Corwin Automotive Group buys Republic Ford

Republic Ford is under new ownership. The dealership was taken over by Corwin Automotive Group, a North Carolina-based automotive group with 13 locations in seven states, on Monday, Dec. 6. The dealership is now Corwin Ford Lincoln Republic.
Republic Ford was started by Bob Beine in January of 1984. After 38 years of owning and operating the dealership, he and his wife, Susan, announced in a Facebook video that they were leaving the automotive business because the time had come to “refresh and move to a new phase of our lives.”
Jeff McConville, operating partner of Corwin Automotive in Missouri, said Beine decided to sell Republic Ford to Corwin Automotive after some discussion.
“Me and Bob have been friends for a long time,” he said. “We just had a working relationship over the years. We talked about it; he decided to retire and gave us an opportunity.”
McConville said Corwin Automotive has no plans to let go of any of the dealership’s employees, but did plan to make some changes to the lot itself.
“Of course, we’re going to try and keep as many of the employees as we can; we always try to do that,” he said. “We will at some point … invest some money in some more service capacity and reconditioning capacity. We’ll (also) expand the sales floors, those kinds of things.”
With Corwin Automotive taking over the dealership, McConnell said, they will also bring in a “refined” process that will “ensure the customer a great experience in a minimal amount of time.”
“We have a process that’s very consistent throughout all of our dealerships that enhances the customer experience,” he said. “It makes it very quick to do business and very easy to do business, and we try to be very consistent with that process throughout all of our dealerships.”
In addition to Republic Ford, Beine also owned dealerships in Joplin and Carthage. Those were also sold to Corwin Automotive, but are now being operated by a different entity.
"We bought the whole package,” McConnell said, “and we spun off (those) two … to Wood Automotive Group.”
McConnell added that Corwin Automotive was excited to have a location in a flourishing community like Republic.
“We’re glad to be in Republic and be part of this growth,” he said.