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Steering through the tough times

Jennifer Currie, vice president of the family business, Bill Currie Ford, knows there aren't many women in a position like hers. But it's not about her. It's all about selling Fords, which, these days, isn't the easiest job around.

By TOM ZUCCO
Published August 28, 2006

[Times photo: Brian Cassella]

Jennifer Currie, seated inside a Mustang in her Tampa showroom, is the vice president/general manager of Bill Currie Ford.

TAMPA

A shy grin snuck across Jennifer Currie's face. Selling cars seemed so simple back then. Almost as if it happened by magic.

She was about 8 years old and her father, Bill Currie III, would drive past his Ford dealership on Dale Mabry Highway. "He'd always chant, 'Sell those cars. Sell those cars,' " Currie said last week.

And sell they did. In a short time, Bill Currie Ford became one of the largest Ford dealerships in Florida. In 1983, when the dealership sold more then 5,400 new vehicles, Bill Currie Ford was named the top volume Ford dealer in the country.

Today, Jennifer Currie is the vice president of Bill Currie Ford. The past four years, she's been in charge of the day-to-day operations, one of the few women in the industry in such an elevated position.

Now it's her turn to pick up the "Sell those cars." mantra.

If only it was that easy.

- Ford posted a $1.4-billion loss during the first half of this year. For the full year, analysts estimate Ford will lose between $235-million and $2.1-billion.

- For the first time, Toyota passed Ford in U.S. sales last month, making the Japanese automaker the second-largest retailer in the country, behind only General Motors. Ford slipped to third.

- Ford is reportedly considering going private, meaning it would no longer have to answer to analysts and shareholders. Late last week, Ford stock was trading at about $8 a share, about half of what it was two years ago.

- This month, as a result of falling sales of its most popular and profitable brand, the F-series pickup, Ford announced it will cut production of all vehicles by 21 percent in the last three months of this year, a move that will cause layoffs at 10 Ford plants nationwide and sink production to 1981 levels.

At the end of July, F-series sales were down 12.3 percent compared with last year, and Ford dealers were sitting on about 277,000 unsold pickup trucks.

According to a recent report in the Detroit Free Press, "Ford has acknowledged it miscalculated how quickly consumers would move into more fuel-efficient models as gas prices soared."

And, hitting Bill Currie Ford more specifically: Ford recently disclosed it will shrink its network of about 3,800 dealerships, most of them in cities in the Midwest or Northeast.

If all that worries Jennifer Currie, she doesn't show it.

It's been a rough year for Ford, Currie acknowledged. But the automaker understands the urgent need to refocus on fuel-efficient models and has responded with models such as the Focus, Fusion, Escape and Edge.

"Ford makes quality vehicles," she said. "We just have to let the public know about them."

To a large extent, she has.

Even today, in the turbulent world of auto retailing, Bill Currie Ford is still among the top 50 Ford dealerships in the nation, and its sales numbers are up.

Jennifer Currie has a Ford Fusion parked in her garage, a guitar she can't quite master stashed in her bedroom, and a passion for Tim McGraw CDs.

Currie , 31, is somewhat of an anomaly. She's a woman in a business that's close to 95 percent male. She's also the granddaughter of the company's founder.

Her challenges just begin with the fact that the company that supplies the cars, trucks and vans she sells has taken it on the chin lately.

What's more, competitors line Dale Mabry and dot the rest of the city. And with buyers increasingly turning to their computers, dealerships have had to overhaul their marketing strategies.

Bill Currie now employs five Internet sales people and is looking to expand.

It's also tapping into its Southern roots. For the last two years, Currie has waged a patriotism-themed advertising campaign.

A Bill Currie billboard near Interstate 275 features a red Ford Mustang and the message: "Support Our Economy, Not Theirs. Buy American." And in newspaper ads, the dealership reminds potential buyers to "Keep America Strong!"

The effort hasn't hurt.

While sales of Ford cars, light trucks and vans dropped statewide in the past year, sales at Bill Currie have increased year to date.

