Creating A 'Destination Location' For Two Famous Car Brands
Published: 28th November 2004
The impressive facility in Lenton Lane is the work of Talbot Design & Construction, selected from three contenders for the task. The company had an established track record in the automotive sector and its enthusiasm for the Graypaul project and house-style design guidelines of the two famous Italian car brands, was boundless.
‘One of the reasons we picked Talbot was the passion for their product that you could hear in their voices,’ comments Mario Vignali, Managing Director Graypaul Nottingham. ‘They were clearly very excited at the prospect of helping to create a great Maserati and Ferrari dealership and they had a proven track record for top quality workmanship.’
After visiting the new facility, Massimo Fedeli, Managing Director of Ferrari Maserati UK Ltd commented: ‘Mario Vignali and his team have truly grasped the essence of what Ferrari and Maserati stand for in the modern world with this stunning facility in Nottingham offering the highest standards of presentation and service for customers. Now that the UK market is part of the Ferrari Maserati Group, we will be able to provide even greater levels of support to assist the Graypual team in their new business.’
Behind Graypaul’s impressive frontage, designed by Talbot’s Graham Swan, and its lavishly fitted 50-car showroom, is a dedicated team of 45 hugely experienced staff and one of the best-equipped service operations in Europe.
Graypaul’s intention was to ‘do everything in house’ and the most advanced equipment available was imported from around the world. Fifteen work stations came from the USA, SD3 Diagnostics from Italy, and wheel alignment kit from Germany. The factory-trained servicing team comprises two team managers, two diagnostics managers and 10 technicians. By retaining the staff from Graypaul’s previous dealerships in Loughborough and Sheffield, the Nottingham operation offers customers more than 40 years of servicing experience.
While the showroom has ample space to display dozens of cars, it also has a dedicated ‘hand-over’ bay for customers to collect their new cars, twin ‘specification rooms’ (where customers can see and touch every aspect of their new car before placing an order), plus a café zone, an extensive display of Ferrari and Maserati accessories - from a 50p branded pencil to a £3,999 large-scale model car - and an internet zone with direct access to both the Maserati and Ferrari owners’ websites.
Behind the facility is a massive 138-space car park. Only the bodyshop is off- site, a mere 500 metres down the lane.
