Gateway to Great Enjoyment
Maserati of St Louis Welcomes You

St Louis is one of the great cities of the Midwest. Located where the mighty Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet, it has long been one of the  most important crossing-points for travelers heading west. Such a destination deserves a truly special dealership, and that is exactly what it has in Maserati of St Louis. Located twenty miles west of downtown St Louis, it is the city’s premier destination for anyone seeking a luxury car.

We were welcomed into the showroom by sales manager Don Rochleau, who soon told us that being welcoming is a key feature of the dealership. “We want people to feel welcome – the worst thing would be if people came here and felt unappreciated, or that it was ‘cold’,” Don told us. “So as soon as people walk in the door we engage them in conversation, get them to open up and feel comfortable, so we can determine what they are looking for and how we can best serve them. We’re happy to have people come here to look at the cars, because they really are beautiful.”

“Not only are they gorgeous to look at, they are also practical – about half of the cars our clients have taken from us are used as daily drivers,” he continued. “Our average customer has more than one home, and they keep more than one car at each home. Not that ‘average’ is really appropriate; they don’t do average jobs, live in average homes or wear average jewelry or clothing, so it is only right that they drive cars which are far from average. Against that, we have to bear in mind that this is an extremely conservative market – it’s not the same as Florida or California. So our philosophy is to get the cars out there, have them be seen, have people realize that it’s okay to drive a Maserati.”

Maserati is one of several high-end brands on the same campus, so we wondered if that presented any particular problems, or whether a client who came in to look at one brand might be tempted by another. According to Don, if anything Maserati actually benefits from this. “Personally, I don’t see it as a major issue – for example, someone who is contemplating a Lamborghini, a pure, exotic sports car, is pretty unlikely to opt for a Maserati instead, and vice versa,” he told us. “We also have Bentley here, and Bentley buyers tend to be extremely loyal to the brand – but we have sold more Maseratis to Bentley owners than the other way round. You can understand why; someone may be considering a pre-owned Bentley, but then realize that at the same price point, they could have a brand new Maserati with a four-year 50,000 mile warranty. In addition, it gives us a great opportunity to show someone considering a Lamborghini that the Quattroporte is a truly excellent sedan, something they should have instead of a BMW or Mercedes, something which is exotic yet usable, and  fulfils more of their desires.”

What is more, Don has personal experience that Maserati is able to inspire loyalty every bit as deep as other brands. “My father-in-law was what I call a ‘terminal trader’ – he’d get a new car every six months, he had Porsche, BMW, Mercedes,” he explained. “Well, in 2005 he bought a Maserati Quattroporte – and he still has it. It’s not his only car, so it’s covered under 20,000 miles, but he loves it. His Quattroporte has the DuoSelect transmission, and while he was a little skeptical about it when he first got the car, he’s now at the point where he loves it. Honestly, if you had told him four years ago that he would still have the car, and he would be a fan of the DuoSelect, he simply wouldn’t have believed you.”

So Maserati of St Louis is already a destination for people seeking out the best in sporting automotive luxury; how are they going about getting the message across to people considering ‘mainstream’ brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes? “To be honest, we do so many things I don’t know where to start,” laughed Don. “It’s all about getting the cars out there, getting them seen; especially in the current market, you have to do different things. Now is the time to capitalize; if you increase your sales effort, increase your advertising, try to improve on everything, then it should give you the momentum to help carry you over the troughs. We have done a lot of events, often in partnership with businesses in the area – from the likes of Neiman Marcus and Tiffany’s to an Italian restaurant near here, Villa Farotto. We try to use networking, making best use of our existing client base, the kind of thing any good dealer would do.”

“We also have an unusual advantage, not one many dealers can boast – the main private airport for the St Louis area, the Spirit of St Louis Airport, is less than two miles away,” Don explained. “So not only do all the businessmen drive right past us on their way to and from the airport, the aircraft are just a couple of hundred feet up when they go over us, so we get some unusual exposure. As a result we have done some events in partnership with the organization that runs the airport, where they invite the people who keep their aircraft at the airport – it’s a really good match. These are people who are used to fine things, to items that are far beyond average, and they can really relate to Maserati with its hand-built quality and beautiful leather interiors.”

When we visited, the dealership looked wonderfully immaculate, with floor-to-ceiling windows and tiled floors; even Don’s desk fitted the ambiance perfectly. Yet behind the scenes plans were under way to make things even better; in another building we were shown an enormous room used to prepare vehicles, complete with an elaborate lighting rig to allow the best possible photography to promote pre-owned vehicles. “We are putting in a lot of work on the ‘backstage’ areas in the other building, and as the work progresses that will allow us to make changes here,” Don explained. “We intend to give Maserati more space within the whole campus, make it more prominent – we need more space just to keep pace with all the new products that keep coming. Maserati has had a lot of success over the past two years, and that is set to continue – I firmly believe that we are heading in the right direction. The GranTurismo has been a tremendous success, and the Quattroporte is a great car; the 4.7-liter engine provides a useful power boost, the Sport GT S is an excellent addition to the Quattroporte line-up, and now there’s the GranTurismo S Automatic. Of all the brands we sell, Maserati is the one I’m most excited about over the next couple of years – although I wouldn’t say that to the guys working with the other brands!”

If you are in the St Louis area, go and visit Don at Maserati of St Louis and learn just how much more than okay a Maserati really is!