WESTBORO — Herb Chambers Companies has received approval to build a Hyundai dealership off Route 9 and Otis Street, next to two other Herb Chambers dealerships.
The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved the site plan for the project last night. The Hyundai dealership will replace an old corrugated steel garage, which has already been demolished. The new 23,000 square-foot building will be located behind the Herb Chambers Ford and Herb Chambers Infiniti dealerships, which face Route 9 eastbound.
The project gained approval from the town after the company worked out an adequate parking plan for the three dealerships on the busy stretch of Route 9.
Selectmen praised the company for removing an eyesore, the old garage, and developing the entire parcel of land.
Construction of the Hyundai building is scheduled to begin within the next two weeks; the building should be completed next summer.
The new dealership will be Mr. Chambers' 47th in New England.
“It complements what we have out there on that campus so well,” said Mr. Chambers, who also owns a Honda dealership nearby on Route 9 in Westboro.
The Westboro Hyundai location will be bigger than the Herb Chambers Hyundai in Auburn.
Mr. Chambers said Hyundai has been growing faster than any other make of auto nationwide, and he's confident the Westboro location will be successful.
“We love that market,” he said in an interview this morning. “There's so much potential there because of the commuters. Every big retailer in the world is on Route 9. With the proximity of (Interstates) 495 and 395, it really can draw people in from a long way off.”
Mr. Chambers said he recently opened a Cadillac dealership in Danvers, and he is planning to relocate a high-end custom body shop from Ashland to Framingham.
Despite the challenges the auto industry has faced recently, Mr. Chambers said business is strong, especially among Ford, Honda, Toyota and luxury brands such as Mercedes.
“Our business has been very brisk. It can always be better,” he said.
Mr. Chambers acquired the former Duddie Ford from David G. “Duddie” Massad in Westboro in 2003. Five years later he opened the Infiniti dealership next door.
Last, year at this time, I wrote to you about an important workplace distinction of which, I was very proud.
The Herb Chambers Companies were recognized as being amongst The Boston Globe’s Top 100 Places to Work for 2009. I am so proud to tell you, we have just been notified by the Boston Globe, that we have earned this distinction again for 2010.
This year we are ranked eighth in the Large Employer category. We were selected from more than 1,000 employers who participated in the survey. In fact, we are the only automotive dealer ever to have received this award and now we’ve earned it twice.
What I love so much about this is that it was the enthusiastic recognition of our employees’ that made this possible when they nominated our company as a Top 100 workplace.
There is no higher privilege in business than to have your employees emphatically state, “What a great place to work”! … And then, want to tell the whole world…amazing!
Thank you.
Herb Chambers
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The soul of a leader
Three top executives who all inspire loyalty among employees reveal their personal goals, leadership methods — and deepest fears
November 7, 2010
To be one of the Globe’s Top Places to Work, an organization’s employees must believe the people at the top know what they’re doing and care about providing a rewarding work experience. Anthony Consigli of Consigli Construction Co., Kathleen “Kit’’ Tunney of Associates for Human Services, and Herb Chambers of Herb Chambers Cos. all run organizations that ranked high in our survey for employee faith that the organization is in good hands. Top Places editor Michael Warshaw asked them what good leaders do.
Globe: Anthony, what does it mean to you that your name is on the company?
Consigli: It might make the accountability that much greater. But I don’t think that it is the end all, be all. The reason the name is important is because I have three generations preceding me. If I screw up, I feel like I let somebody down.
Globe: Herb, what about your name on your company?
Chambers: Well, I think it is different for me because I was the guy that started the company. I think that the pressure on you, Anthony, is five times greater than it is on me.
The company I have today is not what I envisioned 20, 25 years ago. At the time I sold my first company, I was 38 years old. I said, ‘What am I going to do now?’ and I went down to buy a car, and instead of buying the car, I bought the dealership.
Tunney: That is a great story.
Chambers: I realized how bad that particular dealership was. It just looked like the guy wanted to get out of it. I bought it right on the spot.
In the automobile business, you don’t necessarily have to be great. You have to be good. If you are good, you are great. Because most people say they hate car dealers.
