Dartmouth-based Steele Auto Group is continuing its U.S. expansion with the purchase of another dealership in Texas.
The company announced last week it has bought Sterling McCall Hyundai of South Loop in Houston, Texas.
The dealership is the company’s sixth acquisition in Texas in a little more than two years. It will add to Steele’s portfolio of dealerships located in the corridor between Austin and San Antonio.
Steele’s president and COO, Kim Day, tells Huddle the region represents a significant opportunity for the company.
“Texas is the fastest-growing state in the United States right now and that San Antonio-Austin corridor, and everything within a couple of hours radius of it, is seeing explosive population growth and business investment growth,” she says.
“So, geographically, we’re diversifying ourselves by being down there. But, more importantly, the future there and the future economic growth and population growth is very appealing to us.”
Steele Auto Group employs about 2,200 people and has 55 new auto dealerships, 7 used auto dealerships, 3 Powerhouse Equipment stores, and 8 collision centers under its umbrella. It’s best known as an Atlantic Canadian company, so its focus on Texas, specifically, might be puzzling at first glance.
However, Day says there’s a straightforward reason for the auto group’s expansion into the region. Steele’s CEO, Rob Steele, has property in Austin and is “very familiar with the market.” Day says he recognized the opportunity in a fast-growing market, in a “business-friendly” part of the country.
Day says Steele is keen to further cement its presence along the Austin-San Antonio corridor and slowly move into the more urban centres.
And while Texas remains the company’s main U.S. focus for the moment, she says the company is open to expansion elsewhere.
“We want to be intentional and focused in certain markets but we also don’t want to turn away from an opportunity that could be incredible for us. So, we do look at everything that’s presented to us and make a determination as to whether or not we want to proceed or, you know, or call it quits quickly,” she says.
She says that, after being so recognizable in Atlantic Canada for so long, it’s been an interesting challenge establishing the Steele brand in a new market. That’s why the company started slowly, buying one dealership in February 2020, and is only now starting to aggressively expand its U.S. operations.
“We don’t get necessarily the same familiarity or treatment from various stakeholders that we would here, simply because we’re well-known and well-grounded here. So, it was intentional, to start small and then build scale,” she says. “Now we’re at the point where we can really take advantage of what we have down there and really start to build more scale.”
However, Day says Steele remains first-and-foremost an Atlantic Canadian company and will remain headquartered here for the foreseeable future.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
