Brad Mugg, the managing partner at Honda of Downtown Los Angeles, recently sat down with GLANCDA to discuss his life, career, auto industry, and family. Brad grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, and lived there until he was 37. From there, he moved to Chicago for three years, California for 15 years and then Oregon for two years. Afterward, he returned to California, where he’s been ever since. Although there were no other automotive dealers in his family, his dad had a body shop with a used car lot out front, kind of a miniature version of a dealership. And, since he’d always liked cars and wanted to be a part of the automotive business since he was four or five years old, a dealership was a good fit for him. After studying supervision technology in the 1980s at the Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana, campus, he learned a lot about management skills, including time management. After college, he worked at Bob Rohrman Honda for 10 years in Indiana and three years in Chicago. “Bob could be a tough guy to work for,” Brad told us, “but if you performed, he rewarded you well and made it fun to work.” He went from the Honda store in Chicago to run the Norm Reeves Honda Superstore in Southern California for nine years. The store sold 1,000 cars per month, and Brad was given a chance to be a partner. He also bought a Honda Volkswagen store in Irvine, California, and ran it for five years. Next, he partnered with Jeff Swickard at Swickard Honda in Gladstone, Oregon. According to Brad, “He was a great partner, and he is a great human being. But I couldn’t handle going from everyday sunshine to eight or nine months of rain a year.” So he headed back to California in April 2021. Brad explained that he and Brandon Steven are now partners at Honda of Downtown Los Angeles and the Hyundai of Downtown Los Angeles that just opened. Brandon is the majority partner at both dealerships. Of their partnership, Brad said, “[It’s] the most amazing one I’ve ever had because Brandon does everything right. He is trusting and fun and has an amazing work ethic. It is a wonderful time to be in the car business.” We next asked Brad to tell us about his mentors. He told us, “My grandfather was a big mentor, and I learned a lot from him at a young age. Bob (Rohrman) was another mentor. He was pretty spectacular. [He] owned about 30 dealerships himself without a management company, which is unbelievable. He was a wonderful human being and Dealer Spotlight GETTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT BRAD MUGG
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