The Qvales Expand to Florida

The Qvale family, a West Coast dealership institution of sorts, has expanded its business to Florida with the purchase of what had been one of the largest Audi dealers in the country.

The Qvale Auto Group acquired Champion Audi in Coral Springs, FL, and renamed it Audi Coral Springs. The group plans to relocate Champion Audi's Pompano outlet to Fort Lauderdale.

With three Audi stores already under Qvale ownership back home, the California-based family decided it was time to expand operations.

The family, which became Northern California's first Volkswagen distributor in 1953, has much faith in Audi, VW AG's luxury brand.

Kjell Qvale, group founder, says. “This purchase is in a key southeast market and with our long-standing history with Volkswagen and the current strength of the Audi franchise, we expect a winning combination.”

At the age of 90, he is still active in the business and works closely with his two sons, Bruce and Jeff.

Bruce now runs the Florida stores and says he intends to use the success gained from the three Audi dealerships already in the Qvale family to restore both locations to top volume dealerships.

“South Florida is a large and significant market for Audi business in the U.S.” says Donald G. Stephenson, director of the Audi of America's Southern region. “We expect strong growth in south Florida as the industry recovers.”

The Qvale family still owns and operates British Motors in the San Francisco area, where it has 12 franchises.

Besides Audi, the organization represents Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, Lamborghini, Lotus, Aston Martin, Rolls- Royce, Bugatti, Honda, Subaru, Porsche, and Chevrolet.

The family's automotive business began in 1947, when Kjell founded British Motors and built it into several dealerships selling a range of E;uropean imports.

The family once built and sold limited-run sports cars such as the Jensen Interceptor and the Jensen Healey and later worked with De Tomaso Modena SpA to make the Qvale Mangusta sports car in the late 1990s.