Hal “Tex” Earnhardt Jr. constructed an auto retail empire in Arizona from a single Ford retailer in 1951.
Earnhardt was a rodeo cowboy in his early 20s when he entered the business after working at his household’s Chandler, Ariz., gasoline station.
And he built-in his ardour for rodeos along with his ardour for the automotive enterprise. Earnhardt, who died in April 2020, would sit within the cafe at Earnhardt Ford nearly on daily basis nicely into his 80s, sporting the cowboy boots and hat that had change into his signature look.
He created what would change into Earnhardt Auto Facilities’ tag line — “That ain’t no bull”— when he rode a steer in a parade and was requested how he saved the bull calm, members of the family have stated.
“You see individuals copy it on a regular basis,” stated Dodge Earnhardt, Tex Earnhardt’s grandson and a seller operator of the family-run group, referring to different dealership teams utilizing a “no bull” slogan.
“He positively was considering farther forward and checked out advertising and marketing and every part a special means,” stated Dodge Earnhardt, a 2012 Automotive Information 40 Beneath 40 honoree.
From his cowboy persona to his charisma, “he simply carried it throughout,” his grandson stated, including that with Tex Earnhardt, it was one hundred pc genuine.
“It labored, and that is what made him profitable — whether or not they noticed him on TV or they noticed him on the dealership or they noticed him at a restaurant,” Dodge Earnhardt stated.
Tex Earnhardt believed in TV promoting. Within the Eighties and Nineties, not many opponents had been as closely current on TV and radio, Dodge Earnhardt stated: “He liked doing the commercials. He favored that an entire lot greater than crunching the numbers and being the hard-driving supervisor or being the man that is making an attempt to be a more in-depth or a coach on the gross sales flooring.”
Earnhardt Auto Facilities ranked No. 18 on Automotive Information‘ most up-to-date checklist of the 150 prime dealership teams within the U.S., with retail gross sales of 30,221 new automobiles in 2021.
The group presently operates 17 dealerships, all in Arizona, and employs about 1,700 individuals, stated Dodge Earnhardt, who helps run the group with Tex Earnhardt’s sons and different grandchildren.
As of late, the dealership group is just not as current on TV and radio because the advertising and marketing world has modified to emphasise digital, Dodge Earnhardt stated.
“The outdated days of the 30-second business simply is not what it was,” he stated, including that buyers as we speak have much more selections.
What hasn’t modified?
“We nonetheless have the bull,” he stated.