January 2022
3
SIT DOWN WITH SUCCESS
John Shields of Century Automotive Group: Let Luck and Wisdom Guide You “Sitdown with Success” spotlights local entrepreneurs who describe their successes and failures, with tips for upcoming business owners. For the full-length interview, visit huntsvillebusinessjournal.com.
Huntsville was a small, but booming, town when John Shields first came to Huntsville from Detroit via Jacksonville, Fla. in 1968 to train a group of six car salesmen for Royal Chevrolet. Months later, when speaking to a banker about buying out his partners, he secured the loan because “…there are two things for certain – Coca-Cola and Chevrolet!” At 83, his daughter and son-inlaw Tracy and George Jones own and manage the business but John is still active and discusses the challenges he faced in building today’s Century Automotive Group. What are some of the challenges the business has faced through the years? We have faced several crises
through years, some of them critical. In the early years, I had a negative net worth. I was about 115 percent leveraged with no equity. My dad helped me by co-signing on loans for me. It wasn’t easy but I eventually put it together. Then there was the 1972 energy crisis when the oil supply was cut off and we were not getting or selling cars. In the 1970s, LBJ moved the space program to Houston. Before that, Huntsville was a boomtown. Then there was a GM strike that was bad. We could we not get cars for six weeks. In the 1980s, interest rates hit 20.5 percent; followed by a labor strike; the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis; and now the pandemic. What is the key to your success? Very simply, luck and wisdom. Being lucky enough to have a daughter who is smarter than me and the
wisdom to get out of her way. Tracy (Jones) was a CPA with Price Waterhouse when I made her comptroller, but she never answered to me as her boss, and we had an understanding - tell me about the problem after you get it fixed. You know what I can’t teach you, and I have confidence you will figure it out. That was 20 years ago. It was an easy transition. After so many years in the automotive business, what do you think of the car industry? Competitively there seems to be room for everybody. The real competition is the electric car. I don’t see a guy out there in the country using a driverless pick-up truck, so I don’t think the driverless cars are gaining much traction, but electric cars are. Jaguar tells us that by 2025, all their cars will be electric.
By Kimberly Ballard / Photo by Steve Babin
What advice do you have for someone opening a business in Huntsville now? Today is a good time to open any kind of business in Huntsville. I think finding something you like and have a passion for is important. I’ve always liked cars and I was willing to work hard and do what a lot of people today are not willing to do to be successful. w
