Chrysler store in Utah loses reinstatement bid

In an arbitration case involving National Automobile Dealers Association Vice Chairman Stephen Wade, Chrysler prevailed over a terminated Utah dealership found to have inadequate profits, sales and repair service. Read More »
Moran: Always thinking
Jim Moran had a Midas touch in business. The Chicago dealer died in 2007 at age 88, leaving behind the diversified JM Family Enterprises and a net worth of $2.4 billion. ...
Jackson, Maroone: Innovative and influential
Not only have Mike Jackson and Michael Maroone made AutoNation Inc. the biggest auto dealership group, they have made it one of the most innovative and influential as wel ...
Brown: Power to the employees
Before he sold Brown & Brown Chevrolet to AutoNation in 1998, Henry Brown was the nation's No. 1 Chevy dealer. In the mid-1990s he sold more than 8,000 new cars a year at ...
Rohrman: Built import empire in the heartland
In 1969, Bob Rohrman was the ambitious owner of a used-car lot in Lafayette, Ind., when Toyota Motor Corp. came knocking. Although steeped in buying and selling vehicles ...
Spitzer: 'I want to sell you a car now'
John A. Spitzer's introduction to auto retailing came in 1939. His father assigned the new Ohio State graduate to shut down a money-losing DeSoto dealership in Grafton, O ...
Sewell: He wrote the bible on customer loyalty
Carl Sewell Jr. is a dealer, a builder, a brand maker and a fanatic when it comes to satisfying customers. ...
Roberts: First black franchisee
In the 1920s, Homer Roberts was the first black entrepreneur to operate a new-car franchise, his biographer asserts -- even though few people in the U.S. auto industry ha ...
Stillman: He'd go door-to-door, inviting families to come outside for a demonstration
Stillman & Hoag was more than an institution in New Jersey; it was an icon that sold Buicks in and around Englewood for 90 years. Walter W. Stillman took over the dealers ...
Sage: Listened to Mr. K talk about the Z
Forty years ago, Morrie Sage wanted a Toyota store so badly he could taste it. But Yutaka Katayama, the first president of Nissan's U.S. operations and the father of the ...
Huddy Hyman got Smart after waxing about Saturn
Huddy Hyman is amused to see U.S. auto dealers selling the tiny Smart car. That's because the Richmond, Va., area Saturn and Land Rover dealer helped bring the European b ...
Draper: Renaissance dealer
In the old, old days, if you wanted to drive a car, you had to lay the money on the line or persuade a bank or finance company to lend it to you. Harold Draper figured th ...
Hughson: An early believer
Billy Hughson didn't even know what an automobile was when he met Henry Ford at a bicycle show in Chicago in 1902. Not only did Ford tell Hughson about his plans for a ho ...
Qvale: Pure passion for the products of Europe
If not for Kjell Qvale (shel kah-VAH'-lee), many European auto brands never would have made it in the United States. ...
Landers: How to use capital, clout and connections
Steve Landers was a 17-year-old newlywed when he got his first job nearly four decades ago selling new cars and trucks at a Ford dealership in Little Rock, Ark. Landers c ...
Whalley: Early megadealer
J. Irving Whalley espoused this attitude: "If you want it, go after it." As an auto dealer and a politician, he practiced what he preached. At age 14, Whalley went to wor ...
Worthington: 'Probably the best-known car dealer pitchman in television history'
Cal Worthington's slapstick "Go See Cal" advertisements on radio and TV took dealership marketing to new levels of both wackiness and effectiveness. Worthington became fa ...
Chavez built biggest Hispanic auto retailer group
The Burt Automotive Network dealership group is named for dealer Nate Burt, who opened Burt Chevrolet in Denver in 1939. But it was Lloyd Chavez Sr. who built Burt Automo ...
Reedman: Shuttle buses to the showroom
Dealer Ralph Reedman Jr. pioneered the auto mall, operating as many as 17 new-vehicle franchises and regularly selling 60,000 cars and trucks a year from under his single ...
Pohanka: Sold Olds, Fiat on same floor
In 1956, Jack Pohanka added a Fiat franchise to his Oldsmobile dealership in Washington, selling both brands on the same showroom floor. It was a bold stroke because in t ...
Firebrand Ron Tonkin fought for dealer rights
The word "firebrand" isn't always a compliment, but Ron Tonkin wears it as a badge of honor. The septuagenarian owner of the multifranchise dealership group that bears hi ...
Metzger: Dealer No. 1 and originator of the auto show
William Metzger could -- and did -- sell just about anything on wheels: bicycles, electric cars, steamers and, finally, gasoline-powered vehicles. In the process, he beca ...
Hoffman led European car invasion on U.S. shores
Max Hoffman brought European nameplates to the United States long before the brands themselves began to eye what has become one of their biggest global markets. Not all o ...
Davis blazed a trail for black dealers
Ed Davis often is credited with being something he wasn't -- the first African-American franchised auto dealer. But Davis was the first black dealer to earn a Detroit 3 f ...
Wood: A hillside full of trucks
When James Wood of Decatur, Texas, became a GMC dealer in 1978, he saw the need for maintaining a large inventory even though he was serving a rural market. "People want ...
