Lamborghini: Where Art and Automobile Are One

Bill Currie gave four years of his life to the U.S. Army Special Forces and he’s spent the past 37 selling BMWs for a living, so the list of things that freezes him in his tracks these days is rather abbreviated. But there’s no hiding the intensity of Currie’s gaze when it fixes upon the automotive artistry displayed along the granite catwalk inside his Lamborghini Boston showroom at 215 Andover St. in Peabody.

The dealership opening for business on May 19 is as sure an economic indicator as any tidbits that trickle forth from the Federal Reserve. With Currie running the day-to-day operations, the Lyon-Waugh Auto Group is selling the rarefied, luxury European sports car, starting at around $200,000, in a storefront once occupied by Pier 1 Imports across from the North Shore Mall. And the dealership expects to sell 40 or more of these vehicular thoroughbreds annually.

“Because the car is what it is, 99 percent of the people who walk through the door are already over the top on the concept of buying the car,” explains Warren Waugh, Lamborghini Boston’s managing partner. “They want to make sure they’re going to get the best service. It’s apparent very quickly that there’s no other shop like this in the country. We’re a dedicated Lamborghini facility, and we’re committed to providing the kind of VIP customer service that a car like this commands.” There are now seven lines in the Lyon-Waugh Auto Group: Porsche and Audi of Nashua, N.H., Land Rover, Mini, BMW, A cura, and now Lamborghini of Boston in Peabody.

In accordance with Lamborghini’s corporate imprint, the dealership’s layout is designed to exact specifications straight from Lamborghini headquarters, just west of Milan, Italy. No detail is left to chance, from the streamlined showroom espresso bar to the imposing granite benches that invite potential buyers to survey display models as one might study artwork.

Lest there be any doubt, this is a head-snapping, precision automobile from blueprint to open road. The factory constructs fewer than three models a day. When Lamborghini Boston displayed a 500-horsepower Gallardo at the Bayside Expo Center last month, Currie recalls a mass of onlookers following the vehicle into the showroom “like the Pied Piper.” To sit behind the wheel of a Lamborghini is to understand that this is a car to be savored, not merely driven. The 600- h o r s e p o w e r, s i x - s p e e d Murcielago roadster is powered by 12 cylinders and hugs the road thanks to an all-wheel drive platform. The stitched-leather cockpit aroma is probably the world’s closest approximation of the British royal family’s tack and saddle room.

But to paraphrase Lamborghini Boston’s Waugh: This car sells itself. It is the Peabody dealership’s commitment to bestowing celebrity status upon every customer thatshould keep sales humming. Since last summer, the Auto Group has operated a pilot Lamborghini sales program. Waugh says the clientele has been made up primarily of real estate, IT, stock, legal, and medical professionals as well as “the occasional rock star.” “They’re buying us as an organization, not just the car,” says Currie, who notes that the dealership’s stateof- the-art service department boasts two full-time, factorytrained master technicians.

“The car already exceeds the customer’s expectations. What sets us apart is that our dealership and service do too. It’s about establishing relationships.” Currie’s favorite anecdote to this point about his service department is the time hismechanics picked up Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer’s Gallardo at his South Shore home, a car Kramer bought in Florida, after it failed an emissions test. Lamborghini Boston re-tuned the engine, got the car an inspection sticker, and returned it to Kramer within six hours.

Waugh says he can produce most models to any buyer’s specifications within 24 hours to seven days via dealer swap with one of 20 U.S. retailers across the country. A custom factory order from Italy typically reaches Peabody within 90 to 120 days. “There are people in the car business and there are car guys. We’re car guys,” says Currie. “We have a passion for the automobiles and a passion for the people who drive them.”