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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

B.C. auto mogul rolls in

Pattison group buys three local car businesses

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 01/10/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 01/10/2012 8:43 AM | Updates

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Frontier Toyota co-founder Marcel Thompson (right), general manager Rob Townsend at the Regent Avenue West store.

There's a new competitor entering the local auto retailing business, and it's a big one.

Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Auto Group has purchased Frontier Toyota, Frontier Subaru, and Frontier Autobody from Winnipeg's Thompson family for an undisclosed sum.

Jim Pattison Auto Group owns 18 dealerships in British Columbia and is part of the Jim Pattison Group, Canada's third-largest privately held company, with $7.2 billion in revenue in 2010 and more than 33,000 employees worldwide. The parent company is also involved in the outdoor signage, advertising, broadcasting, magazine distribution and food retail and distribution businesses.

While this is the auto group's first foray outside British Columbia, its president said it won't be the last.

Bill Harbottle, a native Winnipegger, said the company is looking to expand throughout Western Canada and wants to add more dealerships in Winnipeg, either through acquisition or by building stores of its own.

"We like Winnipeg. We like the stability of the economy and the market... and we see this as a good base from which we can grow in that market."

He said it's too soon to say how many dealerships the company would like to have here.

John Carey, co-owner of Focus Hyundai and immediate past-president of the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association, said he expects Pattison to acquire more dealerships here, because that's the trend in Canadian auto retailing.

"We (single-outlet dealerships) are an endangered species because of the big guys like the Pattison Group and the Birchwood (Automotive) Group," Carey said. "The little fish are slowly but surely getting gobbled up by the bigger fish."

He said the four largest auto-retailing groups in the city -- companies with five or more outlets -- own about 30 of the city's approximately 50 dealerships.

He predicted the day will come when there are no single-outlet operators left because of the high cost of owning and operating dealerships. Plus the auto manufacturers prefer bigger operators with deep pockets, he said.

"But I think that (the disappearance of single-outlet operators) is still a long way away. It's not something I expect to see in my lifetime."

Carey said he doesn't expect Pattison Auto Group's entry to upset the competitive balance in Winnipeg.

He said the car manufacturers have the final say on who owns their franchises, and they believe it's important to have healthy competition.

Although he wasn't surprised to hear Marcel and Val Thompson have sold, Carey said he thought the buyer would be local.

Marcel Thompson said they had about a half-dozen suitors for their operations, half of them from Manitoba. He said they chose Pattison Auto Group because they've known Harbottle for 30 years -- they launched their first dealership in 1976 -- and the two companies have similar operating philosophies. But more importantly, Pattison Auto Group was willing to retain all 120 Frontier employees, which he and his wife insisted upon.

"Nothing is going to change," he said. "The average customer walking through the door is not going to see any new faces."

Harbottle confirmed it will be business as usual at all three outlets after Pattison assumes ownership next Monday.

Thompson said his age, 73, and failing health were the main reasons for selling, but he plans to work one or two days a week at Frontier Toyota. Val Thompson has been out of the business for about five years. She used to oversee the Subaru dealership and the autobody shop.

He said their daughter, Denise Thompson, will stay as general manager of the Subaru dealership on Pembina Highway and Rob Townsend will remain general manager of the Toyota outlet on Regent Avenue West.

He said the family has retained ownership of the land and buildings and plans to build a $1-million, 6,000-square-foot addition to the 9,000-square-foot Subaru outlet this year, and a new 35,000-square-foot store for the Toyota dealership within the next five years.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 10, 2012 B3

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Updated on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 8:43 AM CST: New cutline

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