As you may already know, Porsche of North Houston was recently purchased by indiGO Classic Cars. We're incredibly excited about our new ownership! Here is a recent press release detailing the whole story behind the purchase.
IndiGO Classic Cars Acquires Porsche of North Houston
Purchase Fulfills Life-Long Ownership Dream of Franchisee Todd Blue
Todd Blue, Founder of indiGO Classic Cars, recently announced his company’s purchase of the award-winning Porsche of North Houston automotive dealership located at 18111 North Freeway in Houston, Texas. Blue, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who is also CEO of Cobalt Ventures LLC, will serve as Dealer Principal. The transaction, which was completed on January 15th, 2010, commences Blue’s life-long goal to own premier automotive franchises.
Blue, who at the age of nine persuaded his father to buy the family’s first Porsche, has been an avid vintage and exotic car aficionado, as well as an automotive industry-student, for the majority of his life. Throughout his childhood, he was a devoted reader of Car and Driver and Road & Track Magazine and at the age of eighteen began his subscription to Automotive News. Blue said, “As a young child, I was not only fascinated with European sports cars, especially Porsche and Ferrari, but I also loved the history which accompanies this industry.” Blue’s personal study of the industry and its icons, such as Karl Benz, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, Enzo Ferrari, the Maserati Brothers, the Orsi Family and Ferdinand Porsche, is just a part of the connectivity that Blue has always had with the car business.
In 1989 as a sophomore in the business school at George Washington University, Blue’s Entrepreneurship class was given an assignment to open any business of their choice as part of a class project. He chose “How to Open an Infiniti Dealership.” The project received an “A”, which Blue says light-heartedly was one of his few “A’s” in college.
Blue’s college internships focused on the financial side of the automotive industry. While working at Liberty National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky (now Chase Bank) in its Floor Plan department for two summers, Blue was responsible for auditing local car dealerships on behalf of the bank. Blue loved spending time with the dealers, being on the lots, and “counting cars” for the bank which was a “great summer job for a college kid.”
After earning his business degree from GWU in 1992, Blue went to Chicago to work in the metals trading business. He had a large amount of exposure to steel mills and automotive stamping plants during this time which allowed for a different connection to the automobile industry. In 1994, he joined the sales department of Louisville Scrap Material Company, which was his family’s metal business, where he bought scrap from automotive assembly plants including Ford, Budd, General Motors, Tower Automotive and Toyota. Blue traveled to foreign countries, such as Japan, to buy and sell metals, to and from the automotive business.
In 1998, Blue and his family sold the business to utility company Progress Energy. At that time Blue, along with his brother Jon, Co-Founded Cobalt Ventures. Cobalt has made strategic investments in real estate, financial services, life insurance, restaurants, phone directories, event promotions and classic cars as well as many other industries. “My original focus was to revitalize downtown Louisville (Kentucky). We focused our efforts on urban lofts, condominiums, retail locations, parking facilities, and office space,” Blue said. “We came from the recycling business so preservation of historic buildings and cars, for that matter, is the ultimate form of green recycling.”
In 2001, Blue met an automotive industry consultant and began evaluating car dealerships available for purchase. It was around that same time that Blue’s friendship with one of the top car collectors in the world started. At first, he accompanied his friend as a spectator to some of the largest vintage and collector events in the world, including The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Soon Blue was purchasing and selling vehicles in the United States and abroad. In 2007, Blue’s ‘hobby’ became a legal entity, indiGO Classic Cars. Buying and selling vintage collectable cars had become a big focus for his company. “I’ve met some of the most wonderful and fascinating people in the world in this business. This was the perfect way for me to express my passion for historic European sports cars,” Blue stated. IndiGO specializes in European sports cars from the late 1930’s to the early 1970’s priced from $75,000to $2 Million Dollars plus.
Porsche of North Houston was the first dealership Blue’s automotive consultant recommended he proceed with purchasing after nine years of evaluations in Blue’s search for the right franchise. According to Blue, “We knew this was the perfect opportunity for us. Houston is a great town and tier one market, with a pro-business attitude and wonderful (car) people. Porsche is one of the world’s greatest brands and we jumped at the opportunity to be their partner in Houston. We have a terrific and convenient location. This single point Porsche store gives us an opportunity to focus on our entry into franchised automotive business. It allows for us to do everything right, from a customer service perspective, which is always our number one goal.”
Porsche of North Houston is one of twenty-five Porsche dealerships in the nation and the only Porsche dealership in Houston to receive Porsche’s ‘Premier Dealer’ status, based on customer service, sales volume and more. Once Blue purchased the award-winning dealership, he immediately went to work to differentiate the dealership’s level of customer service from other Porsche stores in the Houston market. “I’m really excited about being an independently owned Porsche dealership in a very crowded public company arena” (referring to Sonic owned Momentum Porsche and Porsche of West Houston).
Blue describes his dealership’s approach as “Porschecentric – a word we created to describe our total enthusiasm for all things Porsche.” As Blue puts it, “We have such Porsche heritage in our team here. We have staff members that have worked for Porsche at the corporate level and in franchising and service operations. We have employees that dedicate huge amounts of time with the Porsche Club of Houston. Driving and educational events are part of our contribution back to Porsche owners. We also participate in a major national Porsche driving event each fall. Our team is 100% dedicated to redefining the Porsche experience for our current customers and new customers who will come to us from BMW and Mercedes when they try the Panamera -which is unlike anything that has ever been produced by Porsche or any other car maker.”
Blue’s vision for the store is “To be the most connected Porsche store to our customers in the world. Our plan is to exceed expectations by wowing our customers with our 120 years of Porsche expertise. We will provide customers with a place to ‘plug into’ all things Porsche.” With the fusion of indiGO Classic Cars and Porsche of North Houston, the dealership is the only franchised Porsche store in Houston which provides the finest classics and collectables along with new Porsche sports cars.
Blue’s passion for his new dealership is only rivaled by his genuine adoration of the Houston area and Houstonians. He describes how Houston has been such a pleasant surprise, “I’m so impressed with Houston’s progressiveness, outlook, strength and diversity. The best way I can say it is like the wildcatter – Houstonians go out and do – without a lack of fear. Shooting for greatness is in Houston’s DNA. It’s palpable. I’m so grateful the community has embraced me and my family. We absolutely adore this community and plan to grow our automotive operation with Houston as our home base.”