Currie argues that while Toyota employs thousands of Americans in its U.S. factories, the company's profits go back to Japan.

"I don't think there's a level playing field," she said. "I don't think our government makes it hard enough for these foreign manufacturers to do business in our country.

"Don't give them concessions. We aren't helping out our own companies.

"I wish people would see that what they drive drives America."

Even if they don't, she still has one thing money can't buy. The Currie name.

Bill Currie Jr. had operated Ford dealerships in Georgia since the 1940s. But in 1960, when he saw the beginnings of a population boom in Florida, he headed south and bought Holtsinger Ford on Florida Avenue, then Tampa's only Ford dealership.

The dealership quickly outgrew its location, and in 1973, Currie moved the business to its current location about a mile north of Raymond James Stadium.

About the same time, Currie's son, Bill Currie III, was moving up in the company. And driving his daughter to visit the dealership.

Bill Currie Jr. died in 1994, and although his son remains the company president, his daughter has substantial control.

It was, she said, a no-brainer. She considered careers in teaching and nursing, but always came back to something most women don't consider and something she felt at home with. The business of selling cars.

Currie graduated from the University of South Florida in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing. From there, she went to dealer's school and worked in each of the dealership's departments - from service to sales.

Her first major task was to oversee the construction of a new building at the dealership. At the time, she was 24.

Now she's at the controls of a multi-million-dollar operation.

She downplays the lack of women in her industry. "I have a job to do here," she said, "and all I'm concerned about is getting that job done. Taking care of our customers and selling cars."

The dealership sells about 2,500 new cars and about 2,400 used cars a year, and does about $150-million in sales, about half from the parts, service and body departments, and about half from vehicle sales.

And the people who work there tend to stay there. Of the 245 people Bill Currie employs, 67 have been with the company more than 10 years.

"That's a big deal in the car business," Currie said. "And I'm proud of that."

Still, there is something missing.

Auto retailers have been trying for years to get more women into the business. Recent studies by Ford show that while women often feel intimidated by the car-buying experience, they buy 45 percent of all vehicles and influence 85 percent of all car-buying decisions.

But the inclusion process has been slow, largely because most cars are sold on weekends, when women typically want to be home with their families.

"We're looking at other options as far as trying to attract women," Currie said, "including a more flexible schedule."

And looking within the company for women to promote. Women like Judy Walker.

Two years ago, Currie made Walker the dealership's first female parts manager, in charge of 37 employees.

"I was surprised," Walker said. "Traditionally, it's always been a boy's club."

Walker, 48, has been with Bill Currie for 25 years, and like Jennifer Currie, she's following in her father's footsteps.

Walker was recruited by other dealerships but decided to stay, in part to repay the confidence her boss had shown in her.

"What you see is what you get with Jennifer," Walker said. "She's very easy to communicate with. Very down to earth."

And in many respects, almost shy. "No, I don't seek the spotlight," Currie said. "I just like to do my job and constantly learn. I'm always going to training classes because the business is changing every day."

Her father is always on hand to give advice. But to a large degree, the dealership has fallen into her hands. Her brother prefers to work on the family's Charlotte County tree farm, and her husband is a lineman for Tampa Electric Co.

By design or fate, she has become the face of Bill Currie Ford.

"But it's never about me," she insisted. "It's about Bill Currie Ford. How do we get better? Not what is Jennifer doing or how is Jennifer?

"I never think about that. It's a 'we' thing with me."

Tom Zucco can be reached at zucco@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8247.

Bucking the trend

While Ford sales are down more than 1-million vehicles in the past year and Florida sales are slumping, Bill Currie Ford's sales have increased.

Ford sales statewide

through June 2005: 102,374

through June,2006: 94,484

Bill Currie Ford sales

through June 2005: 1,479

through June 2006: 1,541

Figures represent new cars, light trucks and vans.

Source: Cross-Sell Report, Florida Department of Motor Vehicles

[Last modified August 28, 2006, 01:08:19]