$15 million Maserati Melbourne dealership opens

AN NEW $15 million Maserati facility has opened in Melbourne over the weekend with another in Sydney officially beginning operations, today, as the Italian car-maker’s Australian dealerships prepare for a product-led sales boost.

Maserati Melbourne is Victoria's second Maserati dealership, and is located on the corner of Swanston and Victoria Streets in the CBD, next door to the recently opened Audi Centre Melbourne. Both dealerships are owned by Zagame Automotive Group.

Opening with 12 full-time staff, which will later expand to 15, the first standalone Maserati dealership in Victoria has a 15-car showroom and an after-sales area equipped with six workshop bays for parts and accessory support.

Maserati’s year-to-date national sales to the end of October are up by 200 per cent on last year, led by the brand’s Ghibli mid-sized sedan and the new Quattroporte.

Victoria is Maserati’s largest market in Australia, with year-to-date sales up 166 per cent compared with 2013.

The Levante SUV is expected to go on sale in Europe next year, and the high-riding high-end wagon is expected to account for one in every two sales when it arrives in Australia in 2016.

Maserati Australia and New Zealand general manager Glen Sealey said the new Maserati Melbourne dealership was vital for meeting the expected demand of future products, while maintaining a high level of customer service.

“With sales growth at this remarkable level and more new models on the horizon, it has become essential to open a new site in Melbourne to ensure that Maserati’s rigorous levels of customer service are maintained,” he said.

“With its existing dealership in Swan Street, Richmond, described at its opening by Maserati as one its best dealerships in the world and its record of sales and customer service with Maserati since they took over the representation in Victoria, we had no hesitation appointing Zagame to open this second facility which is a key component to Maserati’s national plans.”

Zagame Automotive Group managing director Bobby Zagame said the opening was as much about preparing for the arrival of new models as providing better service to customers.

“This new dealership is much more than enabling us to meet the increasing demand for Maserati products,” he said.

“Maserati Melbourne will enable us to offer an even better and more convenient service to our existing owners and as well as offering a quality of service to new clients that meets – and even exceeds – the exacting standards of Maserati.” Sydney's first stand-alone Maserati dealership also opened for business today, with the site located on the Pacific Highway in Artarmon.

McCarroll’s Maserati has a new 13-car showroom and joins Ferrari Maserati Sydney in Waterloo as New South Wales' second facility.

Around Australia, more sites are in various stages of development with an exclusive Maserati dealership understood to be opening on the Gold Coast towards the end of 2015. This will join Euromarque Maserati as Queensland's second dealership.

South Australia’s Solitaire Maserati is currently undergoing a major revamp, so too is Western Australia’s Barbagallo Group facility.