New Otto’s BMW showroom an example of the company’s evolution to the ‘five-star hotel of the car dealership world’
Otto Koller could hardly have imagined the future that awaited him when he left his native Switzerland for the vast expanse that was Canada in 1959.
An automotive technician with a passion for BMW, he had $500 in his pocket and dreams of a car dealership in his head when he arrived in the capital. From such humble beginnings, he built a thriving family business rooted in integrity, inclusiveness and excellence.
More than half a century later, daughter Sonia Koller, Otto’s dealer principal, casts an eye over the family’s newly renovated Otto’s BMW on Hunt Club Road and declares that, without a shadow of a doubt, her late father “would be proud.”
The new space is more than double the size of its predecessor, including an allnew second level, nine service drive-throughs and 24 service bays with big windows through which clients can view the art and magic of man and technology.
A parade of 16 gleaming new models forms two impressive lines down the middle of the bright, expansive showroom floor, along with some vintage favourites like the fronthatched, fire-engine red Isetta — a 1950s commuter car ahead of its time.
“It’s the next chapter of our history,” Sonia Koller says of the new digs. “I want it to be kind of the five-star hotel of the car dealership world with a downto-earth approach. It’s not a pretentious thing. We’re here to serve our clients, every single one of us.”
Otto’s BMW has a café with home-baked pastries and a zinger of a coffee machine, a 28-seat client lounge, a business centre, a merchandise boutique and a kids’ area, complete with toys and tablets.
Some customers have followed the family business since the days of the Kollers’ original White Rose gas station at Kirkwood and Carling, where Otto wrenched on cars while his bride and business partner, Huguette, pumped gas — the city’s first female gas station attendant, a novelty in and of itself.
Like family, those longtime customers have watched Sonia grow and shine under the tutelage of her parents.
“For me, our business is very much a family business,” says Sonia, whose husband helps to run the dealership. “Our clients are also very much part of our family. It’s very important to me that we’re transparent, and I wanted to bring a lot of that transparency into this building.
“It’s very open. Everybody can see each other; everybody can help each other.”
Otto’s passion is still evident today. The business’s rich history, the guiding principles it still follows, and the relationships it has nurtured over the decades have shaped the Otto’s brand into a dealership unlike any other, where client experience is the foundation of all that they do.
Otto’s BMW is located at 660 Hunt Club Rd. For more information, visit www. bmwottos.ca.