Separate, but together.
That's how the freshly formed ZT Automotive Collection will operate alongside its sister portfolio, ZT Automotive, both owned by the Badar Family Office.
Taseer Badar, the company's founder and CEO, created the Collection to house the group's newest ultra-luxury acquisitions: McLaren Charlotte and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Charlotte, both in North Carolina.
The portfolios will share a fixed ops director, president, and management team.
"It's really just a separate division managed by ZT Automotive," Badar said. "Same people, same fixed ops guy... a lot of economies of scale."
Taseer Badar
Badar Family Office
ZT Automotive
The Ryans: The deal came together by way of a succession plan. Daniel Desantis, one of the Charlotte store's founding partners, wanted to exit after 45 years in the business.
Partners Ryan Moreno and Ryan Wildrick, whom Badar has dubbed "The Ryans," rolled over their equity to stay on as partners. Badar is dealer principal.
"They remind me of myself," Badar said. "They're very young, they're very aggressive. They figured out the business. They work hard. They want to grow. They're not content."
At the Charlotte closing were (from left): Kraig Killough, executive chairman and vice chairman officer of General Partner, ZT Corporate; Nicolas Brown, president, The Americas, McLaren Automotive; Taseer Badar; Ryan Wildrick, EVP of ZT Automotive Collection; Ryan Moreno, EVP of ZT Automotive Collection; and Zeeshan Shaikh, president of ZT Automotive. (Courtesy ZT Automotive Collection)
Insulated market: Badar said exotic brands tend to hold steady even when the broader economy wobbles.
“I feel like we have a different segment of the economy that's really not affected by interest rates, by oil prices,” Badar said. “And with the Ryans that have a book of business, and with my background being a client in this business… I collect cars like this, so I understand it very well.”
Running an exotic store, he said, isn't fundamentally different from running any other dealership: Selling cars, servicing cars, fixed ops, front of the house, back of the house, all the same, but it does demand a different kind of trust.
"You need to move metal, and you have to have people that trust you and repeat customers... It's all relationship-based,” Badar said.
On that note: He aims to make his dealerships part of the community.
In Fort Walton Beach, Florida, home to what he calls the crown jewel of his mainstream portfolio, the mayor and fire chief stop by for coffee, and the sheriff swings through a barbershop the company runs out of its dealership cafe.
"We are the center of town," Badar said.
And he aims to build those relationships in all the markets that feature a ZT Automotive dealership.
(By the way, ZT Automotive rolled onto the scene in 2014, growing to 16 dealerships across Florida, Alabama, Texas, and Georgia.)
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Inside the McLaren store. (Courtesy ZT Automotive Collection)
Growth strategy: Badar said he would love to expand in the South, particularly Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, all a natural fit given the company's headquarters in Houston.
High valuations in those states do mean a longer runway to profitability, he said.
"It's so hard to make deals work in the South, and the values are just so high," Badar said. "You're going to be working for the seller and the bank for five years before you turn a profit."
Rather than chase geography for its own sake, Badar said he goes where the numbers work, and the seller's situation fits his succession-planning model.
"I would much rather go where succession planning and multiples are conducive to our way of doing things and us making a profit."
Especially since he wants to become one of the top private dealership groups in the country.
"Our goal is to be in the top five... at least in the privately held side, if not number one in the privately held side in the country,” Badar said. "I don't like to put up second-place trophies."
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