temperature-controlled showroom is now situated in a blocks-long hot spot of Orange County auto specialists that includes Stillen, Crevier Classic Cars, TruSpeed and NADAguides.


Steurer says that the shops don’t look at each other as competition, but rather as enthusiastic neighbors who help each other out, citing a particular relationship with TruSpeed, which specializes in selling something he doesn’t – older Porsche models.

He says EuroCar currently sells about 70 cars a month, the majority online through eBay Motors. Steurer is optimistic that he can bring that number up to 100 a month, with extra sales coming locally. He says currently about 80 percent of his sales are to buyers outside Orange County, from as far away as Dubai and China. But with the new location and the ability to greatly expand inventory, he hopes about half of sales will come from local buyers.

To help reach that goal, the 22-employee shop installed a dedicated stage where each vehicle can have its own photo shoot in proper lighting for its online ad.

And that isn’t the only place in the cavernous facility that features special lighting. In a private area in back, Steurer spent tens of thousands of dollars installing super-bright lights that can expose even the smallest flaws in a car’s paint so they can be remedied.

Steurer himself has been selling exotic cars for more than two decades now. He was trained as a master mechanic in Germany, and in 1985 moved to the U.S.

“I didn’t speak of lick of English,” he now says with a laugh. In 1992 he gave up his tool box for good, and started reselling European exotics full time, checking each one himself to make sure they are in great mechanical condition.

The shop, located at 2920 Red Hill Ave., is open now and will hold an official grand opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 20. As part of the grand opening, a Bentley will be auctioned in a benefit for Mercy House. For information on the event or to RSVP, call EuroCar at 949-722-7121.