Romans International | PH Meets
Where does the supercar market sit right now? No better people to ask than those selling them...
The business of selling high-end cars has arguably been through more significant change in the past decade than in almost the entirety of the century which preceded it. We can thank widespread access to the internet and reach of social media for that. Web search has turned the way people find and buy cars even at this end of the market on its head, intensifying competition between dealers to the point that even the most established brands can no longer live off a good reputation and shiny showroom alone. No clearer was this than half a decade ago.
"There was a bit of a supercar bubble emerging three or four years ago and lots of people were trying to cash in, that included customers flipping cars for profits and middlemen acting like supercar dealers," Tom Jaconelli, Romans International's marketing director, tells PH. "It became the norm to make money after buying a supercar rather than lose money which had usually been the case; it was getting a bit mad."
Romans successfully navigated this turbulent period of 'flipping', as evidenced by the dozens of exotic cars - including a McLaren Senna, Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari 488 GTB, no less - that sit beside Tom's office in the company's Banstead showroom. Not to mention its 2017 ranking in the Financial Times' FT1000 list. Perhaps it was inevitable; Romans has plenty of experience having been around since 1994, when Tom's dad, Paul Jaconelli, established the high-end and supercar specialist after having worked his way up from washing cars in the 1960s. Or perhaps it's a reflection of the groundwork the company's staff put in to ensure it could remain strong in unpredictable times.
"Now it's gone the other way with the majority of those cars suffering from some heavy depreciation. This means customers are having to swallow some big losses to change their car and dealers are struggling to move stock as quick as before unless the cars are very special or very aggressively priced. Manufacturers have continued to make more and more specialist models so the market has become saturated and the price bubble has burst. For some it's been a hard time, but I think the dealers who have been around a long time and still operate well will come out the other side, and there is definitely a positive in that I think now buyers are more likely to use their cars, rather than flip them for a profit."
But to reach such a position of financial strength took many years, and some outside the box business practices. Paul first carved a niche for the company before it was even established, when operating his business from the family home back in the 1980s. That set a course for Romans to follow in the following decade, when importing rare and hard to get cars to Britain allowed it to stand out from the growing crowd of high-end dealers.
"We were helping people to beat the waiting list for premium cars at a time when they were generally only available through franchised dealers" explains Tom. "My dad realised that people were willing to pay a lot more than the list price for the cars they couldn't immediately get through franchised dealers, so he had effectively found an untapped market in those days". You can imagine what cool 80s and 90s exotica would have passed through the family business's hands back in those early days.
Others have since followed suit, but the Surrey-based company still prides itself on offering the very rarest and best-kept cars on the world market - responsibility for which falls on Tom, who also sources the cars on top of his marketing role. "It's the reputation we've built for ourselves," he says, "so we have to uphold it and keep pushing the message out there."
This is where Tom has really helped pick up the pace of his dad's business. As a university graduate that began his working career in the film industry, Tom was finally lured to Romans in 2011 when he noticed an opportunity to utilise his creative skills. Taking naturally to marketing, he recognized that in 2011 the world of car selling was rapidly changing, and knew a somewhat old school Romans needed to adapt for the future.
"Back then it was the sales team who were doing a little bit of everything' one salesman did the photos, one salesman wrote the descriptions and our website at that time was dreadful. The creative side of me was like we can take this up a good few levels, so I helped redevelop the website, started doing all the photos, started doing the descriptions."
It was only when these digital changes started to have a real impact on business that Tom began to build a team specifically for the job. He now heads a team that includes a young marketing specialist (Nes, pictured with Tom here), a photographer and a writer. Only a decade back such a thing would have seemed wholly unnecessary; today, Tom says "the vast majority of our cars are sold via the internet". It's also ensured Romans has remained globally competitive despite ongoing economic challenges around the world.
"As much as we say 'repeat business, repeat business' is the key to success, your marketing can allow you to reach a lot of new business," he adds. "We've had people from all over the world that follow us on social media and they get in touch via that. We've had customers WhatsApp us and then do deals very quickly over the phone; we have a reputation for having the best cars so a lot of people don't feel the need to come here. They buy them and then have them shipped over."
Conversely, there's one traditional aspect of Romans that arguably sets it apart from competitors to equal avail: its location. The firm's showroom is located right beside a main road - the A217, to be exact - with an open front door, meaning no pre-booked appointments are required. Customers can just walk in. Tom says this has its negatives, with plenty of "time wasters", but many more positives.
"We don't judge; we've had a customer come in from work and buy a Phantom while he's still got plaster all over his hands and arms," he says. "At some dealers you have to make appointments, but our door is open to the public. It's also just good to let people see the cars up close."
Business is shifting more and more online, there's no doubt about that, but there's also still nothing quite like experiencing these special cars up close. Although for Tom these cars are everyday experiences, so what car does he love most? Given the exotic surroundings, his answer is somewhat restrained.
"I'm a big AMG fan and the C63 is my favourite car really - I've had five or six of them," he says. "I live in London and park my car on the street so I can't have anything too flashy, so I like the understated stuff. People that know about it know. Even though I'm Italian, I just love German cars, although I'm driving a GLC 63 at the moment which I need to get out of!" At least if he needs something new, he knows just the person to call...
[Lead pic and final three supplied by Roman's; rest by Sam Sheehan]
Their showroom looks like an old Renault dealership from the 1990s. That Renault would now reject because it's too tatty. You would have thought, especially with the money, they could give it a facelift?
Those price tags 'Santander' - come on, how cheap does that look? Again, surely they can invest in some smarter tags?
Their showroom looks like an old Renault dealership from the 1990s. That Renault would now reject because it's too tatty. You would have thought, especially with the money, they could give it a facelift?
Those price tags 'Santander' - come on, how cheap does that look? Again, surely they can invest in some smarter tags?
A few weeks back though I popped by with a friend and actually wandered into the showroom when they were open. We were quite open about just wanting to look at some of the the cars (that orange P! is utterly utterly gorgeous
) and just got chatting to the sales representative. Was really interesting and very friendly and I came away very impressed that they made us feel so welcome. If my numbers came in tomorrow i'll be down to take that P1 off their hands in a heartbeat.Compare and contrast with HR Owen South Kensington Ferrari and if one were to spend upwards of 200k sterling on a sports car...which buying experience would be preferable?
Re-investing in a business is important. "
i think the premises look ok (not that I have ever been there) - frankly buying cars sometimes from the types of places you mention makes me feel like they think I should be grateful they let me in let alone talk to me - yet I am the one with the money to spend.
I would agree with your comments if it looked like this :
I think 'people using their cars' in the context Romans uses, means putting 500 miles on instead of 5. Sadly.
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