Following college and the U.S. Army, Sewell moved into the president's office in 1972. He admired his father, who remained active with the company until his death that same year. But there would be other strong influences in his managerial life. One was Stanley Marcus, whom he invited to join the business as a consultant in 1978; the two still lunch together once a month or so, and Marcus has recorded a series of radio ads for Sewell Village built around the themes of quality and tradition. Another mentor was Erik Johsson, a founder of Texas Instruments Inc. And in the past couple of years, all Sewell managers and most employees have attended a series of consciousness-raising seminars developed by Philip Crosby at his Quality College.
In terms of the industry itself, however, probably the biggest contributors to Sewell Village's way of doing things were such dealers as Bob Spreen Sr., in Downey, Calif., who was a pioneer in the creation of loaner fleets; and Jack Williams, the late, legendary automotive-service consultant who, as an adviser to Sewell Village back in the '60s, pushed for such reforms as written job descriptions and comprehensive employee handbooks.
"I'm often asked, 'Why let all those people into your dealership?" says Sewell. "'Why open your doors to Ford?' Actually, the answer's pretty simple. Everything we do, we borrowed [in principle] from somebody else. Why should we keep secrets?"
In truth, Sewell could spend most of his working day playing tour guide. He does not, in part because he's a shy man and in part because he's too busy expanding his business. Already owner of a Cadillac dealership in New Orleans, Sewell has, in just the past eight months, bought a struggling Oldsmobile franchise and opened a new Hyundai dealership; he is also scouting a location for a Cadillac dealership in Austin and is considering picking up another Dallas franchise as well. Sewell points out that it's a good time to buy because "a lot of the World War II-era dealers are retiring now, so there's plenty of opportunity around."
Consolidation among dealerships is already upon us. One group closely monitoring the retail auto industry is J. D. Power & Associates, a Westlake Village, Calif., market-research firm. Among other services, Power publishes a monthly industry news-letter and, once a year, an independent customer-satisfaction survey covering all cars sold in the United States. According to Donald Keithley, vice-president for dealer services, bigness is just one of the dominant factors ruling a changing marketplace.
"Lack of available land means more consolidation," explains Keithley. "You see that now with the giant auto malls, those one-stop supermarkets springing up all over. That's one factor. Two, as the price tag gets higher to jump into the game at that level, you get more foreign investment, more competition.
"At the same time," he continues, "the overall quality of domestic cars is improving dramatically. They still trail the imports, but they're closing the gap, and that means the definition of service is in a state of change. Consumers are expecting more. Dealers are either going to have to be good, or they won't be in business."
Keithley, who has shared industry strategy sessions with Sewell, calls him the "prototype of the modern superdealer. What defines success in this industry is excellence, geographical diversity, and a record of outperforming the natural limitations of the marketplace. Sewell's a relative newcomer to expansion, but he sure seems to know what he's doing."
The key to Sewell Village's expansion may well have been taking over an old Chrysler-Plymouth site out by Love Field -- 11 acres in all. The move from Highland Park, in 1981, was both a business gamble and an emotional ordeal. For 25 years, Highland Park had been a golden place to sell Cadillacs -- the main lot bordered the fairways of the Dallas Country Club -- despite the fact that it was squeezed into one and a half acres, with room for only a one-car showroom and new-car inventory buried in an underground parking lot. Carl Sewell was torn, however, between dislocating his business and realizing the level of service he thought he could now achieve. He consulted Stanley Marcus, and the two of them drove out to the site one afternoon. "We pulled up front," says Sewell, "he turns to me, and says, 'Can you move today?' I think the showroom got him. He always used to tell me, 'Carl, nobody displays his merchandise as poorly as you."
Sewell Village made the move -- and doubled its volume over the next two years. Obviously, the business had not lost its old customer base. More to the point, the move allowed Sewell to enhance its service capabilities far beyond what had once been possible. That commitment has in turn helped attract such blue-chip technicians as Ed Calbridge, who currently manages the cellular phone department and hosts a nationally syndicated radio car-talk show.
For Carl Sewell fans both within and outside the auto industry, one question posed by diversification is this: Can the same strategy work as well for a low-ticket car like the Hyundai as it has for Cadillac?
Sewell thinks it can -- even if the numbers shift. "Seventy-five percent of the [Hyundai] business will probably come from new and used car sales [compared with 45% at his Cadillac dealership]," he avers, "but that's not unusual. With a less expensive car, you make less because the customer does more of his own repair work. Hyundai is also a brand-new car, so there aren't many out there to work on.
"Still," he says, "I don't see the business being radically different. Customers want to be treated right, whether they're buying a $6,000 automobile or a $30,000 one." He probably won't offer the array of goodies he does with a Cadillac, but the philosophy will be the same.
Sewell Hyundai opened its showroom doors last October, one of eight Hyundai franchises in the Greater Dallas area. By the end of its first month, it had become the sales volume leader in Big D.
As they say around Sewell Village, the signs are there.
