Galpin Motors Co. in North Hills keeps rolling along. The family-owned auto dealership just racked up its 22nd consecutive year as the No. 1 Ford dealer in the nation, as ranked by number of vehicles sold. It’s also the No. 1 Jaguar dealer in the nation.
Galpin Ford sold 6,630 new vehicles last year, up 32 percent from 2010. It also sold 2,717 used vehicles last year.
Galpin Ford’s streak is noteworthy considering L.A.’s economy was especially hard hit by the recession and still has an unemployment rate of nearly 12 percent.
“We did have it very tough a couple years ago – we barely came in at No. 1,” said Bert Boeckmann, president of Galpin Motors. “To accomplish what we have in these tough economic times speaks volumes for the hard work of our enthusiastic sales team and all of the support employees.”
Galpin is not the only local dealership with such a streak. Longo Toyota of El Monte has been the No. 1 Toyota dealer in the nation for 45 years straight. But Longo Toyota is a unit of Penske Motor Group (also of El Monte) and that dealership also had the advantage of starting when Toyota was still an upstart Japanese automaker with a very small U.S. presence.
“Even here in the car capital of the world, where more cars are sold than anywhere else, Galpin Ford’s streak is still quite an achievement,” said Tyler Schulze, vice president and general manager for IntelliChoice, a unit of Motor Trend Automotive Group.
