An embroidered wall-hanging of a Ford Model-T decorates the wall behind Walter Lewis’ office desk.
The artwork underscores just how much the automobile sales business has changed in the Lewis family’s 100 years selling Ford cars and trucks. Walter Lewis, whose grandfather founded the business, marvels at how far the industry has come in his tenure – and where it is going now and in the future.
“It was all about horsepower when I started,” Lewis said. “But gas only cost 30 cents a gallon back then.”
Lewis went to work for his father, J. Curtis Lewis Jr., a week after graduating from the University of Georgia in the summer of 1975. He’s since experienced the tail end of the muscle car era; the rise of the economy car and Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Honda; several slumps by American nameplates; and the shift toward hybrids, electric vehicles and higher fuel efficiency.
“The thought has always been to give consumers a choice and let the market decide which cars to build,” Lewis said. “That’s where we’ve been, and that’s where we’re going.”
The 1970s energy crisis “changed the game” and opened the door for the imports to move in, Lewis said. The industry today is much more segmented, and it’s “all about your slice getting larger.”
Ford’s approach is to shun electrification in favor of hybrids and more fuel-efficient gasoline engines, those employing Ford’s “eco-boost” technology. Ford’s best-selling vehicle remains the F-150 truck. Those buyers and others of Ford products aren’t willing to sacrifice power.
“It’s about same power, better mileage,” Lewis said. “There’s a new model of the Fusion (sedan) that has a four-cylinder engine that gives the same horsepower of a V6. That’s where we’re headed.”
Lewis predicts boom years ahead for Ford and other dealers due to the pent-up demand, a product of the recession and the slow economic recovery.
“The scrap rate has been higher than the sales rate for a while, and we’re due for a catch up,” Lewis said. “The future is bright, at least for the next several years.”