Giovanni started his career at T&T Honda in 2005. He spent 4 years there earning sales person of the year 3 of those 4 years. He then went on to take his fist management role at Calgary Honda as the Pre Owned Sales Manager. After 2 years of great experience he decided to try the Luxury market and join the team at Lexus Of Calgary. This was one of the highlights of Giovanni’s career. He loved the brand and clientele at Lexus and again was one of the top sales professionals in Canada 3 out of the 4 years he was there.
Giovanni then decided after 10 years in the business he would try and disrupt the industry and start a tech company geared towards skipping the dreaded sales process at the dealership. “Leapfrog.bid” was the first on line sales platform for consumers to purchase direct from the dealer in an automated fashion without any sales person right from the desktop or mobile device. Giovanni and his team proved their concept and was even featured on Dragons Den but after 3.5 years they wound the company down.
Giovanni pushed forward and came back to the retail side of the business and joined the team at Lonestar Mercedes Benz. He then got a call to take a role at a Hyundai as the General Sales Manager. It wasn’t his passion brand but it was a great opportunity and as life would have it, that is where Giovanni met his partner to be Giancarlo. They met in the parking lot and chatted about the luxury inventory Giancarlo had been seeing as he drove by for months and why those cars were at that store. Giovanni explained to him that it was his doing and that it came from the experience and passion for luxury performance cars. The two of them finished chatting and never saw each other again…..
Giovanni left Hyundai shortly after for an opportunity to join Mercedes Benz Downtown Calgary as a Sales Manager. Giovanni’s love for the brand and specifically the team at Mercedes Benz Downtown Calgary kept him there for 5 years where he enjoyed incredible success yet again! Including setting a National record in the history of the brand for the most pre owned units delivered in a single month.
The universe was not done with Giancarlo and Giovanni’s relationship just yet as Giovanni answered an on line request from a client who turned out to be Giancarlo. He asked Giovanni if he used to work at Hyundai and if perhaps he remembered that night they met. After a few conversations and a year and a half they decided to open 409 Performance Cars Ltd.
Giovanni’s extensive industry experience and common outlook on customer experience were the reasons Giancarlo was interested in partnering with him. They both have an extreme passion for cars and wanted to change the typical experience customer receive when shopping for their next car.