The conclusion of the construction of Ron Giger’s exotic car and motorcycle dealership, GP Motorsports, comes a year after Giger signed the lease for the Westlake Village space.
Giger was running the Lamborghini store in Calabasas for the last three years before it was sold to another dealer. He was nudged by friends in the exotic car industry to start up his own business, which eventually became GP Motorsports.
The 3,100-square-foot facility at 2649 Townsgate Road allows Giger to buy, sell and trade exotic cars and motorcycles. Rusty West, president of Camarillo-based Market Scan Information Systems, played a role in establishing the business.
“The location is unbelievable. It’s right in the epicenter of Westlake Village,” Giger said. “I’m the closest dealer to Sherwood Country Club (and) right next door to a successful wine tasting (room).”
Part of GP Motorsports’ inventory includes a 2020 Lamborghini Hurracan Evo Coupe for $329,999, a 2014 McLaren MP4-12C Convertible for $135,998 and a 2021 BMW R18 motorcycle.
“We threw motorcycles in because I’m an ex-motocross racer, and I have a passion for motorcycles, probably a deeper passion for motorcycles than I do for cars,” Giger said. “The car part is hopefully the revenue generator, and the motorcycles will be for fun.”
Prime location
The property formerly belonged to Billy Yamaguchi of Yamaguchi Salons and was acquired by Giger, who was tasked with building up from a completely gutted building after securing the lease. “If you’ve ever tried to lease a space in Westlake Village, (you know) it’s not very cheap,” Giger said. He added that he was discouraged by a couple places and was also outbid at one point.
Once the building was secured, Giger also had to obtain a usage permit to conduct an automotive wholesale business. He said that what would have probably taken four or five months to complete took a year due to the pandemic.
“It added to some frustration and to the cost, but we held true to our passion of getting this place up and at the end of the day, now I look back and I take a deep breath and I laugh because it’s over,” Giger said. “Now it’s time to get down to business.”
GP Motorsports is the latest chapter in Giger’s automobile career, which spans 40 years. He buys and sells exotic cars through a client network that ranges from professional athletes to mom-and-pop collectors.
Giger said that GP Motorsports caters to the wealthiest clients in the area and around the country and that he and his partners wanted a space that would represent the business properly. The sum of his efforts, Giger said, has resulted in a “fiercely loyal” clientele.
“There are a lot of wealthy residents in the community and surrounding area, in Westlake (Village), Lake Sherwood and North Ranch, and a lot of them like to collect cars,” Haider Alawami, economic development manager for the City of Thousand Oaks, said. “I understand why they chose (the area) to do this.”
Alawami said that businesses such as GP Motorsports contributes to the local economy through the sales tax that the city receives from car transactions.
“It’s really not your traditional operation because it requires a lot of effort and a lot of, as you can imagine, security and insurance and all that stuff. It’s not cheap,” Alawami said.
Regional industry
GP Motorsports is one piece of a larger exotic car scene in Conejo Valley.
Tony Principe is a principal at T.R. Funding, the co-developer of Finish Line Auto Club. Finish Line offers clients luxury “car condos” for their exotic vehicles at two locations, one in Westlake Village and another in Costa Mesa.
Principe, who is a colleague of Giger, said Finish Line is limited solely to car collectors. “That means a lot to the collectors because when they have these hypercars, or exotic cars that they’re buying, they want a place that they can park them and feel safe (knowing their cars are secure) when they walk away from them,” Principe said.
Principe added that Finish Line, which has two more locations slated for Calabasas and Palm Desert, is focused on the Southern California market. The club’s goal is to have around 10 locations in the region.
“As of this time, we don’t have any competition in this market, but there are tremendous barriers to entry,” Principe said. “Trying to buy an industrial building is almost impossible.”
On the flipside, competition for Giger comes in the form of nearby dealerships such as Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.
Giger said the most challenging part of running his business is keeping up with demand. “I have plenty of people that want to buy cars – it’s getting the cars for people (that’s the challenge),” Giger said. “I’ve been able to tap into my own database and get cars to sell, either we buy them and resell them, or we take them on consignment and sell them.”
Giger’s formula for the business is transparency. “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. That’s kind of my philosophy,” he said. “Be honest, trustworthy and transparent and people will do business with you repeatedly.”
