NEWARK — Porter Automotive Group is celebrating 100 years in business this summer as the fifth generation of the Porter family continues selling Chevrolets, Hyundais and Fords out of its Cleveland Ave. location in Newark.
Tim Porter, the vice president and one of the dealership wonders, said he’s seen incredible shifts in his 15 years in the business from the internet to technology in newer models and the newness of selling offsite. He said it’s hard to imagine what the business was like a century ago, but he believes one thing has kept the family business going – a solid staff environment.
“If you want to succeed, find people who are smarter than you and hire them. My grandfather [Rick Porter II] was good at reading people and seeing through the bull. Because of that, we have so many people who’ve worked here for so long. You treat your people well, and they’ll treat you well,” Tim Porter said.
John F. Porter started the family business as Wilmington Auto Sales on 40th Street in Wilmington and Newark Auto Sales on Newark’s Mainstreet. The dealerships started with Chevrolets and Buicks, while he also went on to open an appliance store in Wilmington.
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Five generations of Porter men have run the Port Auto Group, withstanding economic hardships and windfalls over 100 years. | PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM PORTER[/caption]
Porter Automotive passed down father to son throughout the generations, and Rick Porter II helped lead the charge to make the company a multi-state enterprise. In the 1960s, he started his campaign and eventually opened twelve dealerships throughout Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.
After
Rick Porter II retired, many of those dealerships were sold off — but Cory Porter, Tim’s father, did acquire a Nissan dealership from Winner Automotive Group, and later added Ford and Nissan in the 2000s. In another churn of business,
Nissan was sold to Hertrich Automotive in 2022.
“In the heat of the battle, everybody wants these dealerships. But the real money is in the real estate,” Tim Porter said.
Tim would work on small sales, but he wasn’t involved in the family business until he finished college in 2010. His father Corey Porter has been working for 30 years and counting. His office is now just 10 feet away from Tim’s.
“It can be challenging at times working with family, but it’s nice to have someone who you’ve been around your whole life to guide you through the business,” Tim Porter said. “It’s a tough business but can be rewarding and he’s got a lot of knowledge so it’s great to have him on my team.”
Porter Auto Group has 150 employees across the three remaining dealerships and some who had started under Rick Porter II still work there today. When the Nissan dealership was sold to Hertrich, about 20 employees waited out the non-compete clause and came back to Porter.
In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic stressed supply chains which brought customers to dealerships to quickly buy used cars available on the lot. But now that the pandemic has settled down, Porter Automotive reports that they close about of half the walk-in customers, armed with more information than ever.
“What we’ve found is customers aren’t visiting seven or eight dealerships, they’re going online and picking out two or three cars and coming in and driving it,” Tim Porter said. “They know what they want and at what price. It’s a cyclical business, but a fun one.”
