Automobile Sales Jump at Leading Dealerships

Sales were up by at least 10 percent at the Top 5 automobile dealerships on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s annual list.

rLewis Automotive Group topped the list with $126 million in revenue, a 12.9 percent jump from last year’s $111.6 million.

rIn addition to Lewis Ford and Lewis Chrysler, the company also owns Springdale Ford, Budget Rent-A-Car Sales in Springdale and Lakeland Marine (which sells primarily Bayliners and Tracker motorboats).

rThe Lewis automobile empire dates to 1945 when Herbert A. Lewis Sr., a banker, purchased half of Abshier-Bryan Ford for $30,000.

rThe name was changed to Lewis Ford in 1951, the year Tom Lewis, Herbert’s son, started working for the company as a car washer. Tom is now chairman of the board of Lewis Management Inc., which oversees the operation of the automobile dealerships and a real estate business.

rSuperior Automotive Group would have been No. 1 on our list this year, but the company refused to release any sales figures for 1999. Last year, the Business Journal had Superior with $200 million in revenue for 1998.

rSuperior added Daewoo to its line of vehicles this year. Superior also has Pontiac, Cadillac, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Kia, Mazda, Ford, Mercury, Chevrolet and Oldsmobile dealerships in Northwest Arkansas. The Ford dealership is in Siloam Springs, and the Mazda dealership is in Springdale. Otherwise, the rest of the lines mentioned above are sold through Superior’s car lots in Fayetteville. Superior also has Nissan dealerships in Conway and Tupelo, Miss.

rIn contrast to Superior, which has dealerships spread throughout the area, Don Nelms has consolidated Nelms Auto Stores Inc. at one 34-acre location on Interstate 540 in Fayetteville.

rThe $6 million Nelms Auto Park opened in April.

rNelms began his auto empire when he purchased House of Honda, a Fayetteville motorcycle shop, in 1971.

r”We started with two motorcycles and a pile of parts,” Nelms said.

rIn early October, Nelms was in the process of purchasing the Subaru dealership from Superior, which usually stocked 10 to 15 Subarus at its Mitsubishi dealership in Fayetteville.

rNelms said he plans to stock about 25 Subaru vehicles at Nelms Auto Park and expects to sell 15 to 25 Subarus per month.

rThe auto park usually has about 700 cars on hand, so the Subaru purchase will be only a small fraction of the total business.

r”It’s a niche market,” Nelms said. “It’s not a big, big market for me … But we think Subaru has a good future here.”

rSince all Subaru vehicles are four-wheel drive, they are popular in mountainous areas, so Nelms thinks there’s a market for them in Northwest Arkansas.

r”They sell over 1,000 new Subarus a year in Boulder, Colo.,” he said.

rNew Subarus range in price from $16,000 to $32,000 each.

rNelms said his purchase of the Subaru dealership included the current inventory and some cabinetry.

r”We’ll be starting pretty much from scratch,” he said.

rNelms said media speculation that he will purchase the Volkswagen dealership from Hart BMW-Volkswagen of Rogers is premature at this point.

rSteve Smith Country saw the biggest percentage increase in revenue. From 1998 to 1999, sales increased by 30 percent to $26 million for the Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Jeep dealership in Springdale.

rFletcher Automotive Group was No. 2 in percentage increase. The company — which has Chrysler, Dodge, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Honda dealerships in Northwest Arkansas — saw a 17.5 percent increase in sales to $60 million for 1999.