BMW is one of the world’s strongest lifestyle brands and Brisbane BMW is driving it to new levels in Australia. Brisbane BMW, Westside BMW and Brisbane MINI Garage make up Australia’s most successful dealership in the BMW family and are today a global benchmark for aspiring motor dealers.

For management and staff at Brisbane BMW, Westside BMW and the Brisbane MINI Garage it’s not really about the cars. It is about you.

It’s about delivering on a promise that BMW and its brands make to anyone who walks in the showroom or service department door: your life is about to get better.

That starts with a greeting, often by name if you are already a customer, then the offer of a cup of tea or coffee, and then a suggestion that you might like to browse through the BMW Accessories and Lifestyle section of the showroom or relax in the lounge – with plenty of information there about all the latest in the world of BMW – while a customer service representative is sought to come chat with you.

You are experiencing the amicable, comfortable, efficient and respectful world of BMW, right there, and you haven’t even taken a look at the fine selection of BMW models poised in the background, ‘driving’ along BMW’s traditional showroom ‘roadway’ – a two way presentation street of models unique to BMW showrooms around the world.

Brisbane BMW has always done things well at its iconic Fortitude Valley showrooms and service centre – and been rewarded as, today, one of Australia’s leading BMW dealerships – but managing director Martin Roller is clearly excited about the possibilities at the new $18million Westside BMW centre at Darra, which opened in July 2008.

It is state-of-the-art – a world class BMW showcase and brings to fruition the Brisbane BMW team’s desire to bring together all that is BMW under one roof as a magnet for customers.

Already a local icon within a few months of opening, Westside BMW takes the ethos that Brisbane BMW has developed since its partners – Martin Roller, Marvin Burke, and Australian business icons Lindsay Fox and Izzy Herzog – took over the business in the late 1990s, stepping it into overdrive.

“Long term, it will be an outstanding business out here,” Mr Roller said of the $18million dealership. “Long term, it’s going to be a beauty.”

FIRST OF ITS KIND

Westside BMW is the first dealership established in Australia that reflects what BMW calls its new Global Brand corporate identity.

The showroom’s array of vehicles is striking in its own right, but it is the various sections that embrace what is behind BMW and its promise. The new facility has a technological lounge area called BMW Future Space that presents a high-tech look at BMW’s future directions and technologies that are close to commercialisation. Some of these innovations have come about through BMW’s involvement in Formula 1 grand prix racing.