Wilson: Employees come first
David Wilson doesn't care about the customer. Take care of the employee, he says, and the rest will take care of itself. "I can't personally take care of 9,000 customers, ...
Mullinax: The first one-price, no-haggle guy
In 1975, car dealers in the Cleveland-Akron market started opening their showrooms on Sunday. To stand out, dealer Ed Mullinax knew he would need to try an even more radi ...
The Van Tuyls: Independent-minded
Cecil Van Tuyl, the 82-year-old patriarch of the nation's largest private dealership group, explains why he has no interest in taking his company public. As a private ent ...
Hendrick: Who needs an IPO?
In the days before the publicly traded dealership groups arrived in the 1990s, Rick Hendrick managed to become the nation's biggest auto retailer without selling a share ...
Yager: He was fearless
M.H. "Doc" Yager, a Pontiac dealer in Albany, N.Y., took on mighty General Motors in 1955. Yager won. ...
Jones: Built the nation's largest parts remanufacturing business
In 1916, a 24-year-old newcomer to Oklahoma City named Fred Jones became the first worker to punch the time clock at Ford Motor Co.'s new assembly plant there. ...
Potamkin: A different kind of Cadillac dealer
Just about everyone in New York had heard of Victor Potamkin. Potamkin's wife, Luba, appeared on local TV nearly every night for years, clad in a ball gown and hawking Ca ...
Mallon: Taking kindness coast to coast
Auto dealers traditionally have been among the most generous donors to charities in their communities. In the mid-1970s, Bob Mallon, a Ford dealer in Tacoma, Wash. ...
Swope, the supersizer
In his 58 years as a dealer, Sam Swope has been an early adopter of new brands (he added Toyota in 1967) and new trends. One idea was to combine franchises and dealership ...
Longo built world's biggest dealership from scratch
In 1967, Dominic Longo opened El Monte Toyota in suburban Los Angeles with five employees. By the end of that year he was the top-selling Toyota dealer in the United Stat ...
Hancock: Put power in dealers' hands
Amid America's turbulent politics of the 1970s, Billy Hancock was frustrated that auto dealers weren't getting a fair shake from the federal government. ...
Owen made it on Broadway
As New York City's first car dealer, Percy Owen earns special notice in the annals of auto retailing. The Broadway showroom he opened in 1899 while in his mid-20s display ...
Stetler: The first dealer with a fancy store
Nearly a century after Dan Stetler opened his Dodge dealership in south central Pennsylvania, his third-generation descendants still cite his business philosophy: "Treat ...
Saturn's sales approach gave Serra an idea
A light bulb switched on above Joe Serra's head when Saturn arrived on the market in 1990. Customers liked Saturn's low-pressure, one-price, no-haggle approach. ...
White: Managed a far-flung empire
When Ohio dealer James F. White assembled his network of Chevrolet dealerships in the 1950s and 1960s, centralized ownership and operation of multiple stores in various m ...
McHale: A trendsetter in operations
Steve Kendrick, executive general manager of Infiniti and Subaru stores in Duluth, Ga., has been in auto retailing for 35 years. He studied the day-to-day operations of m ...
DeBoer: Snapped up struggling stores in small markets
When Sid DeBoer took over his family's Chrysler-Dodge dealership in Ashland, Ore., in 1968, he laid the foundation for an auto retail group that would be among the first ...
Eva Jewell overcame a ludicrous notion -- that she could be a dealer
Eva Jewell got her start in the auto business in the 1920s, selling cars at a Willys-Overland dealer in Antigo, Wis. She was so proficient that the dealer left much of th ...
Conant: Don't make buyers look foolish
At age 13, Dave Conant began working as a motorcycle mechanic in his native Wisconsin. "I could tear down and rebuild engines faster than anyone else," he said. That was ...
Allen: A genius for promotion
The motto of Don Allen's 16 dealerships was: "We are never satisfied until you are." Allen's definition of customer satisfaction included a big helping of show business a ...
Mullane: 'Irascible' champion of dealer rights
During his long and colorful career in auto retailing, Ed Mullane called Ford Motor Co. executives "barbarians," "dictators," "arrogant," "greedy" and "full of crap." And ...
Pimping rides: Boeckmann's stroke of genius
"If you really like people, and I genuinely do, you can keep the customers for generations," says Bert Boeckmann, the No. 1 Ford dealer in the world for the past 19 years ...
The boisterous Bochs: 'If I'm the sharpest knife in the drawer, we have a problem'
It wasn't until 1984 that car dealers in Massachusetts could sell cars on Sunday. But the Boch dealerships, located just south of Boston on Route 1, had kept their doors ...
Penske: Takes chances, picks winners
Roger Penske gave up driving race cars to become an auto dealer, but he never abandoned his will to win. The 72-year-old billionaire heads Penske Automotive Group, one of ...
Huizenga single-handedly elevated the value of car dealerships
H. Wayne Huizenga wasn't the first to conceive of publicly owned auto dealerships, but his vision was grander than that of any of his rivals. That's why, more than any ot ...