22 Business View - May 2015
Family-Owned Since 1961
Findlay Automotive Group approach evolves as times change
It was simple then, and it’s simple now. Even though
it’s different.
Findlay Automotive Group’s aim has long been to meet
the wants, needs and requirements of its customers –
a mandate that began when the operation was found-
ed as a single dealership by Pete Findlay in 1961 and
one that’s persisted through generational evolutions
of technology that have since occurred as the busi-
ness has expanded into multiple locations across five
states.
The bulk of the growth has occurred since 1990, when
Findlay’s son, Cliff, took over from his retired father. A
second dealership was added at that point when the
group was awarded a Saturn franchise, a transaction
that triggered a subsequent stretch of even greater de-
velopment.
“I don’t know how much is by design,” said Tyler Cord-
er, the company’s CEO and chief financial officer since
1994. “I don’t think we would have sat here 25 years
and thought we would have grown this much. It’s been
somewhat by circumstance and somewhat by desire to
continue to grow.”
That growth has yielded a current roster of 28 dealer-
ships in five states that generate a combined revenue
of more than $1.5 billion with a workforce of just more
than 1,500 employees. Two dealerships were added
in 2014, and Corder said 10 or 12 dealerships have
been added in the last seven or eight years – at a time
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