Long wait, quick win for Florida Audi dealer - Automotive News
It took Mario Murgado a decade to get the Audi franchise he dreamed of -- and only one year for his store to rise to the brand's highest echelon of dealerships. After opening in December 2013, Murgado's Audi Stuart near Florida's Atlantic coast was one of just a dozen dealerships last year to win Audi's Elite Magna Society award, the highest honor bestowed upon Audi dealerships. Murgado says he had coveted an Audi dealership since 1993, when he sat on the brand's dealer council, representing billionaire Miami dealer Norman Braman's Braman Imports. During Murgado's final years running Braman's group as CEO, he says, he saw Stuart, on the tony Treasure Coast region of Florida's eastern shore, as a promising opportunity for Audi. Luxury brands such as BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz had locations farther north and south, but not in Stuart. Yet luxury car demand had existed there for years, Murgado said, as Stuart residents often bought BMWs from Braman dealerships in Palm Beach. He hatched a plan to turn Stuart, about 100 miles north of Brickell's primary dealership cluster in and around Miami, into the group's luxury auto outpost, purchasing 12 acres of land and opening flagship stores for Audi and Infiniti by the end of... Source: www.autonews.com