We don’t build cars. They roll in, and we have to find a home for them. Our people are so important because the product is unimportant. If you like Honda, you’re going to buy a Honda whether you buy it from me or somebody else. The question becomes: Can we fulfill the need of delivering that car to the customer better than somebody else can?
I hold a training meeting once a month, and we have 300 or 400 people there for breakfast, our whole sales organization. Salespeople have got to be kind of cheered up all the time, because they have a tendency to fall down. Technicians are a kind of a different breed. They have a different level of motivation than salespeople do.
Globe: Do you speak to each group differently?
Chambers: I do. When I am in the dealerships, I talk to the guys and ask, ‘How is everything with the shop? Anything we can do for you?’
All of our shops are now air conditioned. That came out of one of the comments I got from one of the guys.
Globe: Kit, you came up differently, from being a staffer.
Tunney: I fell in love with the work that we do — with the staff that I was working with. And over time, wanted to make some changes there, took some courses to get a little bit of credentials in management. And happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Globe: How did the experience of being a staff member affect your leadership?
Tunney: Having been there and done that makes me more approachable. I try to involve them in problem solving and decision making, because that was important to me when I felt like I didn’t have that voice.
I go out to a group home and say to the staff, ‘How’s it going?’ and I stop to listen to the answer. But I also provide formal opportunities for them to participate in focus groups and surveys to tell me how good of a job we are doing.
Globe: Tell us something that surprised you that came out of that.
Tunney: Lack of natural light. We had staff in cubbies with no windows. When I decided to build our building, and we interviewed staff to ask them what they wanted, what I heard was: light. Now our building has windows right across the top. It is all one level. And there are suites set off at angles, so it doesn’t look like a motel.
Globe: Anthony, what are you looking for when you tour your construction sites?
Consigli: I am looking for them to talk to me like I am a normal person, vs. a company president. I think there are some incredibly smart people out there that are building these buildings. They are equally important to this deal as I am. I don’t think they understand that sometimes.
Globe: Kit, how important is the staff dedication to your mission?
Tunney: It is essential. You train, train, train. I don’t have a breakfast every month for 400 people, but it is the same thing. You’ve got to find out what their needs are, and you have to meet those needs. If I have a staff that didn’t do a good job because I didn’t provide the opportunity to gain the skills that they need, then I am the one at fault.
For instance, if you have an individual that lives in a group home, in a wheelchair, and then is maybe visually impaired, you need to provide training for that particular staff. How do you present a meal to someone that is visually impaired? How do you get them to a table if they are in a wheelchair? So you really have to be very thorough putting together orientation for staff. And follow up, follow up, follow up.
Chambers: In the automobile business, I am embarrassed to say how simple it is. The manufacturer provides you with information on all of the technicians, all the salespeople, the individual dealerships, how they all perform. We know where the problems are.
Globe: Herb, you bought that dealership, it seems, almost on impulse.
Tunney: That is confidence, and I admire that.
Chambers: I don’t think I am smarter than anybody else. On the same token, I don’t think I am a lot dumber than anybody else. Believe me, I live on fear. I am always worried about everything all the time.
Globe: Fear of what?
Chambers: Fear of failing in anything. I don’t want to fail.
Globe: Kit, do you have fear?
Tunney: We’re federally and state funded. I am always wondering whether or not our contracts are going to get cut. And they do. Then I need to figure out, ‘How am I going to do more with less?’ I am always afraid it’s going to get cut so much that I am going to have to look at laying off staff.
Globe: Anthony, is fear a motivator?
Consigli: Fear and regret. I stay up all night thinking about the things that could go wrong. Construction is a dangerous business. People die, and I am fearful of that. Quality problems, reputation — all those things.
I would say regret is equal. I hate thinking that I am going to regret decisions I made or didn’t make 10 years out, 30 years out.
Globe: How do you avoid it?
Consigli: Thinking a lot about it. The greatest regret would be tanking a company that has been around for 105 years. I think that fear and hard work hold off that danger of making a decision that you’ll regret.
