Rewarding Bad Behavior? Honda Dealer Plans in Texas Raise Eyebrows

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

You may recall news from earlier this year of All Pro Nissan and its associated dealers, most of whom starred in Episode of the seemingly never-ending series titled “Dealers Behaving Badly.”

At the time, the entities – owned in part by a consortium of former NFL players – were being taken to task by the captive finance arms of Nissan and Hyundai over allegations that parts of the dealer group sold hundreds of vehicles, worth more than $10 million, out of trust and also failed to repay floorplan loans.

So what’s the punishment for these alleged misdeeds? Why, another brand new dealership, of course!

Honda appears to be nonplussed by the allegations lodged by its peers. According to those in the know, the big H seems to be standing by a plan that calls for the opening of a 100,000+ sq.ft store in Grapevine, Texas, for the purpose of selling Accords, Civics, and CR-Vs. Alrighty, then.

From Automotive News:

Grapevine Honda is “the current candidate for this open point,” an American Honda spokeswoman wrote in an email to Automotive News. An evidence of franchise form filed with Texas for Grapevine Honda was signed in September 2017 by Jeff Conrad, senior vice president of American Honda, who has since retired.

Former NFL player Jessie Armstead and auto industry veteran Michael Saporito are working to open this potential store in Grapevine, while already holding stakes in two other Honda dealerships. Those outlets are located in the locales of Hazle and Hamilton Townships.

This, naturally, has sparked an outcry from existing Honda dealers located near to the proposed new outlet. Seeking to stop the dealership license application, a quartet of Texas Honda dealers doing business in places like Fort Worth and Arlington filed protests with the state a year ago, long before the alleged troubles surfaced at All Pro.

Here’s a fun fact with which to hit your gearhead buddies: in Texas, same-brand dealers within a 15-mile radius of a proposed new retail outlet can lodge these protests and seem to do so on grounds that the brand is already well represented in the area. All the protests described here have apparently been dismissed, some through “confidential settlements.” The mind reels with what those terms could include. Given the timeline, these dealers would have registered and subsequently settled the protests before the alleged nefarious All Pro activity was uncovered by the Hyundai and Nissan captive finance arms. One wonders if they would have been as quick to do so if they knew this was coming down the pipe.

Texas-based design firm GFF currently lists the Grapevine Honda project amongst its portfolio of work, where it is described as a 108,000 square foot dealership integrating the image requirements of Honda’s corporate identity program. According to the site, the project is set to begin construction “this year.” I’m besotted by that Honda-badged F-150 in the company’s artist rendering shown at the top of this post, by the way.

A past attempt by Armstead to secure a Toyota franchise in the area never got off the ground.

[Image: Grapevine Honda]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Jessie Louthan Jessie Louthan on Oct 08, 2018

    I've from the Mid-Cities area (where they're proposing building this). I'm sure that Huggins (North Richland Hills) and David McDavid (Irving) are probably not happy about this, but I'm sure that existing Honda owners in the Grapevine-Southlake-Colleyville area will be happy to not have to drive as far to get service. FYI I used to sell cars for Huggins and David McDavid

  • AJ AJ on Oct 09, 2018

    A dealership that I used for sales and service of several cars is owned by a former player. From an inside source, the scum bags in sales run the show … the owner just "has the money and likes to test drive the new cars.”

  • FreedMike Off topic, but folks, this site is not working well for me from a technical standpoint, and it doesn't matter if I'm using my phone, or my computer (on two different browsers). It locks up and makes it impossible to type anything in after a certain point. Anyone else having these issues?
  • Syke Kinda liked the '57, hated the '58. Then again, I hated the entire '58 GM line except for the Chevrolet. Which I liked better than the '57's. Still remember dad's '58 Impala hardtop, in the silver blue that was used as the main advertising color.
  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • Ravenuer The rear view of the Eldo coupe makes it look fat!
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
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