BMW of Sewickley under new ownership

BMW of Sewickley has a new owner who is no stranger to the automotive industry.

Taso Theodorou started selling cars as a teenager in Chicago, and said the journey to Western Pennsylvania has been a smooth one.

“I’ve had a little bit of time to get out there and go to dinner and walk around town,” said Theodorou, who is looking for a home in the Sewickley area. “Sewickley is a beautiful community. I am really looking forward to being able to spend more time here. It’s fabulous.”

Theodorou purchased the location a little over a month ago. He learned the dealership was for sale via the BMW dealer forum, where dealers from across the country work with the company and help shape their strategy and the way they do business in the U.S., he said.

“I decided it was time to start my own,” Theodorou said. “When I heard this dealership was available, I jumped at the opportunity to take it.”

Theodorou said he learned the importance of customer service when he made his first sale of a used Ford Taurus. A few years later, he met Mimi, the woman who would become his wife. His career took a short detour before their children — Carey, 31, and Victoria, 28 — were born when he opened his own business selling insurance and real estate for a few years.

Those jobs weren’t for him, he said.

He was driven to be in the car business.

“I thought I would just do this again for a little bit until I figure out what I want to do with the next chapter of my life,” he said. ” And then, something clicked. I was older and I looked at life differently once I had a family. I was good at selling cars. I’ve never left the car business since.”

He was promoted from car salesman to new car manager to general sales manager and then to the general manager position. He became West Coast president for Sonic Automotive and also AutoNation and most recently, president of Sunroad Auto in California, a company for a private dealer group that has 31 dealerships in the U.S. and Mexico.

Theodorou, 56, plans to streamline the parking and entrance to BMW of Sewickley. He wants to make scheduling an appointment easier and plans to meet everyone who walks through the door. He also wants to make the hours more convenient for customers.

Theodorou said he loves being in Sewickley and said the rumors that the dealership might be relocating are not true.

“I have zero intention of moving the dealership,” he said.

Theodorou said he plans to retain all the employees because they’ve created relationships with customers. He has been talking with all the employees about what they like and what they would like to see change.

He said the service area is one facet of the business he hasn’t worked in.

“I have a great deal of respect for the people who do that,” he said. “It’s fascinating to me. They’re so talented, and they love what they do. We’ve got a great group of technicians here. I have every intention of keeping every single employee who is here and have every intention of continuing to grow them and grow their careers right with our organization. We want to make sure that we make it as easy as possible for the community to do business with us. That is my main mission.”

Mark Santia of Mars has purchased several cars from the dealership and said sales manager Chuck France is fantastic.

“Everyone there treats me well,” Santia said. “They take care of me. If I want a specific car, they find it.”

Theodorou said having access to so many vehicles is a selling point with BMW. It has models for people in various points of life, from a sporty coupe to an SUV.

BMW of Sewickley is located across the street from Porsche Sewickley and Audi Sewickley, which, along with BMW, were owned by the same person at one time. Theodorou said he has not met the new owner of those dealerships; Porsche Sewickley and Audi Sewickley were recently acquired by Ken Ganley Auto Group based in Ohio.

“Being beside other dealerships is typically good, as it brings more customers to the area,” Theodorou said.

Pricing for a new BMW starts in the $50,000 range. Buying or leasing depends on how long the customer plans to keep a car, Theodorou said. Currently, around 100 new vehicles and 50 pre-owned vehicles are in stock.

The certified pre-owned market is an area of the business Theodorou wants to explore more, he said.

The recent news about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on automotive imports and materials has created some turmoil in the market, but Theodorou said he believes it’s going to stabilize.

BMW exports a lot more vehicles than it imports — it’s the largest net exporter of vehicles out of the U.S. of any of the automotive manufacturers, including the American manufacturers, Theodorou said. The company has a plant in Spartanburg, S.C., where the SUVs are built.

“It can be a very, very fun and very fulfilling business, especially if you do it right,” Theodorou said. “We want to make sure that all of our customers always feel as though they got a fair deal and they were treated properly and treated fairly.”