• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, December 18, 2007 12 PM

Several dealership chains have begun giving their luxury-car showrooms multimillion-dollar makeovers with the goals of creating the look and feel of five-star hotels for customers, increasing the dealerships' car allocations and even making it less likely that rival dealerships will pop up nearby.

AutoNation, for example, recently opened a gleaming glass-and-stone Lexus store in Palm Beach with a sales floor made of polished porcelain tile. Walls and counters are accented with cherry and bird's-eye maple veneer. "Guests"--as Lexus calls its customers--leave their cars with a valet and are then guided by a personal concierge to a European-style coffee bar offering complimentary java and a selection of pastries prepared by a chef trained in Rome.

The rise of super-luxury dealerships reflects the country's growing ranks of wealthy individuals and the ways companies are trying to cater to them. At hotels, for example, five stars are now nearly passé, with more and more six- and seven-star properties cropping up around the world.

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