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Another car dealership has found its way to Waco’s “Motor Mile,” with the recent unveiling of the Allen Samuels Alfa Romeo Fiat store at West Loop 340 and Bagby Avenue.
This is the second Allen Samuels-branded dealership to open in Greater Waco in the last couple of years. It serves as another example of Samuels’ renewed interest in opening or acquiring dealerships around the state and beyond since Florida-based AutoNation bought his Waco-based Allen Samuels Auto Group.
Billy Martin, general manager for the Alfa Romeo Fiat dealership, said Samuels invested “roughly $6 million in the land and the facility, not counting inventory.”
He said customers visiting the site will see 70 to 75 used cars, four or five Alfa Romeo vehicles and 75 Fiat vehicles.
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“Alfa Romeo is just a little behind on its projected five-year plans of rolling out eight models to dealers,” Martin said.
He said he now has available four 2017 Alfa Romeo 4C vehicles, “which is the company’s little sports car edition.”
“The good news is that I’ll be getting a 124 Spider two-door convertible, within a week to 10 days. It is one of only 124 built,” Martin said.
The model is priced beginning at $24,995, with upper-end models fetching $35,000 and above, according to the Fiat website.
Later in the timeline will come delivery of the Alfa Romeo Giulia, then an Alfa Romeo-branded SUV.
“Judging by the calls we’ve been receiving and the excitement I’m hearing from potential customers, I believe there is a market for the Alfa Romeo,” Martin said.
Fiat, meanwhile, already has a track record locally. The Allen Samuels Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram dealership on West Loop 340 had been selling Fiat products since 2012.
Martin said he employs 30 people at the dealership, “and we’ll be adding more as volume grows in both sales and service.”
Allen Samuels, who now lives on the Texas Gulf Coast, recently returned to Waco to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Alfa Romeo Fiat store. For years he resided in Waco and appeared in commercials that captured him strolling by local points of interest with his suit coat slung over his shoulder.
“Waco’s got a lot to offer,” he would say. “And so do we at Allen Samuels Chevrolet. Come by. Let’s be friends.”
He sold his Chevrolet dealership to AutoNation as part of a deal that transferred title to Allen Samuels Auto Group and about a dozen other dealerships statewide.
But Samuels has returned to the business, placing new stores in Waco and acquiring others in Hearne; Aransas Pass; Oxford, Mississippi; and Hutchinson, Kansas.
Elsewhere in Waco, the metal frame of a new commercial building is going up next Jubilee Subaru Mitsubishi, 4717 W. Waco Drive, but ownership declined to comment.
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