Pfaff Automotive Partners and Lithia & Driveway (formerly known as Lithia Motors) announced a new partnership that marks the first entry of a U.S. public auto retailer in the Canadian market.
“The great thing about the Lithia culture is how they allow the regional platforms to continue to run the business and operate the business,” said Chris Pfaff, President and CEO of Pfaff Automotive Partners, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer editor Todd Phillips.
Pfaff said Lithia provides “fantastic support” in the background, although Pfaff’s group still runs the day-to-day business. Importantly, Pfaff will continue his role as president and CEO of the group, while his 11 dealership operations and Pfaff Leasing (included in the partnership) will continue to operate under its brand name in Canada.
“I still love the business and look forward to what we can do in this new partnership,” said Pfaff, adding that when the announcement was made internally, they visited their stores and spoke to people via small group meetings.
“Overall, people accepted it really well. I hope they took me sincerely when I said that I really believe this is a great new arrangement for us, and that things weren’t going to change and that there isn’t going to be a lot of change,” said Pfaff. “We need to still service cars and sell cars, and there are people that support that obviously, and that is not going to change.”
However, with Lithia’s scale and resources the company is best-positioned to help propel Pfaff’s growth, while its customer-centric brands and e-commerce capabilities will also help Pfaff Automotive Partners continue to evolve its customer experience.
“Driveway is their new platform in terms of offering consumers [the ability] to integrate or to acquire vehicles for servicing from Lithia’s stores, any way they want to interact, so you can buy a car online fully, or do part of the process and then go to a store live,” said Pfaff.
Pfaff said he believes Lithia is the best fit by far in North America for the Canadian group. “Growth is on our mind for sure, and we are definitely going to go out there and look for good acquisitions,” said Pfaff.
The partnership is a culmination of a process that started more than five years ago, thanks in part to a strong cultural fit and an intense focus in offering a top-notch customer experience.
