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Contact: Rod Jerred Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 5559) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: rjerred@haltonsearch.com BUSINESS Lexus grand official opening reflects grand dealership Lexus of Oakville pulled out all the stops to celebrate the official opening of its new $4.5-million dealership on Wyecroft Road last Thursday. The dealership's new President and General Manager Frank Apa who headed Oakville Toyota since 1991. opened the bold, new concept dealership to the publiclast November. He waited until now to "officially" open with all the appropriate bells and whistles -- much like the dealer ship boasts every day. Lexus of Oakville is located on a twoacre site at 2475 Wyecroft Rd., just east of Bronte Road, and shares the neighbour hood with luxury car dealers like Jaguar. Volvo and BMW . The new I6.000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility is home to a luxuri ous Lexus lounge, a deluxe seven-car showroom and a well-equipped, two-bay customer service area New car buyers even lake delivery of their purchases from inside the showroom. Lexus of Oakviile is the upscale rela tion of Oakville Toyota and it's one of six new, exclusively Lexus dealerships being built in Canada The Oakville dealership was the first stand-alone Lexus dealership to be built in the province. Apa said everything about the dealer ship is high-end. He wanted it done prop erly and he wasn't prepared to rush any thing, including the official opening. Joining Apa to celebrate was Yoshio Nakatani. chair of Toyota Canada Inc., Kenji Tomikawa president and C EO of Lexus Canada and Mayor Ann Mulvale. A musical trio provided background music as the food, drink and VIPs flowed at the opening gala Some 450 people attended the opening. " It was a huge success," said Apa. So has the dealership been so far. " In our first five months in business we exceeded all the goals set out for us," said Apa noting the goals revolve around sales and customer satisfaction. Lexus of Oakville offers Toyota's highend products. It was little more than a decade ago that the first Lexus rolled off the assembly line and today the luxury vehicle rivals the century-old Mercedes. It was an unexpected success story, according to Lexus of Oakville's service manager Denis Therrien. And it's a success story Apa and his team at Lexus of Oakville want to contin ue. That goal is shared by Everold Reid, the new dealership's general sales manag er, who boasts an outstanding record of achievement in both sales and customer service. Reid believes the new Lexus deal ership is more than prepared to make its mark on the Halton market in customer service. "I think we're going to be even more successful than we think." predicted Reid last fall. A dozen vehicles were ordered before the dealership even opened its doors to the public. This new operation marked the first time Apa built a dealership from the ground up. Thursday's official grand opening was the culmination of a lot of hanJ work forApa who first applied for the franchise in 1999. Apa said Lexus is "the best engineered car in the world" and believes he has the right vehicle and team to serve the Oakville/Burlington market Lexus of Oakville, with its staff of 17, represents a choice for those local luxury car buyers who have at least $40,000 to spend. It's the big brother, so to speak, of Oakville Toyota, which has been in Oakville since the early 1970s. The latter's outstanding customer serv ice achievement is a major reason why Oakville was cho sen as one of the new Lexus dealership sites, according to Apa That, and of course, the fact that Oakville, and its envi rons, is home to a solid luxury car market. For more information visit www.lexusofoakville.ca. Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver Some 450 guests celebrated the grand opening of Lexus of Oakville. Above, the dealership's President and General Manager Frank Apa enjoys a celebratory toast with Yoshio Nakatani. chair Toyota Canada Inc. Left, Maurizio Filippetti chats with Everuld Keid. general sales manager for Lexus of Oakville. BUT WE WANs YOU TO SPEND LESS TIMEWliH US. NOTHING PERSONAL YOU GET TO THE GOOD NEWS: YOU GET TO WORK EARLIER THE BAD NEWS: WORK EARLIER. No offence, but it 's in everyone's best interest if we get you where you're going as quickly as possible. Which is why we're adding a new weekday express GO Bus to serve the Ham ilton GO Centre, M cM aster University, the car pool lots along the 4 0 7 (a t Dundas Street, Bronte Road and Trafalger Road) and Square One in M ississauga. Also effective April 2 9 th , there will be a rerouting of our existing 4 0 7 west service between Oakville and Unionville to include a stop at Sheridan College (Oakville Cam pus). For details check our website, or just give us a call. Now you've got one less excuse for being late for work. Because effective Monday, April 29th , we're adding two new early morning eastbound trains on the Lakeshore line, departing from Burlington instead of Oakville and Mimico. And as if that wasn't enough, we're also adding a new eastbound train from Burlington just after the morning rush, making all stops to Clarkson then express to Union Station. For details check our website, or just give us a call. 418 869 3 2 0 0 1 8 8 8 6 E T ON G O www.gotranslt.con T I T teletypewriters only: I 800 387 3 ( 5 2 _____________________________________________________________________________ 416 869 3200 1 8 8 8 G E T ON G O www.gotranslt.com TTY tel et ypewr i ters only: 1 800 387 3 652