It didn’t take long for Canada One Auto Group to step on the gas and acquire Barrie’s Georgian Chevrolet Buick GMC.
Daniel Priestner, co-president of the Alberta-based Canada One Auto Group, said talks between his father, Pat, and Georgian owner Jamie Massie started about three months ago. The sale closed Feb. 6, 2023.
Priestner said a number of factors attracted the company to the Barrie View Drive dealership in the city's south end.
“Mr. Massie and his family have been in that community for an extremely long time and they’ve got an immaculate reputation,” he told BarrieToday over the telephone from Edmonton.
“The store has also been an extremely high performer for most of its history in terms of its sales volume, and we also love partnering with General Motors," Priestner added. "We think that they are one of the finest operators worldwide and we’re always excited to grow with them.”
Priestner said he’s been in Barrie twice in the last three weeks from the Alberta capital.
He said Barrie residents and Georgian customers should not expect many changes at Georgian with the sale.
“We always gravitate towards maintaining the staff in the store, because typically staff have long-term relationships with customers,” Priestner said. “That’s extremely high-value and so we don’t ask the teams to re-invent the wheel when they’re high performers. Certainly, over the long term, we’ll implement our group reporting (analytics) and that, I think, will just assist the team.
“The family and the team inside the (Georgian) store have established such a strong foundation and set such a high benchmark that we’re just proud to be part of it," he added.
In total, Canada One Auto Group employs more than 1,800 people and has automotive dealerships in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.
In Ontario, Canada One Auto Group also has two Toyota dealerships in Toronto, one Lexus dealership in Toronto, a Honda dealership in Whitby, a Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC dealership in Belleville, a General Motors dealership in Richmond Hill and a Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership in Orillia.
And now Georgian Chevrolet Buick GMC in Barrie can be added to that list.
