73911

The Field Automotive Group is in the process of purchasing all of the Brumos dealerships.

Richard Newton
Historic Racing Images

Wachuko

Oh wow!

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

It seems counter-intuitive to replace the Brumos name in February when the sale is completed.

Dropping one of the most well known and successful franchise names seems to be a poor long-term marketing decision unless they had an unfavorable local reputation.

myflat6

Couldn't agree more

73911

The Brumos name will be dropped. Porsche requires dealerships to named "Porsche of xxxxx" I suspect the new name will be Porsche of Jacksonville.

It's also my understanding that the Brumos name was not a part of the purchase agreement. What the principals intend to do with the Brumos brand is unknown. At least to me.

Richard Newton
Historic Racing Images

racerbvd

Correct, the race team & museum cars weren't part of the deal.
The museum & Brumos racing are separate businesses, Bob Snodgrass's son has moved at least some of his cars our (I saw the Orange RS at his shop last week) Dano owns most of the other cars, and the right to the Brumos name. Still, a very sad day/
Dano did to Brumos, what he did to Winn Dixie.
I was at the event when Snodgrass bought Brumos back from Debra Gregg,


And put the Red White & Blue back into Brumos, was at his funeral and now this, a great era is truly gone.

The writing has been on the wall for a while, when they started cleaning house of the long time employees.
Very sad day.

http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/12443...fleet-retained

A good read.
http://www.imsa.com/articles/throwba...brumos-porsche

908/3fan

This is not good....

73911

It was great for Dano.

I've heard estimates of close to a billion dollars for the 7 stores. That may be a little crazy but a $700 million dollar deal would not have been unreasonable. A high end dealership in a good market can easily bring $100 million.

Richard Newton
Historic Racing Images

theiceman

okay for those of us not close to any of this

why is this not good ?

racerbvd

Because it is a legacy ended, Brumos was it's own Brand with great history, now it is no more. But since Bob Snodgrass passed, the brand had been going down hill, many, if not most of the People who made Brumos great, were pushed out, because, as long time employees, they represented $$$ on the books (one friend was let go after 49 years) something that would have never happened under Snodgrass, he would have promoted the 50th year and made a big deal out of it. Now, Fields has a chance to rebuild the dealership, which, another friend, who was let go after only 35 years, told me that Dano was prepping it for sale.

GTSfan

Byron,your comments make no sense. Brumos is a great institution and has served its employees, the local community, and the car community well throughout its history. Before and after Bob. Suggesting the brand has gone downhill since Bobs passing is inaccurate. Many people have feelings and opinions on this topic but engaging in "what would have happened" and "what would have been" is unhelpful and irrelevant. This should be a time to remember what the Brumos brand actually means and has meant to people over its long history.

73911

The Holbert dealership was sold a long time ago and got bigger. The same with the Vasek Polak store.

These are franchises and they get sold. It's just the nature of the business. I'm guessing the business will get bigger under Fields leadership. They're smart people and know what they're doing.

Richard Newton

racerbvd

Guess you haven't had any cars serviced, I stand by my words, and independent shops have been getting new business because (Porsche & MB) service department issues, I have seen first hand how it went downhill, and the way they have treated long time employees, is more proof that it was going downhill after Bob died. Davis did to Brumos what he did to his family business, and that wasn't good for either brand. Firing the long time employees, the ones that helped build the brand & trust, to make the dealership look better on the books to sell, is not good for the brand.

True, they have a great opportunity, I don't know enough about them or know anyone personally to form an opinion, and I hope that they do bring it back up to the level it was, even under the new brand, I still have a few friends that work at Brumos, so I hope they do right by them. One big plus will be if the follow Bob's tradition of helping, giving back to the community (and he did that without a bunch of PR, just because he felt it was the right thing to do)

theiceman

Sounds like Byron has a personal interest as he has friends that worked there and I totally get that. But from a business perspective we constantly look at salaries vs productivity and optimize it. It's the only way to be viable in this economy. I am sure the long term employees were given severance and you have to look at it realistically.
Is a 50 year employee really that much more valuable than a five or ten. Especially when factoring in salaries.

Bottom line is service organizations can not exist with marginal players at high cost. Everyone has to be at the top of their game and fit in the salary structure.

I'm sure the new blood will move the brand forward with paying total respect to its history and legacy.

racerbvd

When it comes to someone who actually knows and understands the older Porsches & parts, yes they are that much more valuable, and since the service from those departments went WAY downhill, with major COMPLAINTS, and borderline fraud in at least one case, I would say that would hurt the brand. When you try and order an part for a 80s 911, if the guy behind the counter doesn't know what you are talking about, and can't figure out what you need because the part numbers have been superseded, and they order the wrong part, over & over, I would say that also hurts the brand. Some of the actions by them resulted in legal action and one case, a protester(LOL, nothing like seeing a guy in a suit protesting over how they handled his Porsche purchase) in front of the dealership, generally businessmen don't waste their time with that crap. When you have no techs who know the older Porsches, they do more damage than good, and when they can't "Plug" their PC into a car, many tend to be clueless. Course, it still goes back to promoting the business as a family, under Snodgrass, he understood the importance of employee/customer relationship, and he promoted the brand, partly on the long time, trusted employees. Course, our company has had people with us for 30 years, when you build a brand, the people are an important part of that, and that is why the guy who remembers the 914-6 when it was new, is much more help than the guy who thinks a Boxster is the 1st mid engined Porsche and never worked on an air cooled 911. Experience can't be replaced with what is on the new, anyone who has seen some of the people judging concours these days (only know what they have read) understands that. As already stated, Fields didn't buy the "Brumos" brand, only the Porsche. Mercedes Benz & Lexus dealerships, and since they don't have to live up to the Brumos name, they have a great opportunity to build their own brand and hopefully fix the issues of the last several years.