Thirteen days. That is the time it took for a development permit to be received, processed and approved by the City of Langley this past summer.
“That is true Porsche-like performance,” said Christian Chia, the president and chief executive officer of OpenRoad Auto Group.
He was speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony on Friday (Oct. 25) afternoon for the new Porsche Centre Langley, the latest addition to the Langley Auto Collection. The luxury vehicle auto mall is located at the corner of Glover Road and Langley Bypass.
The 42,000 square foot facility is expected to open in the fall of 2014.
Langley City was an easy choice when it came time to chose a location.
“We looked no further than Langley,” Chia said, explaining they liked the City’s vision and proactive approach when it comes to business.
“The City of Langley has embraced Porsche and OpenRoad with open arms and our plan is to reciprocate that love.”
“This acknowledges that Langley is the place to be,” said Ted Schaffer, the City’s acting mayor.
Schaffer said the City is thrilled to add another luxury vehicle dealership as this fits in nicely with the City’s Downtown Master Plan.
“There is not much to see yet, but a lot of work has been done to get to this point,” Chia said.
“When we started this project nearly two years ago, we wanted to create more than just a Porsche retail centre,” he said.
“We committed to building a unique community here — comprised of passionate people, beautifully engineered cars, exceptional levels of knowledge and passion and an avenue to build on that through motor sports experience.
“We are absolutely thrilled to embark on what is no doubt one of the most exciting and promising projects we have undertaken.”
The showroom will hold 18 cars and its design will allow visibility from both Langley Bypass and Glover Road.
There will also be seven sales offices, three detail/wash bays and 14 bays in the service shop.
The two-storey building will also have a kitchen and large event space on the second floor and rooftop parking for 55 cars. There will also be a lounge on the main floor.
“It will be the home for performance and passion and the place lovers of sports cars can come to gather,” Chia said.
The event was attended by members of Langley City council and staff, Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Peter Fassbender, representatives from OpenRoad AutoGroup and Porsche Canada.
Also on hand was new Porsche Cars Canada chief executive officer Alexander Pollich, who took the job a short while ago and moved from Germany to Canada.
Pollich told the crowd that Porsche sales in Canada are expected to surpass the 2012 mark in the coming weeks.
There were also several Porsche vehicles on site, courtesy of the Western Canada chapter of the Porsche Club of America.
An artist rendering (below) of the new Porsche Centre Langley, a 42,000 square foot square foot facility which will be built at the corner of Langley Bypass and Glover Road.
