A pair of Canadian automotive industry veterans has acquired the former Larry H. Miller Hyundai Spokane dealership in Spokane Valley and renamed it Spokane Hyundai. 

Greg Churchill, president, and Craig Fruin, general manager of Spokane Hyundai, at 8801 E. Sprague, in both from Alberta, Canada. Churchill also has owned a Honda dealership called Honda West in Calgary, Alberta, since 2009, where Fruin worked for about 10 years. 

“I spend most of my time up there, but Craig has moved down here full-time to actually run the dealership,” Churchill says.

The Spokane Hyundai dealership, which occupies about 6 acres, changed hands May 14. Fruin declines to disclose the terms of the transaction. 

“There’s a massive opportunity to increase Hyundai’s market share here,” Fruin says. “Hyundai’s really positioned themselves more toward SUVs, which this market is certainly heavy on.”

Fruin says the Hyundai dealership had been selling about 1,000 vehicles a year, but the company hopes to increase that number and double the dealership’s used-car inventory. 

Both owners say the Hyundai market share in Spokane is smaller than typical market shares across the U.S., but it’s precisely that fact which drew them to buy the dealership through Irvine, Calif.-based Performance Brokerage Services Inc.

“Larry H. Miller had been talking to a broker that I was dealing with,” Churchill says. “I was actually looking at other dealerships in Canada. They said, ‘Hey, would you consider Spokane?’ … It just worked out to be a good fit for both of us.”

Churchill and Fruin also have plans for some improvements to the dealership, including renovating the roughly 19,000-square-foot showroom and service building.

“We’ll start on the exterior, and that will be completed within the next eight months or so, and then from there we’ll start on the interior,” Churchill says. “It should all be wrapped up within a year and a half to two years.”

Churchill says the renovation also could include expanding the number of service bays and constructing a new detailing facility. With the expansion, he says,   10 more employees will be hired over time. 

While Churchill and Fruin have no specific plans to buy other dealerships here, Churchill says they will consider purchasing other dealerships eventually.

Fruin says he and Churchill have retained nearly all of the 45 members of the former Larry H. Miller Hyundai Spokane staff.

“The one thing we didn’t know prior to entering into this was the staff,” Fruin says. “The staff here is outstanding. I think it’s important how invested the staff is here. I don’t know how many customers have approached me and really expressed that they were very happy that we retained the staff.”

Churchill says commitment to staff is an important part of the partnership’s business philosophy. 

“Up in Canada, our dealership was named one of the top dealerships in Canada to work for, and we do that by putting our focus on the employees, first and foremost,” Churchill says. “Our game plan is to do the same thing here.”

Fruin, whose wife is an American citizen with family here, says he’s looking forward to settling in Spokane.

“We really feel it’s a great community to raise our kids and start a new future,” he says. “The opportunity came along and it was really a no-brainer.”