The new dealership was opened this week after a six-month refit of rented premises that were formerly Johnny Young’s Young Talent Time studio and dance school. The Zagame Automotive Group has been an Alfa Romeo dealer for more than a decade with the old dealership next door to the new facility.
The Alfa dealership is the first to be built under Alfa’s new standalone premium car dealership strategy that is to be rolled out and driven by the launch of the new Alfa Romeo Giulia.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
Initially, Alfa dealerships are to be paired with Fiat as an Italian car centre but ultimately, as Alfa throughput reaches a critical mass, the plan is to take Fiat out of Alfa premises.
The newly arrived FCA Australia president and CEO Steve Zanlunghi told a media group assembled at the stand-alone Zagame Alfa Romeo dealership that it “contained the styling cues that you will also see across the rest of Australia”.
“This is the flagship of the Alfa brand and it is way ahead of the curve (compared) with some of the other dealers that we have,” Mr Zanlunghi said.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
“So the journey is just beginning for the Alfa brand. We are going to be using the Guilia to relaunch the Alfa brand in Australia.”
Mr Zanlunghi said that the company believed firmly in the importance of standalone dealers for Alfa Romeo.
“You won’t see any of our long term dealers having competitive makes in their facilities. That is an absolute rule of thumb,” he said.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
“What we might do, we would look to continue or add Fiat to Alfa Romeo until we get to the point where it makes sense for the dealers (where) they can stand viably just with the Alfa Romeo brand; when the product portfolio is big enough. In terms of throughput it just makes sense to have an Italian centre,” he said.
Mr Zanlunghi said: “We are looking to cover 75 per cent of the industry for the product portfolio we will have.
“We are looking for a drive time of around 20-25 minutes to cover that 75 per cent.”
He said that while the company was “shooting by the end of 2017 to have 18 dealers,” FCA Australia was “looking to give dealers breathing room”.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
“This isn’t going to be let’s put a dealership on the corner of every spot.
“We have volume aspirations but we are not looking to take over the world with this brand. We are looking to establish as a premium contender, that is where we are looking to price the vehicle. We haven’t been shy about saying we are looking to price it right on BMW.”
Mr Zagame said that the new dealership was the first step in taking Alfa out of the lower-priced market up into the luxury area where it can potentially capture greater margins than it has been capable of generating in the past few years.
“The reason why we have invested in this facility is because we believe in the brand and we believe, starting with the Giulia, Alfa represents a greater opportunity in the marketplace,” he said.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
“Hopefully the best is now yet to come with the new Giulia and a whole host of models that are to come over the next two to three years.”
Zagame Alfa Romeo features an eight-car showroom on the ground floor with a customer delivery bay and a configurator area where buyers can touch and feel the various trim materials they might choose which, Mr Zagame says, will give the brand a greater “feeling for exclusivity in the brand which is going to be more upmarket that it was in the past”.
Service advisors have deliberately been located within the showroom with a large glass backdrop from the showroom into the service bays themselves.
“We have nothing to hide and we think this view is part of the theatre that our customers really enjoy about the Alfa Romeo brand in particular,” said Mr Zagame. “They like the mechanics of it and they appreciate the heritage and what the cars are about.
“The coffee bar has been designed by Alfa Romeo around the concept of a V6 engine with a Vee shape and six stools with room for two more seats (in case they want a V8).”
Alfa Romeo Zagame
Mr Zagame said the service department was built to cope with the current car parc of Alfa Romeos in Melbourne.
“The car parc with 159s and 156s and Giuliettas that are running around is fairly significant,” he said.
Mr Zagame said Zagames would have the most service throughput for Alfa Romeo in Melbourne “if not in Australia” because it has “been associated with the brand for such a long time now”.
Service customers are met at the front of the dealership, greeted by a concierge and taken into the showroom rather than greeting them in the workshop. The concierge takes the car into the workshop while the customer is talking to one of the service advisors.
Alfa Romeo Zagame
“It is a different approach to what service has been in the past and part of the aim is to lift the standard,” Mr Zagame said.
There is a Fiat showroom on the first floor with a car elevator for vehicle access. The Fiat space is fitted out with large posters representing the history “and the fun that is associated with the Fiat brand”.
Mr Zagame said that, while both the Fiat and Alfa brands worked well together, as the Alfa Romeo brand grows in the future, the Fiat showroom may be moved and the total upstairs showroom devoted to Alfa Romeo.
The Zagame Automotive Group brand portfolio includes Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Fiat, Audi, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren, Maserati, Morgan, Rolls Royce and Skoda.
By John Mellor
Alfa Romeo Zagame
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