Park Place Lexus Named 2005 Malcolm Baldrige Award Winner

DALLAS--Nov.22, 2005--Park Place Lexus has been named the 2005 Award recipient, Small Business category, for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest level of national recognition for excellence. Park Place is the only automobile dealer to ever win this prestigious Presidential award.

"Receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is the greatest honor a business can receive," stated Ken Schnitzer, chairman of Park Place Dealerships. "The Park Place Lexus team exemplifies the commitment we have for our clients, members, and vendors to provide exceptional service in every area of our dealerships. This award is a reflection of the day-to-day processes that Park Place Lexus has implemented to ensure quality and performance of the highest level."

President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez announced today the recipients of the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's only Presidential award for quality and organizational performance excellence.

The 2005 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from among 64 applicants. All six recipients were evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas including, leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results.

"This award belongs to each and every member at Park Place Lexus," said Jordan Case, president of Park Place Lexus. "You cannot reach this level without the entire support of every member at our Grapevine and Plano dealerships. Since our inception, we have stressed that our 'employees' are 'members' because they are each an integral part of our organization. Our members have consistently risen to the highest standards in our quest for excellence. This award is the culmination of those efforts."

Park Place Lexus, which employs 420 members, received this award for its consistent quality and performance results. Both the Plano and Grapevine locations have maintained a consistently low member turnover rate of 22 percent for the past three years. The average turnover rate in the southwest area is 55 percent.

In 2003, Park Place Lexus Plano was named the exclusive recipient of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence, a recognition of Texas organizations that excel in performance excellence, quality, and customer satisfaction. Last year, Park Place Lexus Grapevine was the highest rated Lexus dealership in the nation with a new car client satisfaction index (CSI) of 99.8 percent.

A key measure of market performance for Park Place Lexus is sales volume. Out of 213 Lexus dealers in the nation, the Lexus Retail Sales Report for 2004 ranks Park Place Lexus Plano number seven with 3,242 new car sales in 2004 and Park Place Lexus Grapevine at 27 with 2,339 new car sales in 2004.

Programs such as the Park Place Lexus "50/50 committee meetings" are an open forum where members devote 50 percent of the time to ideas and concerns and 50 percent to solutions, allowing members to not only point out problems but also provide solutions.

Park Place Lexus also gives back to the community with sponsorships such as the Texas Rangers Foundation, Children's Medical Center, Crystal Charity Ball, and numerous children's charities in North Texas. In addition, members generously give of their time and money to support programs such as Adopt-a-Soldier, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Tsunami Relief, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Founded in 1987, Park Place Dealerships is comprised of nine dealerships in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. In addition to Lexus, Park Place represents luxury brands including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Land Rover and Jaguar.

More information on Park Place Dealerships is available at www.parkplacetexas.com.