Wilson Automotive Group in Orange was the only one of six area auto dealership groups to report a sales increase on this week’s list of OC’s biggest private companies.
It posted revenue of $2.2 billion across its 17 dealerships for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018, up about 2% year-over-year—good for No. 12 on the Business Journal’s annual ranking (see page 28)
It’s one of the largest U.S. car sellers and its dealerships include Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Ford, Acura and Mazda locations. The group grew its employee count to nearly 1,200 locally and 2,000 companywide.
It got its start in 1983 when Wilson, who grew up in Iowa, became general manager of Toyota of Orange, buying a 25% stake in the dealership. He quickly moved the needle from 2,500 vehicles and $30 million a year in sales to nearly 10,000 units and more than $200 million in sales.
The flagship dealership’s onsite inventory now sprawls onto parking lots at an ex-bowling alley across Tustin Avenue and a former crafts and sewing products shop that moved to a new location.
Dealing
While 2018 marked the sixth consecutive year new car registrations locally exceeded 165,000 units—“a strong total for the county market”—the new vehicle market declined 2.4% last year to just under 181,000 cars, according to the Orange County Auto Dealers Association in Newport Beach.
Local car lots are dealing with that dip.
Tuttle-Click Automotive Group in Irvine reported a 4% drop to $926 million in revenue, though it added 60 workers to its local total of 490, and more than 200 to its nearly 1,600 companywide.
Tuttle-Click ranked No. 26 among the area’s top private companies.
Shelly Automotive Group in Irvine ranked No. 31 on the list, with about $692 million in sales, a 7% dip for the firm that runs Irvine BMW, Mini Irvine, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Orange County, and a few out of town dealers, according to the list.
Irvine’s Piercey Automotive Group placed No. 33, with revenue declining 18% to $629 million. OC workers fell by 14% to 194; but companywide it added 44 to top 800 employees.
Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel, No. 75, and Elmore Toyota in Westminster, which placed at No. 103, were also on the Business Journal’s list with an estimated revenue of $242 million and $111 million, respectively.
AAA Growth
Ranked auto dealers combined generate some $5 billion in revenue or about 5% of listed largest private companies.
But if tough 2018 results for the firms reflect stop-and-go business traffic in that industry here, revenue at OC’s No. 4 private company suggests there’s plenty of open road to travel.
Automobile Club of Southern California reported 11% growth last year, to $6.6 billion.
The vehicle and driver advocacy group, which offers insurance and other financial and auto services to its members, counts nearly 3,500 people at its sprawling headquarters complex in Costa Mesa.
