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Fletcher "Ted" Jones presides over one of the most successful luxury automobile dealer groups in the United States. Ted has been credited with pioneering a revolutionary approach in which "guests" not "customers" are treated with the same level of service you would expect from a five-star hotel. The son of an industry legend, Fletcher Jones Senior, Ted meticulously manages an automotive retail empire that spans four states and seventeen dealerships with the flagship operation, known simply as Fletcher Jones Motorcars, Newport Beach.
While he has set new
standards for excellence in the industry, his winning formula can be
traced back to a family legacy that dates back more than 50 years to the
post-World War II landscape of Southern California. It all started in
1946, when Fletcher Jones Senior met a man on a golf course who would
forever change his destiny. Impressed by how successful the man had
become by selling cars, the USC student decided to switch gears from
being a law student to becoming an entrepreneur in the burgeoning
automotive retail industry. After scraping together $1,200 -- a
veritable fortune in those days -- Jones Sr. opened a modest used car
lot in downtown Los Angeles and sold his first vehicle for $70. He went
on to open his first new car dealership and earned his first taste of
success by selling Chrysler and Plymouth vehicles.To spread the word quickly, Jones Senior tried using TV and newspaper advertising, featuring himself as the spokesperson, extolling the benefits of buying a car from his dealerships. The personal approach turned out to be incredibly successful and created a formula that is still effective even today.
Over
the next 15 years, Jones Sr. expanded his operations to include
Chevrolet and GM-brand cars and opened an array of new dealerships
located throughout Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas. By
opening in markets that were experiencing unprecedented growth, he
quickly earned a reputation as a "rising star" in the auto retail
industry.
It
was in the mid-1960s Jones Sr. gave his son, Fletcher, (who went by the
name Ted) to distinguish himself from his father, his first job in the
business. Jones worked in a wide array of entry-level positions,
ranging from sweeping the facility's floors and working in the parts
departments before advancing into sales and management positions. With
his father's guidance, Jones, opened his own dealership in the city of
Whittier, where he sold Mazda vehicles. Within a few years, the
decision to sell the fuel-efficient cars would prove fortuitous, as the
oil-crisis loomed and Americans began exploring their options for more
fuel-efficient vehicles.
Not one to put too much emphasis on one brand, Ted began opening additional dealerships that offered both domestic and import brands, and soon operated a stable of eight locations from Southern California to Las Vegas. He ran them jointly with his father until 1994, when at the age of 76, Fletcher Jones Senior passed away.
By
the early 1990s, Ted Jones had a clear vision of the expansion
direction he wanted his business venture to take, and in 1991, he
purchased a bankrupt luxury auto dealership in the affluent community of
Newport Beach setting his plan in motion to create one of the Nation's
largest Mercedes-Benz center. After completing construction, and
fine-tuning the operation to run like a Swiss watch, he has applied the
same business principles to the additional dealerships that make up the
Fletcher Jones Fine Family of Dealerships, today.
To carry on the tradition, Ted's son Fletcher Jones III began in high school learning the business from the service floor up. Now, many years later, with his father's guidance, he is working to bring his own personal insights and contributions to insure a long lasting legacy of integrity and innovation while continuing the family legacy in the automotive retail business.
