His article is on the front page!! I am very proud of my husband Leo Portaluppi and our family! This is only the beginning... Read and share this article!! New Chevy dealer learned business from ground up By Julie McClure Posted: October 29, 2014 - 8:25 pm Last Updated: October 29, 2014 - 8:27 pm Chevrolet of Columbus is a new car dealership that has opened on US 31. The dealer bringing Chevrolet back to Columbus started on the ground floor of the automotive business. Leo Portaluppi, who along with General Motors is making a multimillion-dollar investment in Columbus, started at 18 cleaning the floors in a Texas car dealership, running parts to technicians and learning the ropes. Today, as president of the new Chevrolet of Columbus, the 36-year-old has set up temporary digs at the site of a former dealership property on North National Road. He’s working to obtain a site for a new dealership, possibly on the city’s west side. “GM considers Columbus a very important market, and they want me to take care of customers here,” Portaluppi said. He has spent the past year traveling between Owensboro, Kentucky, and Columbus, setting up Chevy’s return to the city on a site where the Wiese and Behler car dealerships were located. Columbus hasn’t had a Chevrolet dealer since the summer of 2012, when Wiese GM Center and General Motors parted ways. Since then, customers have traveled to GM dealerships in Franklin, Seymour and North Vernon to buy and service Chevy vehicles. The new Chevy dealership has 150 to 200 new vehicles on the lot, plus 80 to 100 used vehicles. “I was starting with nothing,” said. “No employees, no equipment. The other day I had to go out and buy a stapler,” he said. He and his family have moved to Columbus, and he brought his office manager and sales manager from the dealership he had with a partner in Owensboro for about seven years and asked them to live in Columbus as well. He laughed when asked if he was the “mystery dealer” who was exploring placing a temporary Chevy dealership on the city’s downtown vacant Sears property, saying, yes, that was him. He decided to go with the property on National Road for now. “Everything I have is invested in this,” Portaluppi said. “There is no Plan B. This is my first dealership on my own.” A big investment The new dealership is a big investment not just professionally and financially for Portaluppi, who came to the U.S. from Argentina when he was 3. It’s a personal investment as well. As Portaluppi will tell you, applicants must compete for opportunities such as the Columbus dealership. Initially, 40 interested parties vied to bring Chevy back to the city. The number went down to 14 and then to 7. Portaluppi was chosen based on his automotive experience and success, said Ryndee S. Carney, GM manager of cross-brand communications. “Columbus is an important market for Chevrolet, and we want to create the best possible experience for our customers there,” Carney said. GM noted Portaluppi was included last year in Automotive News’ annual “40 under 40” feature about dealers who have a bright future in automotive retail. GM is committed to attracting diverse talent, as it has historically led the industry in the number of minority dealers in the company’s network, Carney said. “It’s important to have a dealer network that reflects our potential customer base and allows us to better understand the various cultures that comprise our society today and build relationships with these customers,” she said. Seeking the right fit Portaluppi, a member of the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers, found out New Year’s Eve that GM had chosen him for the dealership. But before accepting, he made sure the move was right in every way. “This move is my last one,” he said. “I wanted to establish myself somewhere where my kids (ages 11, 8 and soon to be 6) could grow up and go to school. I fell in love with the town,” Portaluppi said of Columbus. There were other opportunities, but Columbus felt right with its friendliness, good schools and residents’ active lifestyles, he said. “People were so positive, so excited to live here,” he said. “I was impressed the first day I came here.” He also noticed that even though Columbus didn’t have its own Chevrolet dealership, 300 Chevy vehicles were sold here in 2013. He said that number is telling, in that people want that brand even though they had to travel some distance for dealership service. Portaluppi plans to build a facility that will incorporate state-of-the-art concepts in building design, service equipment and even the waiting room. The new location may be on Jonathan Moore Pike, where there’s room for a 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot building and lots of customer traffic. The new dealership will have a free car wash for customers and express oil change services. It also will be able to offer basic maintenance services for vehicles other than GM products, he said. Portaluppi has obtained certification from GM to work on Corvettes, which means the dealership has the equipment and service technicians trained for those vehicles. A Penske protégé Just out of high school, Portaluppi followed his father’s footsteps into the dealership service department. His father is a service technician for a Honda dealership in Texas, where he also got his start in the business. “My dad, he’s very proud,” Portaluppi said. “He came to this country with nothing. Dad’s still there working on cars, but he’s proud his son owns a dealership.” As Portaluppi worked his way up at the Houston area dealership owned by Penske Automotive Group, he began his ascent under the watchful eyes of racecar owner and businessman Roger Penske. The automotive tycoon became a role model for the professionalism and integrity that Portaluppi wanted to emulate. “He (Penske) has close to 300 dealerships,” Portaluppi said. “He would walk through the dealerships with managers and look at the landscaping, the condition of the shop, make sure everything was up to his standards.” He learned about the importance of image, cleanliness and attention to detail. As an example, Portaluppi pointed to his uncluttered desk — something else he picked up from Penske. “He definitely was a huge influence,” he said. Penske ingrained ethical behavior and integrity into everything he does and everything his employees do, his protege said. Portaluppi worked his way up to service adviser and then a service manager, eventually moving on to become managing partner of Steve Jones Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Owensboro, Kentucky, his last stop before Columbus. On his road to dealership owner, Portaluppi won awards for sales, service and three Honda Presidents Awards. A different approach When Portaluppi began hiring the 32 staff members who work at Chevrolet of Columbus, he deliberately didn’t look for people who had car sales experience. “We have the best luck hiring people who have never sold cars before,” he said, “because we train them in our own way.” Salespeople do not work on commission at the dealership, he said. He calls the concept the “No Vulture Zone,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to perceptions about salespeople’s motives. “It doesn’t matter how much the customer spends because the salesman gets paid the same,” he said. Out on the floor, salesman Jerry Hale said he loved working at the new Chevy dealership. “This is my first car sale gig,” he said, adding that Portaluppi has been a great boss to work for. “He cares about his employees,” he said. Hiring a familiar face Portaluppi said buying a car is the second-largest purchase most people make in their lifetime, behind buying a house. He said he wants to make car-buying a positive experience by being upfront and helpful, and he hired someone to specifically address customer needs and focus on feedback and community outreach. Customers who stop in might be surprised at the familiar face who spends time meeting with customers, checking on service and making follow-up phone calls to get more information about a customer’s visit. It’s former Columbus Mayor Fred Armstrong. Armstrong had heard that a new Chevy dealership was in the works and stopped in with his wife, Kathi, to look at a few vehicles on the lot. There weren’t any lights on, but “here came this white Tahoe around the corner, and I thought, ‘Oh no, a salesman,’ “ Armstrong said. Actually, it was Portaluppi, who was surprised to learn a former mayor was checking out his inventory months before the dealership would open. This time, it was Portaluppi whose curiosity was piqued. “A couple days later I got a phone call from Leo, and I told him, ‘I’m not going to sell cars,’” Armstrong said. “I’m too old.” But Portaluppi had a different idea. He wanted Armstrong to be his marketing ambassador, a customer service guru who would chat with customers, link the dealership to community service opportunities and help Chevrolet of Columbus build a solid reputation as a community citizen. “I’ve had a great time,” Armstrong said of the job. “Leo’s been a blessing to work with. And it’s been a fun thing to do for Leo and Columbus.” Think your friends should see this? Share it with them!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:45:42 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015