A $17 million luxury-car showroom is making an unmistakable statement on automobile row: the future of the high-end market is all about customizing every vehicle detail, right down to stitching patterns and colors.
The new Porsche Hartford on Connecticut Boulevard in East Hartford, which will officially debut Tuesday night, has a design room where clients can decide on all the details, ranging from exterior colors and door sills to badging and combinations of leather and suede-like fabrics. The room also is large enough to privately deliver a finished, personalized vehicle, an amenity it did not previously offer.
“It’s all very custom driven,” Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Auto Group, said, in a tour Monday. “You could spend an hour in here going through the details. It’s all about the customer experience.”
The Hoffman Auto Group’s investment in the new showroom and 15-bay maintenance shop is ambitious, more than doubling the size of its previous Porsche dealership on Connecticut Boulevard to 35,000 square feet.
The new space was built to the German automobile maker’s “Gen 5” standards, making it the first of its kind in New England.
While Porsche is widely known for its high-end sports cars, it also manufacturers 2-door sedans and SUVs. Prices range from $65,000 to $500,000 or more, according to Karan Singh, general sales manager in East Hartford.
The typical, annual household income for a Porsche owner is $440,000, with 36% of customers being women and 64% being men, Singh said. The demographic sweet spot for sales is buyers between the ages of 26 and 39 years old.
The availability of leasing options also has driven strong demand in recent years, Bradley Hoffman said.
The East Hartford showroom, which considers its market the Hartford-Springfield area, also brings the focus on customizing beyond sales into maintenance and repair.
The building seeks to break down the barriers that have long existed between car owners and technicians repairing the vehicles, with a maintenance advisor between them.
Owners can wait in an area with a glass wall that overlooks the repair bays, allowing them to observe maintenance and repairs. An owner can can meet and talk with their technicians and their advisor.
“All three of them could be together at the same time, having coffee,” Matthew S. Hoffman, president of Hoffman East, said. “The customers, with this brand, know their technicians. They’ll be talking it up. They might know each other by name and talk, remembering what they came in for the last time.”
Drive-in, vehicle drop off areas for maintenance are climate controlled with valet service.
Not all the sales staff necessarily comes with a luxury-car background. Some hailed from high-end jewelry sales or upscale hotels — but that experience has prepared them well for the customer interested in purchasing a Porsche, Bradley Hoffman said.
The auto group believes the investment will give it a competitive edge in a brand that has a strong reputation for quality, wherever it is sold.
“For us, the difference maker is the building and the people in the building,” Bradley Hoffman said.
Matthew Hoffman said the design also is looking ahead to a future with more electric vehicle and hybrid options. Those include, for instance, the space to expand on the number of electric vehicle chargers, he said.
“The way we have done this building is we’re thinking about the now, but we’re planning for the future,” Matthew Hoffman said.
The Hoffman Auto Group controls a significant portion of East Hartford’s auto row, also including Ford, Audi and Lexus showrooms — a presence that stretches back to 1940. The family-owned business is now in its fourth generation — founded in 1918 — with Matthew Hoffman among those in the next generation.
The auto group also has a major presence in the Farmington Valley.
The Hoffmans are hosting a grand opening reception Tuesday evening in the new facility, where about 1,000 are expected to attend.
They expect a lot of attention on a boutique that sells Porsche-branded merchandise, something its previous location didn’t have. The merchandise ranges from key rings and sunglasses to driving gloves and tumblers. There also are larger items such as briefcases, umbrellas and golf club bags.
“I don’t know how many cars we are going to sell tomorrow,” Bradley Hoffman said, of the reception. “But I’ll bet you we are going to sell a lot of merch.”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at [email protected].
