Inaugural showcase of luxury autos attracts, connects passionate fans
Story by Leo Adam Biga // Photography by Bill Sitzmann
Luxury Car dealer ONYX Automotive partnered with Jamal Rahmanzai of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services for its first car show, the free Supercar Saturday Pop-Up, held August 20.
Owners of collectible cars with built-in cool showed off their freshly polished Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and other sweet rides at ONYX’s showroom and lot in Heartwood Preserve.
A solid turnout of about 200 show cars and 800 spectators pleased show organizers. Attendees included many families with children, and food trucks fed the masses while they browsed.
“We’re super excited by how it went,” ONYX general manager Drew Friesen said. “The feedback from everybody was phenomenal. The owners who brought in their cars really appreciated the space. The spectators loved all the cars. ONYX employees who staffed the event thought it was the neatest thing. They all felt it was a very rewarding time. The coolest part was some high school-aged kids expressing interest in pursuing automotive technician careers. I thought that was just awesome.”
Friesen said it just made sense for ONYX, which represents BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and MINI vehicles, to host a car show like this.
“We’re a high-line luxury brands dealership, and the cars at the show were high-line luxury brands. There’s not a current dealer [in Omaha] doing any sort of auto show featuring cars like this. We feel like those car enthusiasts and collectors are our customers.”
Rahmanzai agreed: “A lot of our fans have shopped with ONYX before and are familiar with them, which is why it built a lot of excitement for our Supercar Saturday Pop-Up there. They’re a great local neighbor. They have the perfect parking lot and dealership showroom for showing the cars.”
Luxury and exotic car culture fans got their fill, courtesy of collectors.
“Owners of these very limited, rare vehicles were gracious enough to bring them out to the car show to show off to fellow car enthusiasts and spectators,” Rahmanzai said, who’s organized specialty car shows under the Supercar Saturday name since 2020. He and Friesen share a passion for high-end sports cars, luxury cars, and anything rare on four wheels, so they decided to export Supercar Saturday from Berkshire to ONYX and host the pop-up event.
Naturally, spectators toured the cars that piqued their interests and tastes, taking photos and videos, and chatting with proud owners. Some lucky spectators, including kids, got to sit behind the wheel and start the engine of select vehicles. The Lamborghinis got the most love from kids and adults.
These car-centric celebrations, Rahmanzai said, “bring everyone together over the same passion and hobby.”
Rahmanzai’s well-curated events distinguish them from run-of-the-mill auto shows.
“Something we get a lot of compliments on is our organization with certain rows for certain cars, including a nice mix of domestic, European, Japanese lines of cars and then exotic cars.”
From the perspective of Friesen, the event checked off several boxes for ONYX, including the goals of forging relationships with classic car fans and building brand appreciation.
“We raised some awareness for what the BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mini brands have to offer,” he said. “There are people out there collecting our brands, so it was an opportunity for like-minded people to engage with each other. We hope it leads to starting clubs around those vehicles to show off their cars and come together as a community.”
Friesen and company used the pop-up to inform owners and guests that ONYX buys collector edition cars and acts as a broker for clients trying to locate rare cars.
ONYX also treated the event as an open house to show off its own wares.
“We got to show people the other side of luxury,” Friesen said. “When people think of automotive luxury, they think of the cars themselves. But luxury has way more to do with the service provided. This event gave folks an opportunity to come into our establishment, look around, see peer cars, get to know our staff, and check out our service drives and facilities to see how we are ready to take care of automotive needs.”
“We offer 100 different loaner cars and same-day service repair. We have three service drives—BMW, Mini, and Land Rover-Jaguar. We have three richly appointed selling floors. We’ve overstaffed to make sure no customer is ever waiting.”
With the pop-up being such a success at ONYX, Rahmanzai expects more events there to follow, possibly both a spring and fall show in 2023.
“ONYX allowed the best experience for the cars, car show enthusiasts, and spectators,” Rahmanzai said. “ONYX’s hospitality was great. They had all hands on board, which really helped with parking and just accommodating people with water and things.”
Holding more Supercar Saturdays is a win-win for car enthusiasts and ONYX alike, organizers and attendees agree.
“We see it as a good fit and partnership,” Friesen said. “Eventually maybe this turns into, yes, an exotic show, but also a classic show for our brands.”
