{"id":83,"date":"2010-03-20T00:16:10","date_gmt":"2010-03-20T00:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/20\/glow-rider-transormer-hummer-h2-limousine-as-a-mega-luxe-ride\/"},"modified":"2010-03-20T00:16:10","modified_gmt":"2010-03-20T00:16:10","slug":"glow-rider-transormer-hummer-h2-limousine-as-a-mega-luxe-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/glow-rider-transormer-hummer-h2-limousine-as-a-mega-luxe-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Glow Rider \u2013 Transormer Hummer H2 Limousine as a Mega-luxe ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mega-luxe ride redefines the limo biz<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Ambrose Clancy
\nPublished in Long Island Business News: February 26, 2010<\/p>\n

Thinking about making an impressive entrance?<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an idea: Pull up in a 40- foot-long, 9-foot-high snow-white limo. Glide to a stop opening all three \u201cjet doors\u201d which are hinged at the top so they open up, not out. Smoke wafts to the street from the teak wood inlaid dance floor, complete with center pole where even partiers over 6 feet can stand up straight to boogie. Wrapped in a billowing fog cut by lasers, you step out with your favorite sound deafening all before it at 2,000 watts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, be sure to have 24 of your friends ready to exit, including the five who are lounging on the rear, open-air patio.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you can wait six weeks for a booking, the H2 Hummer limo, dubbed \u201cThe Transformer\u201d and brought to you by Royal Luxury Limousine, is all yours for $300 an hour. With the local New York limousine<\/a> business trying to stay out of a recession-created ditch, there\u2019s method in the unique madness of The Transformer, said Mark Bauer. The one-of-a-kind ride was created by Royal Limo and put together by a Brooklyn shop (Top Limo NY Coachbuilders)\u00a0 for about $300,000. Jaws having been dropping at the sight of the thing for the past two months.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to come up with something different, something people haven\u2019t seen before, to stay afloat,\u201d said Bauer, who owns 10 vehicles serving New York City, Long Island, Westchester and New Jersey. \u201cAnd if you can stay afloat, you\u2019ll make it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He buys new vehicles every year, he said. Joining The Transformer is an Audi Q7 limo which features a fish tank and fireplace.<\/em><\/p>\n

The limousine business lost up to 40 percent from corporate clients slashing budgets last year and about 25 percent from weddings, said Matt Silver, vice president of The Nassau Suffolk Limousine Association, representing about 100 companies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Silver noted that Long Island has crashed even harder than the rest of the country because of the dense population and the number of firms operating here.<\/em><\/p>\n

But he has seen a pick-up of about 5 percent this year over last so there are signs the limo business might be back in gear.<\/em><\/p>\n

In another marketing boost, Royal Luxury Limousine is taking center stage in two reality TV shows currently shooting and debuting this spring. One of them is America’s Next Top Model. <\/em><\/p>\n

Business has been off but is beginning to come back, he said. \u201cPeople are always going to get married.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Driver Dominick Bonilla said he still isn\u2019t quite used to the public\u2019s reaction to The Hummer Transformer. \u201cEvery time out it\u2019s an adventure,\u201d Bonilla said from behind the wheel of the behemoth.<\/em><\/p>\n

He described cruising Times Square with the windows open, the music pumping and the back patio full of partiers, as driving through a dream.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWherever we go, people flock to us like we have the cure for the plague or something,\u201d Bonilla said.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mega-luxe ride redefines the limo biz by Ambrose Clancy Published in Long Island Business News: February 26, 2010 Thinking about making an impressive entrance? Here\u2019s an idea: Pull up in a 40- foot-long, 9-foot-high snow-white limo. Glide to a stop opening all three \u201cjet doors\u201d which are hinged at the top so they open up, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Glow Rider \u2013 Transormer Hummer H2 Limousine as a Mega-luxe ride”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[67,68,45,26,27,38,69],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-limousines","category-uncategorized","tag-glow-rider","tag-h2","tag-hummer","tag-limo","tag-limousine","tag-prom","tag-transformer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.royaluxury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}