SVG Motors eyeing Beavercreek

VanGorder could open expanded dealership as early as August.

Rapidly growing auto dealer Steve VanGorder has bought land for an expanded dealership in Beavercreek, a site that might become his fifth location as early as this summer.

In an interview Thursday, VanGorder said he hopes to open the new lot as early as this August, but no later than 2019.

The location is a good one for VanGorder, a familiar face from his many TV commercials. He has lived in Greene County for 25 years, and the Beavercreek location will effectively have his stores surrounding Dayton. SVG Motors also has locations in Dayton at 400 Shoup Mill Road, as well as Eaton, Urbana and Greenville.

“I call it home,” VanGorder said of Greene County.

SVG has grown aggressively. Since May 2014, VanGorder’s acquisitions have grown from a single used car dealership. He has sold some 7,000 vehicles since.

With the new dealership, SVG will have more than 1,000 vehicles available for shoppers, and he will have about 200 employees under the SVG umbrella.

“I’ve got some really solid and amazing team members out there,” VanGorder said.

One reason he can shift his focus to the Greene County project is the addition of two experienced general managers to his team, Mitchell Gadd and Mel Lehrner.

Said VanGorder: “Both of those guys combined have 50 years’ experience.”

VanGorder’s approach is different. While he is known for his TV spots, his team wears bright orange shirts and orange shoes.

“Buying a car ought to be fun,” VanGorder said.

Greene County property records show that SVG Properties paid just more than $1 million for property at 3415 Seajay Drive, the former home of Eastgate Ford.

The purchase was of nearly 5.8 acres of land.

“Thirty days from now you might not recognize the place,” VanGorder told the Springfield News-Sun last summer after he bought Trenor Motors in Urbana. “We’re going to invest some money making it more something you might see in a dealership in the 2000s. There’s some appeal to the look of the place, but GM is holding all their dealers to a higher standard, and we want this to be a comfortable experience for everybody that comes into the dealership.”

In April 2016, SVG acquired the Myers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in Eaton.