Automotive News Canada - September 2020 - v2 - 24

rae-

Saskatchewan and Alberta
groups team up to expand
Such an arrangement is 'not common
at all,' but the benefits include sharing
risk and resources, and cutting costs
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

THE WYANT GROUP IS EXPANDING ITS
footprint in western Canada by partnering with the
Valentine Group in launching two Calgary dealerships.
It's a collaboration that could be part a growing trend
as dealers join forces to facilitate growth.
The partnership gives each party a virtually equal
ownership in a $30-million Jaguar-Land Rover dealership
slated to open in September and a Volvo store set to open
next year.
Under the deal, the Saskatoon-based Wyant Group
gains a foothold in Alberta, while the Calgary-based
Valentine Group gets a major stake in a premium brand
and the opportunity to develop land in
an auto mall.
The Wyant Group, owned by
Vaughn Wyant, has dealerships in
Saskatchewan and British Columbia,
while the Valentine Group, headed
by Paul Valentine, has one of the oldest Volvo dealerships in the country. It was started by
Valentine's late father, Ted, more than 70 years ago.
It is "not common at all" for two dealerships to partner in basically a 50-50 split, said Farid Ahmad, president and founder of Dealer Solutions Mergers and
Acquisitions.
"Obviously, there's other partnerships in the industry. Some have worked, and some have definitely not
worked."
Manon Messier, a Quebec-based senior associate at
Dealer Solutions recently brokered a $6-million transaction involving the purchase of a Kia store located
on Montreal's south shore by two single-point General
Motors dealers. She expects to see more such partnerships.
"I think it's going to grow
a bit because dealers can gain
economies of sale by merging
their resources, as well as sharing the risk and cutting their
cost," said Messier,
"As we say, 'alone you go
fast, but together we go far.'"

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'VERY COMPATIBLE'
Wyant, who owns 19 dealerships representing 11 brands
including Volvo, said up until
the deal with Valentine, his
Messier: Dealer
partners held no more than a
partnerships are a
15-per-cent take.
growing trend.
"Paul took over the famiPHOTO: DEALER
SOLUTIONS
ly business in the '90s and has
improved it and been great at it,
but he's never had to deal with construction companies
and manufacturers," Wyant said. "Our style of business is very compatible."
Similar goals helped drive the agreement between
Florian Boire, president of Racine Chevrolet in SaintJean-sur-Richelieu, and Alain Ginchereau, owner of
Montplasir GM in Drummondville, said Messier.
"They both wished for a new challenge and know
what each other's results are. They are combining

ship is located.
The McKinsey report cites
numerous tools AI can bring to
the sales experience, including:
"smart" targeting of products tailored to individual shoppers on the
website; tracking shoppers' online
behaviour; using search-engine
optimization to make a website
more attractive; a more efficient
sales process; instant chat tools;
and personalized follow-up.

their forces to see if the Kia store can be as successful
as they are now with their GM stores."
Valentine said the collaboration with Wyant offered
two key benefits: The opportunity to diversify his
brand offerings while lowering his risk.
"With his [Wyant's] experience in multiple brands
and my knowledge of the Calgary market and our perfect location, we got it," he said.
Valentine, who owned a vacant piece of land in the
Royal Oak Auto Mall in the north end of Calgary, had
been trying unsuccessfully to diversify with another premium brand. After the two talked, Wyant and
Valentine put together a bid and pitched it to Jaguar
Land Rover Canada.
Because Valentine has no
history with JLR, the brand
wanted Wyant to hold 51-percent ownership in the dealership. Valentine will be listed as
the general manager.

'MAKES TOTAL SENSE'
JLR Canada President
Wolfgang Hoffmann said
Valentine and Wyant offered a
"unique market experience in
Calgary," with Valentine's busiValentine: A
ness
having been in operation for
partnership with
seven decades and consistently
Vaughn Wyant
one of Volvo's best retailers in the
offered the
country in volume and customer
opportunity to
satisfaction.
diversify brands
"We had many applications,"
and reduce his risk.
Hoffmann said, "but their busiPHOTO VIA
CRAIG REAUME
ness plan was convincing on the
marketing side - local expertise plus the knowledge and firepower from the Wyant
Group, which is one of the more progressive groups
when it comes to digital marketing.
"For us, this combination of two well-established
groups makes total sense for the Calgary market."
"Did I want to be the dealer principal? No, not necessarily," Wyant said. "But JLR approved the franchise
on a 51-49 basis because they didn't know Paul, and they
wanted effective control on my side."
Valentine in the role of general manager ensures
the store will be in good hands, Wyant said.
"To open in Calgary and just go get a hired gun and
then one day you realize he's not doing the job or quits,
that doesn't work as well. It's about having a vested
partner, a good partner."
The Volvo store will be built on the same site and
Valentine will have 51-per-cent ownership in that store.

