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cliff findlay THE INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE The owner of Las Vegas’ biggest and most successful auto dealerships still talks like the UNLV jock he once was. And that’s a good thing. by Richard N. Velotta | photography by Steve Marcus J 24 ust off a Montana fly-fishing trip, Cliff Findlay had completely forgotten about our scheduled interview and photo shoot at his Cadillac dealership at the Valley Auto Mall. “Look at me,” he says when I sit down to talk with him and inform him that a photographer is setting up in the showroom. “I’m wearing shorts. I can’t have pictures wearing shorts.” ¶ But with those shorts, he also was wearing a bright red UNLV polo. Truth be told, he’s not only more comfortable in the casual gear, but most people who know him probably wouldn’t recognize him in a business suit. ¶ “Big Cliff,” with his power forward frame and even bigger smile, has more Main Street than Wall Street in him. Besides, wearing Rebel red shows another side of Findlay and his personality. ¶ A fifth-generation Nevadan whose family moved here before it Most Las Vegans recognize you as the name and face of the automobile sales industry in Southern Nevada. But who would you say Cliff Findlay is? Hmm, who is Cliff Findlay? I guess I’d say it’s more than just the dealerships and business. I have a great amount of pride for my family and some of the things we do in the community. I’m a fifth- generation Nevadan and I guess that would make my grandkids seventh generation. There aren’t too many of us around. I love the state, love the city. I like to stay involved with UNLV and with the foundation. To me, it’s all about relationships. Give us an update on how car sales have fared since the onset of the recession. It’s hard to believe, but we’re still in an expansion mode. It isn’t going as well as it was back in the ’90s, but we’re still selling cars and people still need transportation and are always upgrading. In this organization, the growth and the expansion are just unbelievable. In 1990, we had just one DRIVES HOME was a state—how many of those people do you know?—Findlay is the head of the Findlay Automotive Group, which has 23 dealerships in Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho and is considered one of the largest dealer chains in the country. A 24th dealership selling Volkswagens is scheduled to open in Las Vegas in August. ¶ Findlay Automotive took off in the early 1990s, running a parallel course with the growth of Southern Nevada. The business got a big boost when Saturn awarded Findlay a dealership, opened as Saturn of West Sahara. ¶ A former Rebels basketball player, Findlay is fiercely loyal to the UNLV program. In 2001, he was named to the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. He led the Rebels in rebounding on the 1968-69 and 1969-70 teams. ¶ Findlay and his family founded the Findlay Education Foundation, which funds Findlay Preparatory Academy, a college prep school that has developed some of the nation’s top basketball prospects—including current UNLV big man, Carlos Lopez. store. Now, we’re one of the largest organizations in the country. It usually takes buying a bunch of stores, going public or getting some kind of outside funding. But we’re basically a mom-and-pop organization that started with one store and grew to where we’re at now. We only bought about four or five of the places we have. The rest were awarded to us by the manufacturers because they thought we were the best candidate. Let’s say there are two Chevy stores in Vegas and they want to put in a third. They’ll make an announcement to existing dealers and take applications for the third point. They’ll start with about 50 applicants and they’ll narrow it down to one. A typical car dealer will get about one or two that way. We’ve gotten about 18. Everything’s about timing. We got lucky in a lot of areas because the timing was good. What trigger point will you be looking for to determine when the economy is back on track? That’s a tough question, but I think it will be when people start building again. We’ve gone through some pretty tough times in the last three years and a lot of businesses are gone. Unfortunately, that has been really painful for a lot of people, but I think we’ll know things are turning around when we see the opening of some new businesses. You have a number of different dealerships. What’s the car that has sold best during the down times? We’ve seen a lot of success with the (Toyota) Prius and I think that’s partially because there was so much attention a few years ago on hybrid cars and now, it’s the cost of gasoline. When I first saw a Prius, I wasn’t sure it how well it was going to do, but once people started to drive them, they got a better understanding of hybrids. Of all the alternative-fuel vehicles that have come out or are being talked about, I think hybrids have the best chance for long-term success. There’s a lot of potential for CNG (compressed natural gas), fuel-cell and electric cars, but I think everybody | 4 JULY 2011 |