Special Report
2011 Ward's Dealer 500
Ed Bozarth is a megadealer who focuses on one brand: General Motors’ Chevrolet.
That’s reflected in the name of his 5-store group, Ed Bozarth #1 Chevrolet based in Las Vegas.
He sells Chevys there as well as Topeka, KS; Grand Junction, CO; and Aurora, CO, a Denver suburb.
“What carries the market out here in the Mountain West is that everyone else advertises against Chevy, even GMC,” Bozarth says, referring to GM’s light-truck division.
He has had other franchises in the past. He ran a Dodge store in Topeka, but gave that up in 1985 to focus on Chevy. He also represented Oldsmobile and Saturn, brands that eventually GM killed.
Bozarth is a GM loyalist, but not without a disappointment here and there, such as at having lost the Buick franchise to a GMC dealer.
“They should have left Buick with us in Grand Junction,” he says.
His group is No.91 on the latest Ward’s Megadealer 100 with revenues of $241.1 million in 2010, up $37 million from 2009, a dire year for auto sales.
The group sold about twice as many used units than new, 5,344 and 2,656, respectively.
“We have learned to be highly profitable, showing sales-volume growth combined with rising service, parts and body-shop grosses,” Bozarth says.
He also is keen on customer satisfaction, boasting that his 130% index score “is an A-plus.”