BIG DEALS TAKE TIME
The North West Auto Mall is ideal, especially for
European luxury brands, Valentine said.
"It took a long time [to get another premium dealership]. But as I talk to people in other industries, sometimes these really big projects take a decade or so" to
materialize.
Valentine was drawn to JLR because only one other
such dealership exists in Calgary. He also noted that
Albertans have, on average, high disposable incomes,
and an affinity for SUVs and crossovers.
"I think we've done a really good job selling Volvo,
which is a kind of this Swedish/Scandinavian feel. And
I think we can do the same thing with this Jaguar Land
Rover British kind of feel." - ANC
- With files from Benoit Charette and Grace Macaluso

One common mistake dealers
and automakers make, however, is
trying to overlay AI on their current sales and marketing processes,
Kässer said.
"If you want to get the most out of
AI, you need to let go of current practices. It's about imagining today's
[sales activity] in a new world of
marketing and sales."
Eric Castonguay, a partner with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which

consults for dealerships and manufacturers, acknowledged that small
dealerships might lack the resources to do AI well.
AI is just one of the tools dealers can use to build strong relationships, he said, citing the time-tested
techniques of word-of-mouth referrals.
"That's not to say they couldn't
do better with the new technologies." - ANC

Vaughan Wyant built a single Ford store in a
small Alberta town into a lucrative business,
sold it, then built a dealership group.
P H O T O : W YA N T G R O U P

A western-Canada
success story
Wyant's drive to wheel and
deal began with a small
Ford store in the early 1980s
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

IN 1980, 27-YEAR-OLD VAUGHAN WYANT
launched his career as a dealer with a Ford
store in a small Alberta town and enough drive
to draw the ire of his big-city competitors.
"I made sure every dealer in Calgary hated
my guts," Wyant said.
The upstart would come to dominate the
pickup market in Carstairs, about 65 kilometres north of the city. He also would eventually
build the Wyant Group, headquartered in his
native province of Saskatchewan, into one of
western Canada's largest, employing about 500
people.
"It was an old Texaco gas station that had
a Ford sign outside," Wyant, 67, said of his
first dealership. "I was the salesperson, the
parts writer, the service writer, the gas jockey. I did half the accounting. I hired a sales
manager who I trained, and nothing slipped
through the cracks.
"You have everything invested in this, and
the only talent you can rely on is your own,
which is basically hard work, seven days a
week."
Carstairs, population 1,700, became
Wyant's domain.
"Our overhead was small, and we only had
one competitor in town. It was a Pontiac dealer. Nobody in that town dared to buy a vehicle outside of Carstairs because I was on Town
Council, I curled, I played hockey. It was a really personable business. It was pretty cool. It
was hard work, but fun work."
His business was profitable, said Wyant,
who even "undercut" Calgary dealers to win a
lucrative fleet contract with the city of Calgary.
"Back then I never thought I'd make such
money," he said, "but it was enough to pay
off the bank and grow to a bigger challenge,
which Ford was excited about."
In 1983, Wyant sold the business to be
close to his ailing mother in his hometown
of Saskatoon, where he subsequently bought
a Ford dealership. That would lead to further acquisitions, eventually forming the
Wyant Group, which has dealerships in
Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Wyant
has also partnered with the Valentine Group
to launch Jaguar-Land Rover and Volvo dealerships in Calgary.
Wyant, CEO of the Wyant Group, has also
earned a steady stream of accolades that culminated in 2017, when he was among six owners selected from 12,000 Ford dealers globally
for the automaker's Salute to Dealers award.
It recognizes dealers who provide outstanding
products and services as well as extraordinary support to their communities.
The dealership cited for the award was the
same Saskatoon store Wyant bought in 1983.
"I think I've been lucky," he said. "It's
been good." - ANC

Automotive News Canada - September 2020 - v2

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