Steve Ewing was an aspiring TV journalist coming out of college as an English major. But after a difficult time breaking into the competitive media industry, the New Jersey native turned to auto retailing, fell in love with it and never looked back.
Ewing rose from salesman to dealer. Today, the first-generation retailer is president of Wade Ford in Smyrna, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. Like his peers, Ewing is coping with scarce inventory amid the microchip shortage as he also prepares for the industry’s shift to electric vehicles. Ewing, 61, spoke with Automotive News TV producer and anchor Jennifer Vuong. Here are edited excerpts.
Q: How did you get your start in auto retail?
A: In a Chevrolet dealership. [After not finding a media job], I was looking through the paper and said, “Man, I have to work.” And I saw an ad that said auto salesmen made pretty good money. Went to an interview, got the job. And I called one of my uncles who at the time worked for General Motors, and he said, “Well, you never told me you had any interest in that. What you need to do is go someplace where people will teach you and care about you.” And that’s when I made that decision to not go to the Buick dealership that hired me, but actually go to a Chevy dealership. And I fell in love and sold my first Chevy Cavalier way back when. From then, the rest was history. So I became a salesman and eventually general sales manager of a big Chevy store.
Then what did you do?
I had some people who approached me and said, “Ford has an opportunity.” Ford is one of the few companies — and General Motors — [with] programs where they’re looking for minority auto dealers. After going and interviewing, I didn’t think I was prepared. I didn’t have the money I thought I needed. Ford [was] very receptive to me. And they gave me the parameters of what investment was going to be required. I went to my parents and put the business plan together that they had helped me develop. And my parents believed in their son. And they mortgaged their house. And I was able to take my money and the money my parents gave me [from the] equity in their home and invest in a Ford franchise in 1989.
That first dealership they put me in was in a pretty rough neighborhood of East Orange, N.J., right outside of Newark. It was a tough place. I remember the Ford Credit branch manager telling me, “I can’t afford to run a collection agency. I have history in that franchise, Steve.” So I’m excited about going in there. And here’s a man telling me he can’t afford to buy loans from me. It was very upsetting, but I went ahead anyway with some assurances from people at Ford that, “Hey, we’re going to work on it and we’ll take care of you.”
What happened to that store?
Eventually, I got to a point where I couldn’t make it anymore there. I had an 8-foot fence, razor wire. I had to let guard dogs out at night. It was just a very difficult location.
But fortunately for me, I had some great people who believed in me at Ford. Because ultimately I was pretty much running out of working capital and on my way out of business. And I called to meet the people of the region and said, “Listen, I’ve done everything you asked me to do, but obviously making this work is going to be difficult.”
Fortunately, the people at the regional office at Ford said, “You know what? This guy’s done everything we asked him to do.” Once they decided to close the facility, it was good for me. That means that they return my investment.
And when I took the investment to my parents, I said, “Look, you need to pay down the mortgage back to where you were.” They didn’t owe much on their house. They said, “No, we want you to take this check back and go see if you can establish and get a franchise.” Which was an amazing thing that I think is totally a blessing.
How did you get Wade Ford?
Someone called me from Ford and said, “Hey, you ever thought about going to Atlanta?” And I said, “I would love to be at a metropolitan location instead of rural Pennsylvania.” Because I was living in the Pocono Mountains. The Atlanta store was worth about three times more than what my Ford and Nissan stores were worth in Pennsylvania. But I made the deal happen with the assistance of Ford. And I was able to go to work and ultimately pay back every dime I owed them.
How are you managing through the microchip shortage?
The lost opportunity was substantial. You’re talking about a place that normally has 600 or 700 new vehicles in stock. And there [was] a time when we had 50 new vehicles in stock. That’s a very difficult percentage to try to make up. If I don’t have product, it’s a problem.
It’s been mentally tough because you’re trying to keep your team motivated. The biggest challenge for us has been communication. I think Ford has done the best they could to tell us what they know. And they have been completely transparent. But it’s not like they can just all of a sudden say, “Shazam, there’s going to be chips.”
How were sales last year?
Substantially down. Corporations were not buying cars. We have a big courtesy department. We could do 500, 600, 700 fleet vehicles in a month. And then we’re doing about 100 used cars here. And in normal times, we’re doing between 150 to 200 new. But these aren’t normal times.
There have been a lot of challenges to running an auto franchise right now. You hear all the dealers talking about they’re more profitable because a lot of people are able to make more money on the cars we currently have. So that’s a good thing. But the fact of the matter is Wade Ford was built on being a volume franchise. We have to have a certain amount of flow coming from the factory in order to make it really, really good.
Are you expanding your used-vehicle stock?
We’re leaning towards used cars. It’s a ripple effect for everybody. The used-car market has gone through the roof. Everybody’s paying more for used cars because there’s a shortage and there’s a bubble there. You have to be very careful as a franchise dealer to make sure you are balancing and turning that inventory so you don’t turn around one day and wake up and have a truck that you own for $7,000 more than the market. So we are constantly turning our inventory on a very strict 60-day turn. At 45 days, we start making plans, and at 60 days the car has to disappear.
The best thing we can possibly do is get trade-ins, and trade-ins come from having new-vehicle sales. But the auctions have been an extremely important part of [finding] product. If somebody has a bunch of used box trucks, cargo vans, all those things, I’m in the market for them. I buy all I can find at a reasonable price because I have customers who are waiting and want them.
Are you prepared for the industry’s shift to electric vehicles?
You can’t assume that infrastructure is going to be done overnight. Can the people who make charging stations meet the demand that we’re seeing? So there’s a great opportunity for us to get into a lot of other things. I’m looking into whether or not we’re going to have part of my company that actually gets in the charging station business where we actually have displays here. So we [would] show the people, let people choose and then send a subcontractor to go install it. Ford is offering those things. I’m going to get a little more aggressive.
How are you preparing to service EVs?
We’re getting technicians certified in electric vehicles and getting them to be able to work on cars safely and understand. It becomes more and more important to have certified technicians who really want to jump into EVs. And that’s why I’m talking to the younger techs here. This is where you need to study. This is where you’re going to make your living.
To what do you attribute your success?
I have faith, and I know I stand on shoulders of people who really paved the way to allow an African American to become an auto dealer. And I also stand on the shoulders of some [people who are] not African Americans, who were committed and saw past color. Those people are the reason I got a second chance after going out of business. But the other thing that I think is a gift is that I was able to make other people around want me to win. When I can make my employees, my managers all get behind us so we all win together, that’s been the key.