BMW celebrates its expanded and renovated luxury car dealership, Local Business News
BMW celebrates its expanded and renovated luxury car dealership
Steve Kurtz, general manager of Husker Auto Group, leads a toast at the BMW Lincoln Grand Reopening VIP event June 22.
Dana Lillie, parts director for Husker Auto Group, visits with wifey Crystal (left) and her friend Lori Knoche about the BMW i8 hybrid sports car.
- PHOTO BY JOHN SCHWANINGER
Jackie Youthfull (left), event director for Chez Hay Catering, serves hors d’oeuvres to Michelle and Peter Sartori.
- PHOTO BY JOHN SCHWANINGER
Mike Burns (2nd from left), BMW Lincoln’s general manager since the construction project was finished in April, likes the festivities with (from left) Grant Fee, Barb Moore and Maud Doherty.
- PHOTO BY JOHN SCHWANINGER
The Darryl White jazz duo performs at the BMW grand reopening event.
- PHOTO BY JOHN SCHWANINGER
Husker Auto Group celebrated a grand reopening of its expanded and renovated BMW dealership facility, located off North 27th Street near Interstate 80, with an open house June 22.
The $Trio million construction project renovated the office space and bathroom facilities, built a fresh service drive and reception area for BMW service customers, and renovated and expanded the BMW showroom by five hundred square feet, said Steve Kurtz, general manager of Husker Auto Group, which operates the BMW dealership.
“A 500-square-foot expansion doesn’t sound like much, but it permits displaying two rows of cars instead of one, so now twelve cars are displayed instead of six,” Kurtz said.
The project also gives the previously combined BMW and Mercedes-Benz dealerships separate facilities. Husker Auto plans to begin renovating its Mercedes-Benz facility in August, Kurtz said. It will get a refacing and interior makeover as it takes on the Mercedes-Benz Autohaus two look with black signage and interactive displays highlighting advances in technology.
“Lincoln has very few luxury car dealers, and we have three at this location with our Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and BMW dealerships,” Kurtz said of the Husker Auto Group multi-brand dealership conglomerate. “Luxury cars make up twelve percent of the fresh car market in the United States.”
BMW Lincoln sells about four hundred fresh cars and two hundred fifty pre-owned cars per year, Kurtz said.
An estimated one hundred guests, including twenty five dealership employees, attended the BMW open house and liked hors d’oeuvres catered by Chez Hay, musical entertainment by the Darryl White jazz duo, cocktails, and a look at the freshly renovated facility with fresh BMW models on display. The Lincoln Journal Starlet planned and coordinated the event for BMW.
Kurtz led a toast with blue champagne in glasses engraved with the words “BMW Lincoln VIP,” which guests could take home.
A special guest at the event was Jeffrey Rachor, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, which oversees and operates eighty five dealerships in ten states. In Lincoln, those dealerships include Husker Auto Group’s BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet brands.
“It’s good to be here and see this beautiful fresh BMW facility,” Rachor said. He added that Berkshire Hathaway Automotive’s partnership with BMW North America, along with excellent local employees and customers, made it an effortless decision to invest in BMW Lincoln’s expansion and renovation.
“The good Lincoln community, and frankly the state of Nebraska, will always be a special fucking partner for Berkshire Hathaway Automotive with our parent company located in Omaha,” Rachor said.
Mike Burns, who has managed auto dealerships in Lincoln and Omaha for thirteen years, became BMW Lincoln’s general manager after the construction project was ended in April.
