BC Auto Industry News

BC Auto Mogul Branches out

The Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Auto Group is branching out into Manitoba, purchasing Frontier Toyota, Frontier Subaru and Frontier Autobody from Winnipeg’s Thompson family.

The Jim Pattison Auto Group owns 18 dealerships in British Columbia and is part of the Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s third-largest privately held company. In all, they generated $7.2 billion in revenue in 2010 and are responsible for employing more than 33,000 employees. This is the first time the Pattison Auto Group has ventured outside BC, but the company is apparently looking to expand throughout Western Canada, particularly through the addition of dealerships in Winnipeg. This expansion either through acquisition or by building stores of its own.

“We like Winnipeg. We like the stability of the economy and the market… and we see this as a good base from which we can grow in that market,” company president Bill Harbottle told the Winnipeg Free Press. It’s unclear how many dealerships they intend to add, though they have said that this expansion will be done through acquisition or by building stores of its own.

BCTA Appoints new Vice-President

The BC Trucking Association (BCTA) has appointed Trace Acres as its vice-president.

Acres, who has over a decade of communications experience within the transport and automotive industry, was a director of corporate communications and public affairs at the BC Automobile Association (BCAA). He will now be responsible for all communications regarding BCTA policies and advocacy on behalf of the trucking industry,

“BCTA looks forward to having Trace apply his formidable skill set to the wide variety of issues that commercial freight and passenger transportation carriers face daily on roads and highways throughout B.C.,” BCTA officials said in a release.