Jason Pittack wants to shift Colorado’s only Ferrari dealership into high gear.
Last month, the CEO of Nebraska’s Woodhouse Auto Family purchased Ferrari of Denver, 1480 E. County Line Road in Highlands Ranch, from publicly traded Lithia Motors Inc.
He told customers that the biggest change they’ll notice is what they can buy.
“They were stocking the most mass-produced models. We’re plugging the rest of the lineup with the hard-to-acquire, hard-to-find, difficult-to-source models,” Pittack said.
The 50-year-old bought the dealership personally, not through his company. Ferrari prefers family and individual ownership, he said.
In the first two weeks since closing the deal May 28, Pittack said he sold 17 cars, more than double the eight that Lithia sold there in its final month of operations.
The unique models Pittack has rolled onto the lot span classic favorites to modern rarities. There’s everything from a white “Miami Vice” 1988 Testarossa to the 1,016-horsepower SF90 XX Stradale, Ferrari’s first road-legal vehicle in its extreme XX program.
Other newcomers include a 2009 F430 16M, one of 499 ever made. There are also some quirky non-Ferrari vehicles that have rolled on and off the lot. Pittack has sold a 1960 Aston Martin DB4, for instance.
“It’s been pretty darn crazy. At the end of the month, I think Ferrari and everybody is going to be surprised by how well everything is going,” he said.
Pittack got his start washing cars in junior high at a small-town Ford and Chrysler dealership where his father worked. He has since climbed the ranks from salesman to CEO.
Pittack bought his first Ferrari 15 years ago, a 2011 white 599 HGTE. He has six now, but has owned about 30 in all. He buys them from one of the country’s largest dealerships, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and gets them serviced in the suburbs of Chicago. Many of the cars he sells go for far more than he paid, he said.
Pittack said the connections he’s built within the supercar brand have helped him quickly acquire hard-to-find models for his new dealership.
He paid $12.5 million for the dealership’s real estate, property records show. Pittack said he paid an additional sum for the business itself, but declined to disclose the cost.
The dealership may not stay in Highlands Ranch. Pittack said he’s exploring moving the business elsewhere within the region.
Before closing on the business, he tried to buy a Denver-area dealership for Woodhouse Auto Family, which has 1,600 employees and 27 rooftops, with two in Iowa and the rest in Nebraska.
That deal to bring Woodhouse to Denver fell through. But shortly after, the opportunity to purchase the Ferrari dealership popped up, and Pittack jumped at the opportunity. He said he’d been vetted by Ferrari as a potential dealership owner five years ago; the brand is particular about who can sell its cars.
He’s since moved to the area from Nebraska. He bought a mansion in Cherry Hills Village in January for $9.3 million, the top local sale that month.
“This gives me an opportunity to jump back in at a store level. … My office is a high-top table in the middle of the showroom floor,” he added.
While Pittack is bringing in more exotic Ferraris, they can’t be purchased by just anyone. The brand is discerning in who can buy its best cars, so already owning its more common vehicles is a must.
“The more robust and more special their portfolio is, the more likely they are to qualify for a special car,” Pittack said.
The least expensive car on the lot currently is a 2014 Ferrari California with 28,000 miles, retailing at $100,000. The priciest car listed on the dealership’s website is a $950,000 2022 Ferrari 812 GTS with 3,000 miles.
Buyers of the most high-end vehicles can often sell them for hefty profit. Some that retail around $1 million can see their value shoot up to over $10 million, thanks to a limited pool of people who can buy the car new.
And that’s the No. 1 objective that the gearhead has for his newly bought dealership, to sell more cool Ferraris to the people. And how does he know that’s the right play? Well, because he’s one of those people.
“I’ve been on the client side of Ferrari for many years, and to have the chance to do this is a dream come true,” he said.
