Maserati dealer begins its courtship of Baltimore drivers

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Oct 17, 2007 by Louis Llovio

Drivers on York Road in Baltimore County have been known to use colorful adjectives when referring to what's happening along the busy thoroughfare. Until now, chances are "luxurious" and "exotic" haven't been among them.

That could change with the opening of a Maserati dealership on the property where Nationwide Hyundai sat until January. The dealership -- one of about 50 in the country -- has been open since March, but is holding its official grand opening Wednesday evening.

Sitting across from a bagel shop and next to Lutherville Elementary

School, Maserati of Baltimore stands out from the stores and shops that line a crowded York Road about a mile north of Interstate 695.

With mostly strip malls, car dealerships and the vast parking lots of the Maryland State Fairgrounds, the road is a bottleneck of commercial congestion in busy northern Baltimore County.

The dealership, which is owned by the same people as Ferrari Maserati Lamborghini of Washington in Dulles, Va., is hoping to lure buyers willing to drop $138,164 on a 2007 Quattroporte Sport GT.

"Our customer is not the type to respond well to TV ads," said owner Allie Ash. "We're more of word-of-mouth business where a guy drives to the country club with the golf clubs in his trunk and his friends ask him where he got it."

Ash said that selling higher-end cars like Maserati is very different than selling an average car.

"We're 180 degrees from what a typical car dealer [is]," he said.

For one, buyers, for the most part, take a while to purchase their cars.

"It's a courtship," he said. "It takes a little bit of time to introduce the car to the customer, and then we step back and let them make up their minds."

The store will have three sales people and hopes to sell three new cars a month. Ash said he expects to eventually sell about six used cars a month.

"We have a very small clientele," he said.

Not buying a car Tuesday was Kevin McCarty of Lutherville.

McCarty was coming out of the Towson Delly on his lunch break. He watched workers putting the finishing touches on the redesigned building and shook his head.

"Those are nice, but they aren't for me," he said. "My wife and me came out and walked around the lot Sunday, and some of those cars cost close to what I paid for my house eight years ago."

Maserati of Baltimore will carry about 20 new Maseratis in its stock and about the same number of used cars, including Ferraris. The used cars will be primarily trade-ins from the main dealership in Dulles.

According to Maserati North America, the store will be the first factory-authorized dealer to sell the cars in the state.

Buyers interested in a brand new Lamborghini or Ferrari will work with the Virginia franchise.

Ash would not discuss the possibility of another franchise moving to the Baltimore site. He did say, though, that there "was plenty of room on the sign."

Founded in Italy in 1914, Maseratis are known for their performance engineering and design. Lamborghini was launched in 1963 with the introduction of the 350 GTV.