A grand car gets a grand opening at Porsche Westwood

THREE CHEERS: President and CEO of Prime Motor Group, David Rosenberg, left, celebrates the opening of his new Porsche showroom with Joe Lawrence, executive vice president and COO of Porsche Cars of North America.

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The six piece band Fortune was rocking the showroom floor as 800 invited guest gathered. The fireworks shooting from the dealership roof were seemingly saluting New England Patriot wide receiver Julian Edelman, who slowly piloted the real star of the night, the newly redesigned Porsche Panamera 2017.

The scene brought to mind the song “Another Op’Nin’, Another Show” from Cole Porter’s 1949 Tony Award-winning play Kiss Me, Kate, and the show in this case was the official Grand Opening of Porsche Westwood, the 25th dealership of president David Rosenberg’s Prime Motor Group empire.

As a steady stream of Porsches, most driven by valued customer clients, pulled up to the front of the polished showroom doors, where they were courteously greeted by white-shirted valets, the scene belied the fact that the ownership of a Porsche dealership is as rare as finding a pearl in an oyster.

“Porsche doesn’t open up new posts. You have to buy an existing one, which isn’t easy to do because it’s a very prestigious franchise,” said Rosenberg whose employees now number 1,800.

“A lot of dealers are very passionate about the brand, and they are not likely to sell it. But we were very lucky to acquire it as part of our original acquisition with the Clair Family.”

And the car that brings a permanent smile to Rosenberg’s face is the newly redesigned Panamera 2017. It made its initial appearance into the Porsche lineup in 2009, the first four-door that the iconic car company ever produced, but there has been a long-held sense among auto aficionados that a redesign was long overdue.

And based on the current market interest, it would appear that its engineers created a design that has captured even the most critical of skeptics.

“We can’t get enough of them right now. Oh my God, they’re all pre-sold. I drive the old style for a demo because we can’t get enough of the new style,” said the 54-year old CEO. “It’s luxurious. It’s high performance. It’s superb. It’s eye-catching. And on top off all of that, it’s fun. I really enjoy getting behind the wheel and just driving.”

The four-wheel work of sculptured metal has 330 horsepower, goes from 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds, and starts with a base price of $85,000, topping out, as Rosenberg said, in the mid-$100,000s.

It is obvious that one of the things that Porsche owners have in abundance is passion for their high-performance works of art. Their pride was on full display in the open-house showroom in Westwood.

“Mercedes is the ultimate in luxury, but Porsche is the most passionate driving experience,” Rosenberg said. “It’s like driving a race car, and that even includes their SUV’s: the Cayenne and Macan.”

A stunning example of that passion could be found in a large service space at the back of the showroom. Lined up on opposite sides of the area were 14 vintage, museum-quality Porsches, sitting in shiny, polished perfection, among them a 1967 911R, of which only 20 were produced, (all were used to race).

“Those are our customers’ cars,” said Rosenberg. “We have a pretty unique relationship with our clients. When they found out that we were celebrating our Grand Opening, they said, ‘Oh, if you want to display my car, I’ll bring it to the opening,’ and we had their cars hauled here. We feel like they’re part of the Prime family. They are awesome, and we try to have a lot of events for our Porsche customers because we really appreciate them, and I know they enjoy their relationship with us as well.”

The state-of-the-art showroom, designed by Porsche, is one of the ways the Prime Motor Group shows its appreciation.

“We didn’t skimp on a thing. You can’t skimp on a Porsche dealership. In fact, we went a little over the top,” Rosenberg said. “We added a large media wall, and wherever Porsche is racing, anywhere in the world, we will broadcast those races live. We might also show a Celtics playoff game. We have a cappuccino and espresso machine as well as top-of-the-line furniture—anything for our clients.”

Rosenberg, who was bitten by the car bug at eight when he would broom snow from the autos in his legendary father Ira’s used car lot and whose own first car was a brown ’72 Chevy Malibu, never dreamed that from those humble beginnings he would become one of the largest automobile dealers in New England.

“I still love the business,” he said beaming out over the jam-packed showroom. “There is nothing else I would rather do. It’s awesome, and I still pinch myself every day.”

Paul Kenney is a freelance writer living in Milton, but is originally from Dorchester.