Herb Chambers - We've Got It!

Herb Chambers Breaks Ground On New Dealership!

New Herb Chambers Infiniti Dealership

Auto dealer Herb Chambers has scheduled a ground-breaking ceremony this afternoon for a new Infiniti dealership in Westborough, where plans call for an art gallery-style layout to showcase the luxury vehicles.

When Herb Chambers Infiniti of Westborough opens, something expected to happen at the end of the year, seating areas will fan out around some of the new cars so prospective buyers can admire them in a contemplative setting, Chambers said.

Herb Chambers may have set the New England standard for new car showrooms when he opened a Lexus dealership in Sharon last year. With a price tag of more than $30 million when the costs of acquiring the land were included, the 110,000-square-foot Sharon dealership features such over-the-top amenities as a coffee bar, a "Zen garden," and marble flooring, not to mention a lounge with plasma-screen TVs.

The 34,000-square-foot Infiniti dealership in Westborough will be more modest - a pocket battleship compared to the Sharon dreadnought - though still pretty snazzy in comparison to the showrooms of 20, or even five, years ago.

A smaller footprint is one reason why his Infiniti dealership on four acres of Westborough real estate won't eclipse his Lexus dealership on 13 acres of Sharon real estate, said Herb Chambers, who also noted that Lexus is currently a more popular brand in Greater Boston than Infiniti.

"Infiniti is more about performance," Herb Chambers said. "Lexus is more about luxury."

Herb Chambers (left) already owns the land in Westborough - he operates Herb Chambers Ford on the same property - and he estimates building costs for the Infiniti dealership will be about $10 million.

Regent Associates Inc., the Westborough architectural firm that designed the Lexus dealership in Sharon, will also design the Westborough Infiniti dealership.

Principal Mark Regent said the firm has been building or remodeling auto dealerships for nearly two decades.

His first dealership, a Saturn in Worcester, opened in 1991. "It was pretty bare bones," he said.

Because auto dealers are selling identical products, areas where they can differentiate themselves include customer service and a superior shopping experience that can be provided by a state-of-the-art showroom, Herb Chambers said.

"My Lexus is the same as somebody else's Lexus," he said of rival dealers.

Plans for the new Infiniti dealership call for lots of frosted glass and, inside, mesh curtains can be draw around the space where individual vehicles are exhibited.

The idea is to "build the suspense" of the Infiniti brand, Regent said.

Some auto companies are very strict in dictating what dealers are permitted to do in building new showrooms.

"They're telling us what carpets to use, what tiles to use, and what kind of lighting," said Regent, who added that Lexus was "pretty flexible" when it came to building the Herb Chambers Lexus dealership in Sharon.

Plans call for the new Infiniti dealership to have a coffee counter, a "quiet lounge where people can read," and a lounge with plasma TVs, Regent said.

While it may be awhile before Herb Chambers tops Sharon, he's also planning this year to build a new location in Sudbury for his BMW dealership and a new location for a Herb Chambers Porsche-Audi dealership in Burlington.

In 2007, his 42 Herb Chambers dealerships had sales of $1.85 billion on transactions involving about 64,000 vehicles, Chambers said.

Given that many of his customers are shelling out $30,000 or more for a car and given that many of them return to the dealership for service appointments, providing them with a free cup of coffee or an apple isn't a significant expense, Herb Chambers said.

Showrooms with espresso machines are a far cry from the first dealership that Herb Chambers bought in 1985; that Cadillac dealership in New London, Conn., featured a pool table among its decor.

As for the opulence of his Lexus dealership in Sharon, Herb Chambers said, "I may have gotten carried away."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

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