Revving Up for the NEW YEAR

Potamkin’s Aventura Honda is revving up for the New Year with special incentives for customers.

With the auto market having fully recovered and back in full swing, auto dealerships are back to the business of wooing customers with incentives on deals as well as services. Potamkin’s Aventura Honda is one of those. Offering new and used Honda inventory both at the location and online (at aventurahonda.com, where potential buyers can browse inventory, details and prices without having to wait for an email response from someone in sales), the dealership has had its share of trials and tribulations lately.

Unforeseen events, such as the natural disasters in Japan and Bangkok over the past year, have made it difficult for the dealership to access as much product as it would like, but that’s not stopping them from projecting an upturn in business, which so far is still good. “Business is actually very good,” says General Manager Aurelio Rivera. “We have definitely had a difficult time getting product because of the disasters in Japan and Bangkok, so it’s been a struggle. But it’s been almost a year and we’re doing our best to resume production. By the end of the month we will already have 300 vehicles in transit to the deaership, and in March we will have stepped up and increase volume again, so we can reach our goal of 1.3 million cars in U.S. market in 2012.”

Rivera says customers can expect to see—and in some cases, are already seeing—“excellent incentives in place.” As he puts it, “There’s great motivation in the Honda organization. We have started calling the dealerships ‘stores.’ We have a Chrysler/ Jeep/Dodge franchise that will open next door by this coming fall. We’ll be turning the location into an auto mall with multiple choices available to our customers. We put ‘Aventura’ in the name because we wanted to identify this geographic location with this market, since it’s the most recognizable name in Dade County and the growth is here.” The grand opening for the new expanded dealership will take place in March and April.

In addition to expanded choices and a larger location, Potamkin’s Aventura Honda now has a concierge program in place to attend to its customers’ needs beyond the physical vehicle. “Essentially, we want to make sure any resident in Sunny Isles, Aventura, and North Miami Beach has special privileges when they purchase an automobile,” Rivera says. “So we cater to the consumer in a different and luxurious fashion, with personnel dedicated to that specific effort. It is the main responsibility of  Dana Russo, the head of our concierge service, to attend to any local business and individual residents’ requirements for transporation, including at-home delivery, so that we don’t have to inconvenience the customers by requiring them to come to us. We’ll do whatever is necessary to get them to come to our door—or we’ll go to theirs.”

Potamkin’s Aventura Honda is located at 2150 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach,  866.340.2834; aventurahonda.com.