Texas auto dealer buys Porsche Fort Collins

Editor’s note: This report was updated to include information from Kelly Wolf.

FORT COLLINS — John Carroll was 15 years old and working for his father, Ed Carroll, when the family’s dealership sold its first Porsche. 

It was a model 911, and John, who was working part time washing vehicles and shuttling them around the sales lot, thinks he might have been in charge of getting it ready for that first Porsche customer in Fort Collins. 

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Now, 45 years and about 3,200 transactions later, the dealership has sold its last Porsche under Carroll’s ownership; Porche Fort Collins is now owned by the Houston-based IndiGo Auto Group — IndiGo’s first venture into Colorado.

Carroll sold the dealership, which represented about 25% of his company’s revenue, in order to make more room for Audi and Volkswagen operations, which are cramped on a lot with no room for expansion.

“I spent a lot of time looking for a dealership with the right culture for our employees and customers,” Carroll told BizWest. “So far, things are going well.”

The deal, details of which were not disclosed, closed May 1 but won’t be fully completed for a year or two as IndiGo builds a new dealership in the area, probably along Interstate 25. Carroll said he will continue to operate the Porsche dealership at his location until IndiGo is ready to go in its new location, at which time employees will transfer.

Ed Carroll Motors has a long history in Fort Collins, with the company starting its VW dealership in 1967, followed by the Audi dealership in 1974.  Porsche was added in 1979. The company had a Mitsubishi dealership for about 15 years but sold that a few years back. 

John Carroll grew up in the dealership and over time bought out his father. 

Carroll said IndiGo is a “first class business operation,” and its lineup of brands speaks to that.

While Houston based, the company has extensive operations in California and Missouri along with Texas. The Fort Collins venture is the company’s first in Colorado.

IndiGo specializes in luxury brands with names like these on its 27-dealership roster: Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Audi, Land Rover, Jaguar, McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, BMW, Volkswagen, Ferrari and Rimac. 

IndiGo CEO Kelly Wolf said the company focuses on luxury brands because “that’s what we know. We’ve wanted a narrow focus to provide a unique buying experience and unique ownership experience.” Wolf told BizWest that the Fort Collins dealership will be the company’s seventh Porsche dealership with an eighth Porsche store opening next month in Little Rock, Arkansas. Wolf’s first dealership was Porsche North Houston. Porsche “is the core of our operation,” he said.

Colorado is “a fantastic market,” Wolf said. He does not yet have a site for where he’ll move the dealership but expects it to be a 45,000-square-foot facility once it is built.