Do you screw up? Yeah. Everybody screws up. But you man up, you admit it, and you move on. If there are three things that I aspire to, they are humility, empathy, and accountability — just doing what you said you were going to do. I think that if I can do that more often than not, generally speaking, things will go well.
Tunney: If people have a healthy work ethic, they want to come to work and they want to be respected for what they do. And they want to do their best and they want to be rewarded for that. They want to have decent pay checks. And that is what we try to do.
Consigli: If we are the people behind our organizations who are responsible for that, we need to be doing the proper planning and working hard to make sure we’re putting things in place for that to happen for people.
Chambers: Everybody likes to believe they have good integrity. They all like to believe that they work hard. Who is going to set the pace of the organization? The pace of the organization is the speed of the leader, right? They look at you and say, ‘He really puts his heart and soul into everything that he does, or she does.’ So what are you doing to do? You’re going to put your heart and soul into it.
Consigli: The day that I stop doing that is the day I have to get out and let someone else take over. I have seen so many organizations where that doesn’t happen. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I want the organization to keep going just like nothing happened. That’s success.
The powerful, fuel-efficient TwinAir engine, available on the 2011 Fiat 500, won an award for its innovative concept, giving the Fiat brand yet another accolade for its outstanding vehicles. Herb Chambers, a top Boston car dealer, is proud to carry the Fiat franchise, and its quality lineup.
FPT – Fiat Powertrain Technologies has been awarded the prestigious international Technobest 2010 prize with the innovative twin-cylinder TwinAir engine. The award was given by Autobest’s international, independent jury – one of the most important European automotive juries – made up of 15 specialist journalists representing a group of countries with a population of 300 million people: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.
In their statement, the Autobest jury recognised the outright technological innovation of TwinAir, which, by taking the concept of downsizing to an extreme, through the innovative MultiAir electro-hydraulic intake valve management technology in combination with the engine’s specially designed fluid dynamics, allows maximum efficiency and a reduction in fuel consumption. The new TwinAir engine family – officially presented this year at the Geneva International Motor Show in the form of the 85 HP turbo version – is distinguished by its exceptionally compact dimensions and state-of-the-art technological content, which allows new efficiency benchmarks to be set, with the lowest fuel consumption in the category, confirming the leadership of the Fiat Group in this sector.
According to the version (aspirated, supercharged via turbocharger or bi-fuel CNG), TwinAir can deliver power from 65 to 105 HP. In particular, the top of the range versions are distinguished by impressive power and specific torque values, achieved with just 900 cm3 engine capacity. Due to its extremely compact dimensions, the new engine also lends itself to combination with an electric engine, thus creating a hybrid power unit particularly suitable for urban use, which maximises the benefits of hybrid power by storing and recovering the energy which is normally dissipated by frequent slowing down and braking.
TwinAir is currently present on the 500, 85 HP Turbo version, ensuring CO2 emissions which can be reduced to as little as 92 g/km in the version with MTA transmission: the best value currently available on the market for petrol cars.
The Technobest 2010 Prize is further confirmation of the Fiat Group and Fiat Powertrain Technologies’ attentiveness to environmental issues and resulting firm commitment to reducing polluting emissions. Once again this year, and for the fourth time running, Fiat Automobiles has proved – according to JATO – Europe’s most eco-friendly brand with an average CO2 value of just 123.5 g/km and an improvement of 4.3 g/km compared to the 2009 value. Fiat Group Automobiles also holds on to the top spot in the group ranking, with a value of 126.2 g/km, once more demonstrating its technological leadership in environmental sustainability.
New Car Networks parent Media Crush has released a Social Media Package to support a traditional web marketing initiative to support and increase overall branding for Vespa. There is an overall need for the brand to increase its pressure in the New England region. Vespa is viewed as stylish bling in Europe - why is the US so slow to catch on?
In MA we have the top US Vespa Dealership with Vespa Boston ( a Herb Chambers Company dealership) so we are working from that point of strength. The GM a the dealership is ready to take our program below and implement with force to produce that delicious brand pressure we want !
If your interested in getting involved tell us what you have in mind!
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