Celebrations were in full swing on October 8th during the opening of the AMG Brand Centre at Mercedes-Benz Silver Star Montreal.

Andreas Tetzloff, General Manager of Mercedes-Benz Canada, was among the headliners present. Several clients joined the festivities and raised their glasses to mark, along with the Park Avenue Group team, this important milestone in the dealership’s history.

As the second facility in the country to access this privilege, Mercedes-Benz Silver Star is now part of a very exclusive club where the number of carefully selected members barely reaches ten worldwide.

“The opening of our AMG Brand Centre goes beyond a simple sales space. It’s a gateway into the world of performance and luxury,” said Norman Hébert, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Park Avenue Group, in his speech during the evening’s festivities. “We designed this space to create a close connection between our customers and the AMG brand, focusing on authenticity and emotions.” Like the new Mercedes-Benz facilities it adjoins, the centre adopts the principles of the MAR20X concept.

Retail 2.0

The German manufacturer’s MAR20X concept was initially implemented in 2017 at the Tokyo and Sydney establishments. In addition to rethinking the distribution experience as a whole, the model presented innovations in terms of architecture and space layout, with the introduction of multimedia elements and the notion of environmental modularity.

While the innovative formula had seduced the leaders of Mercedes-Benz Silver Star, “something was missing from the proposal,” explains Norman John Hébert, son of Norman and President and Chief Operating Officer of Park Avenue Group, to ensure that the dealership would stand out from its counterparts. This observation motivates Hébert to cross the ocean to discover firsthand that little extra that would allow his Montreal establishment to push the boundaries. Arriving in German territory, he treated himself to a visit to one of the dealerships that had merged an AMG Brand Centre with its facilities. That was all it took. “Upon his return,” confides Norman John, “my father had only one idea. He wanted to do this in Montreal!”

The second Musketeer

Securing the leading position in terms of sales volume in the country, Mercedes-Benz Silver Star had a significant advantage in claiming the right to appropriate the grandiose prerogative reserved for the high-end sports brand. Since October 8th, the establishment can now boast of having become the second specialized centre in Canada. On a global scale, it ranks eleventh. Like a very limited edition, few dealerships will have the privilege of hosting this exclusive concept. In Canada, there will be only three, located in the cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

The Park Avenue Group burns with this desire to surpass itself, again and always. It aspires only to position the sixteen players that make up its team at the head of the pack, regardless of the logo that adorns its facade. “For 65 years, we have wanted to be the first to realize a brand’s new image. Innovation is at the heart of our values,” Norman John confided during the inauguration of the AMG Brand Centre at Mercedes-Benz Silver Star.

Leading the charge

A brand’s image is renewed cyclically every ten or twelve years. To reflect the spirit of the times, certainly, but also to materialize a manufacturer’s vision and aspirations regarding the future of automotive distribution. True to its mission of leading the dance, Park Avenue Group was, in 2011, the first in North America to introduce the Audi Terminal concept in one of its dealerships. Last year, the Volvo branch, located in Brossard, became the second facility in the country to take the sustainability turn by integrating the new VRSE (Volvo Retail Sustainable Experience) sales model. The year 2024 witnesses Silver Star’s passage into the era of retail 2.0 imagined by Mercedes-Benz, with the added bonus of annexing a division specialized in high performance.

Performance also rhymes with Montreal, “a city of car enthusiasts,” points out Norman John, whose heart beats annually to the rhythm of Formula 1. A little extra that, he cautiously ventures to say, could have tipped the scales during the selection process. This discipline, Mercedes-Benz knows well. On the track, where it proudly exhibits its vehicles from the AMG lineage, the manufacturer distinguishes itself. Inseparable from the notions of luxury, sportiness, and performance, the vehicles that bear this emblem house cutting-edge technologies. Many clients present during the evening were unaware, moreover, that the engine that propels each member of the AMG family is entirely hand-built, the young president marvelled.

It should be noted that the weight of the AMG version is not negligible on the delivery list: “Last year, one in five passenger vehicles we sold at retail in Canada was an AMG,” according to Andreas Tetzloff, General Manager of Mercedes-Benz Canada, in a press release.

Killing two birds with one stone

The AMG Brand Centre has been grafted onto the Mercedes-Benz organ, which has also undergone a facelift. They jointly occupy an area of 1,858 m² (20,000 sq. ft.) and both display the latest signature of their respective divisions. Like the products it offers, the space dedicated to AMG perfectly illustrates the bold, raw, and dynamic character specific to the monogrammed species. Its facade, shared between two-tone LED lighting that sparkles with all its fires and vast windows, promises to leave no one indifferent. By day, the sun floods the showrooms with its rays. In the evening, one lounges while admiring the lights of the metropolis.

Regardless of the hour, the modern, minimalist, yet intimate and welcoming atmosphere combines with a new kind of customer service. It invites each visitor to immerse themselves in the world of Mercedes-AMG inspired by motor racing. A world that marries luxury, power, passion, and emotion. Here, the emphasis is on the stars, the human, and the product, which occupy centre stage. The transactional aspect, for its part, is relegated to the background, behind the scenes. The purchasing process and taking possession are transformed into exclusive experiences, offering a foretaste of what awaits each future owner.