After decades of operating apart, even in competition with each other, the forces of Honda and GM have come together in Prince George.
Wood Wheaton auto group started as a General Motors car dealership in the early 1990s. Over time they grew and added names like Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, they added the Ford brand at their PG Motors location, and now Honda has joined their Supercentre family.
Honda had been a fixture on First Avenue for many years, but on Thursday, at a VIP reception at their new location on the Wood Wheaton campus along Highway 16, the two companies officially began life together.
"It's the start of a whole new journey," said Craig Wood, an owner since inception in 1993 and a boyish lover of automobiles. "I've always admired Hondas since I was a young lad. I think they've done some fabulous things with their products over the years. They have been innovative, and they've tried to make the world a better place in their way. When the opportunity came up, I saw it as a great fit to add them to our group if we could make it happen."
Honda Canada's president Takashi Sekiguchi and vice-president Jerry Chenkin both came Thursday to the opening event.
"That was a strong show of support from them. It is not often you see these leaders of Canadian corporations make the trip to Prince George," Wood said. "It was a perfect fit for our plans and commitment to Prince George. They are a world class organization, and this gave me a chance to go deeper in my love affair of automobiles, and work with a great company, and provide jobs for all of the people working on the Honda side of things, and also bring forward the customer experience for people who buy Hondas."
Wood said the corporate connections were a pleasure to conduct as the business arrangements were made, but at the same time the physical construction of the new building was also done with astonishing efficiency. Honda's new home was finished on budget and ahead of schedule, using all-local contractors and subcontractors.
"We wanted to support the local trades and we hope that they will support us in turn," said Wood. "Honda told us it was the fastest anyone had ever built a Honda dealership anywhere in Canada. Everyone just pulled together, and that was really something to be part of."
Honda's headquarters gave the Wood Wheaton team a lot of extra support and special vehicle inventory, to help start the new location off right, he added, and more new inventory is arriving every day. It's a pattern Wood hopes will continue.
