The Kot Auto Group is expanding both their brand portfolio, as well as their footprint on Vancouver Island, with the recent acquisition of Woodgrove Chrysler in Nanaimo, a new and used Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Ram dealership and service department. This is the first Chrysler brand under the Kot Auto Group umbrella and its second location on Vancouver Island. Kot Auto acquired Victoria Hyundai in June of 2019.
Canadian auto dealer spoke with Brandon Kot, from Kot Auto Group, who will be running both stores on Vancouver Island, about why buying a second store on the Island was appealing. “The Victoria Hyundai store was a rare opportunity for us to as a store in a great market, he said. “ We are in expansion mode and saw a great opportunity. Both of our other Hyundai stores in BC were President’s Award-winning stores with Hyundai. So Hyundai trusted us to get the job done. We are also in the midst of building a brand new state-of the-art facility.”
It turns out the new Chrysler store will be returning the Kot family to their domestic OEM roots. “Before I moved to Victoria and before I was working with my dad’s company, I was actually working on my own at Maple Ridge Chrysler under Ian Speckman, he was one of my mentors, who sadly just passed away.”
And it’s not just Brandon who has a love of domestic brands. “My dad, John, before Kot Auto, he was the vice president of AutoCanada. Before that, in Edmonton, he was all Dodge, all domestic stores. That was kind of his bread and butter. So we’ve been wanting to get into the Dodge Chrysler game, and this was the right score for us.”
Kot Auto Group, is a family owned and operated business. John Kot President, and wife Trina Kot work alongside son Brandon Kot, Jordan Kot and daughter Janessa Kot who together manage seven dealerships across British Columbia.
“We are excited to expand with a dedicated domestic brand to our portfolio and allow for more opportunity for our team and our customers” said John Kot. “We look forward to welcoming the existing employees from Woodgrove Chrysler to the Kot Auto Group family and are confident that together we will achieve great results. We would also like to thank Braeden Muller and Kevin Knight from the Knight Automotive Group for the ease of this transition of this acquisition”.
