Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement - S28

28 ❙ OCTOBER 21, 2013
B E S P O K E M O T O R G R O U P, J E R I C H O , N . Y.

Once a high-tech CEO, car collector
blends financial expertise, passion
Printed in Automotive News April 8, 2013
Diana T. Kurylko
dkurylko@crain.com

ntoine Dominic was set to ease into
early retirement in 2008 after selling the high-tech laser company
he had run for several years and
making a fortune on the stock he owned.
Dominic, a native of Sri Lanka, stayed on as
a consultant and indulged his passion for
collecting and driving ultraluxury sedans
and exotic sports cars.
But fate took him in a new direction. Within a couple of years, the owners of ailing
Champion Motor Group, a luxury-brand retailer on New York's Long Island asked if he
was interested in buying its Bentley store.
"They were trying to salvage the company,
and I was probably one of their largest customers," he said.
Champion also had a Lamborghini franchise and sold used exotics from its opulent
65,000-square-foot building in Jericho, N.Y.
Dominic did buy Bentley Long Island in
March 2010 and leased the same building
used by Champion, which declared bankruptcy and lost its Lambo franchise.
In 2011, he bought a Rolls-Royce dealership
and moved that operation into the building.
Last year, he added an open Lamborghini
point at the Jericho site. The new Lamborghini showroom opened in January and is the
largest Lambo store in North America, said
Michael Lock, CEO of Automobili Lamborghini America in Herndon, Va.
Dominic, 51, is anything but retired, but
it's not a problem.
"I'm like a kid in a candy store," he said.
Dominic operates the three stores as Bespoke Motor Group. Each has its own showroom and entrance, and there are accessory
boutiques and configurators for customers
to personalize their cars. The showrooms
share a lounge area, eight-seat theater and
the service area in the rear.
"We want customers to use our facilities as
a meeting and networking point," Dominic
said. "We do functions and networking for
our customers," he said.
Bespoke Motor Group is expected to sell
about 300 new cars this year, up from 175 in
2012. The cheapest is the 2013 Bentley Continental GT, with a base price of $176,725.

Antoine Dominic sells Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Lamborghinis: "I'm like a kid in a candy
store." Dominic said he found the transition from collector to retailer a culture shock.
The most expensive is the Lamborghini
Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster at $445,300.
The prices include shipping.
Dominic knew his way around such hardware before becoming a dealer. His personal
stable includes a Maserati MC12, a Porsche
Carrera GT and "a few Lamborghinis," as
well as his daily drivers - several Bentleys
and Rolls-Royces. He used to own Ferraris -
including an Enzo, an F50 and an F40 - but
sold them when he became a Lamborghini
dealer "out of loyalty."
But moving from collector to retailer was a
culture shock.
"I came from high-tech, and I worked with
Ph.D.s developing products," he said. "If you
don't have the next best thing, you will be left
out. Here it is a different type of pressure. I
do not design the product, but we have to
sell it."
Dominic studied at Radford University in
Radford, Va., where he earned a degree in accounting and later an MBA. He's also a certified public accountant.
After school, Dominic joined CompuDyne

Corp., a maker of security systems in Annapolis, Md. He rose through the ranks to
become CFO.
In 1995, he moved to Excel Technology
Inc., a struggling laser and laser systems
company in East Setauket, N.Y., as CFO. He
became the company's CEO in 2000, engineered a recovery and sold it in 2008.
Dominic thought he could remain semiretired, even after buying the Bentley store,
but he soon discovered otherwise. His new
employees, many hired from the defunct
Champion stores, all had experience in auto
retailing. But Dominic said the dealership
needed a dose of financial discipline.
He also had to persuade manufacturers to
appoint him as a dealer for their high-end
franchises. In particular, Rolls-Royce's
North American management in New Jersey
was skeptical, until Dominic began pointing
out similarities between the company he
had run and car dealerships.
"I was used to working with small margins," he said, "and a lot what we did was Internet-based." c

Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement