Qvale, nearing 90, sees life after crash for U.S. industry

The troubles roiling Detroit's automakers are familiar to Kjell Qvale, the legendary importer and dealer in San Francisco.

Qvale, who turns 90 on July 17, has seen this movie before.

For instance, many of the British automakers that Kjell Qvale (shel kah-VAH'-lee) depended on for sports and luxury cars collapsed in the 1970s. The automakers were done in by incompetent management, labor troubles, poor quality and other problems.

Today, Great Britain lacks a British-owned volume automaker.

Could the same thing happen here? Qvale says he doesn't believe it will, although Chrysler now is controlled by Italy's Fiat.

"The Fiat-Chrysler deal is interesting," Qvale told Automotive News from his office at British Motors in San Francisco, where he still keeps regular hours.

"Fiat makes marvelous small cars in Europe. It will take them awhile to qualify them for sale here, but Fiat has tremendous capacity. They are successful in Europe, and they will be successful here. Chrysler never would have made it alone."

Qvale also said reducing the number of dealers, models and divisions is the right strategy for General Motors. And, he said, if GM had shrunk years ago, it probably wouldn't be in bankruptcy today.

In the late 1940s, Qvale almost single-handedly kicked off the British sports car boom on the West Coast when he took a chance on small, lightweight MG two-seat sports cars. The success of such cars as the MG TD and TF led Qvale to import and distribute virtually all other British brands of sports and luxury cars that were popular in the 1950s through the early '80s.

Over the years Qvale also imported or sold German, Italian, French, Japanese and Swedish cars. And he sold two brands of American cars, Dodge and Jeep. He even manufactured cars, such as the Jensen-Healey roadster in the mid-1970s and the Qvale Mangusta sports car in the 1990s.

The auto industry's current crisis is the worst Qvale has seen. He said business at his dealership, which sells Jaguar and Bentley and several other upscale brands, is off about 50 percent from last year.

His advice to dealers? Cut all unnecessary expenses. And if a dealer must reduce the staff, make sure the sales force that remains is talented, motivated and kept well-informed about company operations.

Said Qvale: "You better not waste money. We cut $1.5 million out of our budget over last year. When you cut, you are hurting other people, but you have to do it. You have to run every part of your business more efficiently."

By Richard Truett- Automotive News