Prominent local family ends ties to dealership
Santa Monica Ford has been owned and operated by one family for more than five decades.
But because it’s too difficult to do business here, the Harding family has handed over keys to someone else, they say.
Last month the Hardings and part-owner Bob Carlan sold off their stake in the dealership to Carlan’s son-in-law Ron Davis, a career car salesman who previously owned a used car dealership in Orange County.
While neither side is revealing the sales price, Mark Harding — who worked at his father’s dealership for more than 25 years — said Davis received a substantial loan from Ford Motor Co.’s Dealership Development Program, which has been helping establish more Latino and black-owned dealerships.
The arrangement leaves 53-year-old Davis, who is Latino, as the dealership’s sole owner.
“It’s not a partnership, but Ford Motor Co. is my bank,” Davis said. “I put up money, they put up money and they put me here as the operator.”
Mark Harding was in line to purchase the dealership franchise from his father, who at 76 years old, was looking forward to retiring and traveling. Mark Harding decided against the purchase and last year took a job at his brother, Chris Harding’s, law firm.
Mark Harding said while he wanted more than anything to run the family business, he said owning and operating a dealership in Santa Monica was too risky for his taste.
“We are talking about significant investment and money for a franchise,” he said. “We are talking about a significant problem for me and my family if it didn’t work out, and I didn’t need that risk.”
While Santa Monica is home to some of the busiest car dealerships in the Los Angeles region, car lot owners say the city has made it nearly impossible for them to expand their businesses and increase the number of vehicles they can store.
City officials have said if the dealerships are allowed to expand, they believe there would be a significant impact on nearby residential neighborhoods. Expansion would eat up multi-family housing space, increase competition for already scarce parking, and worsen traffic congestion, they say.
However, car dealerships are the top sales tax revenue source for the city, and without healthy dealerships, city finances would flounder. The juxtaposition has created tension between dealership owners, elected officials and city staff.
Councilman Mike Feinstein has been trying to bring residents and dealership owners together to forge a compromise that both sides can live with.
“As elected officials, it’s our responsibility to protect the residents’ quality of life,” Feinstein. “But at the same time many of these dealerships are family-owned franchises, which are exactly the kind of business we want to encourage.”
Mark Harding said he tried to explain the complications of the business to Davis before he bought the franchise.
“Santa Monica is a place you have to experience to understand,” he said. “You can’t really accurately tell someone about it.”
Davis said he hears the message about doing business in Santa Monica loud and clear.
“I think you’d have to be from Mars to not hear stories about how the city deals with business here,” he said. “But I’m new here now and I have limited experience with the city and I look forward to a very positive experience with them.”
“I think you’d have to be from Mars to not hear stories about how the city deals with business here.” — — RON DAVIS Santa Monica Ford dealership owner
Still, Davis was surprised to have his first dealings with city officials only weeks after he assumed control of the dealership. Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Sierra Club and Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown protested in front of the Ford dealership. They want the car manufacturer to build more environmentally conscience cars.
Mark Harding and other dealership owners have said they were disappointed that an elected official would welcome a new dealership owner to town by protesting the kinds of cars being sold — a decision the small dealership owner has little control over.
“It’s like they’ve got their political view and they’re taking it out on the little guy,” he said. “Why not protest the regional Ford office or take it to Michigan?”
McKeown defends his decision to participate in the protest. He said the group knew Davis had been hand-picked by Ford to run the dealership and saw a strong tie between Davis and Ford Motor Co. He said the picketing wasn’t aimed at hurting the dealership.
“It was meant to encourage Ford to seize a very profitable marketing opportunity in our environmentally friendly city,” he said.
Davis said he understands the Sierra Club’s position, but wonders how he fits in.
“It seems a strange way to welcome a new business to town, and I might have wished they could have waited a month before doing it,” he said. “But I can understand.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 14, 2002. Read the original PDF.