Driving force
New Charlottetown Mitsubishi dealership to start selling vehicles by the end of December
Tammy Roach began her 19year career with Brown’s Volkswagen in Charlottetown as a receptionist and then progressed all the way to the role of general manager.
She thought she reached her career ceiling as a general manager of an auto dealership.
Then one day in May, Roach received a call that Mitsubishi was looking to set up a dealership on the Island after a 12-year absence.
She was asked if she was interested in being its owner.
“Absolutely,” replied Roach. “Who wouldn’t want their own dealership?”
Roach followed through on the inquiry and is now the owner/ dealer principal of Charlottetown Mitsubishi, which will be located at 451 Mount Edward Rd. at the corner of Sherwood Road.
“I love it. I absolutely love the automobile industry. It’s so much fun,” she said.
The site is currently undergoing some construction work and renovations. Given that, Roach is planning to start selling vehicles using a temporary trailer and shop on the site by the end of December. The official opening is planned for midFebruary. She is starting out with nine employees, but hopes to expand to 12 to 14 employees.
A few days after first being contacted about the possibility of owning a dealership on P.E.I., Roach and her husband visited a Mitsubishi dealership in Saint John, N.B. to get some more information, talk to staff and test drive vehicles.
“I have to believe in the products that I sell,” she said, adding she also did some online research into the company’s vehicle warranty plan as well as price comparisons with competitors.
“We were like, ‘Wow. We could totally make this happen’.”
After a career at Brown’s that also involved working as a comptroller and a fixed operations manager, she’s excited to be running her own dealership and being the boss.
“It’ll be nice that I can do what I want to do. And, I’ll never have anybody stepping in and saying, ‘You can’t do that’, because I’m it. I’m the last straw,” she said.
As the owner, her main responsibility is people – staff and customers.
“If you have a happy team, you’re going to have happy customers,” she said. “I’ve always treated my staff and my customers the way I would want to be treated.”
Roach is also mindful that as a new owner of a business in an industry that is often considered male dominated, she can be a role model for women looking to follow that career path.
“If I can be a role model or trailblazer, that’s great. And that’s just sort of a sidebar. I’m doing this because I love it.”