By creating an environment that nurtures customers and employees alike, Peter Hasselquist keeps this dealership running smooth.

No one should fault the salespeople at Motorwerks BMW and Mini if they felt a little smug last February when the Twin Cities area was hit with more than two feet of snow in just two days. The blizzard was the area’s first major snowstorm since the dealership moved to its new 200,000-square-foot facility with multiple indoor tiers housing nearly 500 vehicles, four showrooms, and 38 service bays.

While their competitors foraged for buried vehicles and dealt with constantly messy showrooms, it was business as usual at the Bloomington, Minn. dealership.

“Given the climate here, this has been a terrific move for all of us. The employees love having most of the inventory indoors and not having to take customers from lot to lot,” said Peter Hasselquist, area vice president for UnitedAuto and general manager of Motorwerks BMW and Mini, Bloomington.

The move came just a few months after Hasselquist sold the dealership to UnitedAuto Group, Inc., the second largest publicly-traded automotive retailer in the US, with more than 41 brands and 160 worldwide locations. One of two principals of Motorwerks BMW and Mini, Hasselquist was asked to stay on and run the business he’d helped start.

Peter Hasselquist

It was a good fit. Hasselquist’s commitment to staff development and creating an environment that is as good to work in as it is to shop meshes with UnitedAuto’s strategy of offering premium facilities and building long-term customer and employee relationships.

“We’ve always been about having a great work environment, hiring the best people out there, and taking care of our customers,” Hasselquist said. “United has a similar philosophy, which is why it is going after high-end manufacturers. That’s where the growth is and will continue
to be.”

Feeding the beast
For the most part, neither employees nor customers experience much difference in Motorwerks operations since the purchase, as UnitedAuto isn’t inclined to try to fix something that isn’t broken. If anything, the directive is to stay the course, since that course has been years of high performance. The bigger changes have come from the new facility.

“We moved from a 20,000-square-foot facility to a 200,000-square-foot facility. This was the third move in eight years as we kept outgrowing our space, so I designed this location to be expandable,” Hasselquist said.

The challenge, of course, is growing the business to fit the building. As he puts it, “It is a hungry beast to feed.” Customer loyalty and good employees provide the fodder.

One of two BMW dealers in the Twin Cities area, Motorwerks is a multiple winner of BMW’s Center of Excellence Award, which is based on customer satisfaction scores. In designing the new location, Hasselquist made satisfaction his priority. By expanding to 38 service bays, for instance, delays in getting a vehicle scheduled and serviced are a thing of the past. To make it even more convenient, 61 loaner vehicles are available, as are three full-time shuttle vehicles that operate from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

For customers who want to stay on site while their vehicle is serviced, there are several waiting rooms with a selection of atmospheres, from quiet rooms to rooms with flat panel televisions or work stations. Wi-Fi is available throughout. Should customers roam while they wait, the vibrating pagers they are given notify them when their vehicle is ready for pick up.

Two major highways, 35W and 494, provide customers with convenient access, which was a critical factor for the dealership in deciding to remain in Bloomington. Zoning laws were also a factor, as the Twin Cities offers few options for new locations. Typically, dealers find an existing site and remodel it to their specifications. Knowing the constraints, Hasselquist held onto a previous Motorwerks location, anticipating the future need for more room. He also considered other factors he couldn’t control.

“We timed our move back to this location with completion of a major bridge project. We waited so that our business wouldn’t be disrupted by what was a two-year project,” he said.

Employees receive the same personal attention given to customers at Motorwerks, making it no surprise that the dealership experiences little turnover. Hasselquist takes part in every new-hire process and frequently spends time one-on-one training new sales staff.

Monthly staff luncheons keep everyone up to date on what is happening throughout the dealership. Regularly scheduled social functions provide opportunities for the 148 employees to spend time together. “Whether it’s going bowling or doing something else, it’s important to get people together, especially since we’ve become such a large company. People need to feel like they are part of it,” said Hasselquist.

Much of Motorwerks’ marketing is done around charity events. In fact, each manager is responsible for coordinating Motorwerks’ participation in a charity event as part of that person’s role as a leader in the community as well as the dealership.

For example, Motorwerks signed on for a three-hour block of time during a recent radiothon for a local children’s hospital. Employees manned the phones while the company offered to match every dollar raised during that period. “We raised more than $34,000 and had fun doing it. It was a great way to give back to the community,” Hasselquist said.

Other events include raising money for a local AIDS and HIV organization and a Drive For the Cure in support of the Susan B. Koman Foundation. During that event, people were invited to drive one of the dealership’s vehicles. Motorwerks donated a $1 for every mile driven to the foundation for breast cancer research.

The charity events, employee get-togethers, and giving the customer a great experience all play a role keeping Motorwerks’ culture focused on the personal. As far as Hasselquist is concerned, that’s the key to ongoing success.

“With our move, we wanted to make sure all that changed was that we were bigger—we wanted to keep our character and personal touch. Everything that we can glean shows that we have done that,” Hasselquist said.

Kristine Ellis is a freelance writer based in Helena, Montana. She can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .