New London — Whaling City Motors, a one-family business that took root in the city more than six decades ago under the leadership of Holocaust survivor Sigmund Strochlitz, has been sold to a new ownership team with decades of experience in the car industry.

Partners Filippo Marchionne of Westerly and Shawna Renna of Brookfield announced the change of ownership and a name change to Whaling City Motor Group last week, having taken over from Strochlitz's daughter and son-in-law Romana and Charles Primus on July 30. Marchionne, the company president, had been working as general manager at Whaling City for the past two years; Renna, now vice president, joined the business a few months ago in a financial position.

"We loved working at Whaling City, but it was time," Charles Primus said in a phone interview Friday. 

"We think (they're) going to do a great job," Romana Primus added. "We wouldn't sell it to just anybody."

"I've changed a few small things," said Marchionne, sitting at a desk behind which the late Strochlitz's picture is still displayed prominently, "but I operate the same way they did. ... It's about the ease of doing business, customer service, fully transparent transactions, giving people all the information. The old way of doing business (in the car industry) is really gone."

"Reputation is everything to us," he added, quoting Warren Buffett's line, "It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only 10 minutes to ruin it."

Renna said response time is also key in the current online environment. The idea is to respond within 10 minutes to an inquiry about a car.

"If you don't respond, they're gone," she said.

The long-winded sales pitch also is largely a thing of the past, they said. In many cases, people order cars online, come in to sign papers and then are gone. Or they ask for the car to be delivered, sight unseen.

Marchionne reported that the transition to new ownership has been smooth. Nearly all of the employees from the Primus team have stayed on, he added, and several others received promotions. People who stayed on retained their seniority, he said, which in some cases included two decades or more.

Marchionne, 40, grew up in the car business, tagging along after his father, who also spent years as general manager of car dealerships along the Eastern Seaboard. Together, they helped rescue distressed dealerships, he said, and it didn't take long before he landed his first general manager position about a decade ago. He said the Primuses reached out to him to take over Whaling City after he left his previous job.

Now, he is in charge of 52 employees, with hopes of hiring more in almost every part of the business: sales, service, parts and body shop. The plan down the road is to open more stand-alone dealerships, perhaps including different car brands at different locations, hence the name change to "auto group."

"We believe in this climate if you're not growing, you're closing," Marchionne said. "But we want to grow in the right way."

COVID-19 challenges

Whaling City started as a Ford dealership, but now also sells Mazdas and Lincolns, along with a host of used cars. The first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic were hard on the car industry, Marchionne said, since several plants were converted to manufacture ventilators and personal protective equipment, so production of vehicles slowed. But things are picking up, he added, and he's excited about such new products as the reimagined Ford Bronco and the all-electric Mustang Marquis — Whaling City will soon be installing charging stations on-site.

Of course, the pandemic created other challenges, including the forced closure of the dealership showroom for a time. But everything is open now, with Plexiglas installed between workstations, everyone wearing masks and cleaning of the showroom at least four times a day.

"We're changing with the times," Marchionne said.

But he hasn't forgotten about fun. Each time a car is sold, the new owners get to whack a large gong installed in Marchionne's office.

"We give everyone an experience that they don't want to forget," he said.

Marchionne said he likes being in the center of New London's car dealership row, with 16 other new-car sellers all around him. The dealership's location just off Interstate 95 makes it easy to get here from as far away as New Haven and Providence in an hour or less.

"This is a great car market," he added.

And the market is good despite the pandemic and low inventory. Marchionne said a low supply of used cars has brought business from as far away as Fairfield County and Long Island. What's more, with city dwellers moving to the suburbs, there is a new market for cars among people who have never needed them before, he said.

"I've had 40-, 50- and 60-year-olds buy their first car," Marchionne said. "We're pulling from everywhere."

Passing on a legacy

Whaling City Ford dates back to 1957, when Strochlitz, a survivor of Auschwitz, decided to relocate from Long Island to New London to open a dealership downtown on Main Street (now Eugene O'Neill Drive). A decade later, he moved the dealership to its current location at the corner of Broad and Colman streets.

Strochlitz died in 2006, working almost to the end, and his daughter and son-in-law took over the business. They quickly modernized, adding the Mazda and Lincoln brands, improving the showroom, repair shop and waiting rooms and expanding the Whaling City footprint to the heavily traveled city corner by acquiring and leasing properties to gain a more prominent piece of the region's car corner.

Romana Primus said she will stay busy as president of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, and Charles added that they have a number of nonprofit projects that they plan to spearhead, as well.

"We expect to be pretty busy," he said.

The Primuses are happy to be leaving the business to someone who understands what a special place it is and has a similar view of how to treat customers, they said.

"It's never easy to give up a legacy, but we really think in Filippo we've found a person who understands that legacy," Romana Primus said.

l.howard@theday.com