Stories to fuel your mind
BRIAN JESSEL: 35 YEARS IN THE DRIVERS SEAT
Story by JOE LEARY
An icon in the automotive business, Brian Jessel has been the eponymous head of the top-selling BMW dealership in Canada since 1986. But his love of cars began long before he opened his first used car lot with six autos on a leased space at Burrard and 1st avenue in Vancouver.
“I LOVED CARS FROM THE TIME I WAS A TODDLER”
With his father Bernie, a major player in the Toronto automotive scene, Jessel’s early exposure would foster a love of cars that would guide him for the rest of his life. “I loved cars from the time I was a toddler,” he recalls, adding, “it’s probably in my DNA. I now have a four-year-old grandson who is exactly the same; he sleeps with cars in his bed and won’t let go of the steering wheel if he gets into the driver’s seat. I bought him and his 6-year-old brother cars — yes, real cars. I just need to wait twelve years to give them to them.”
TAKING THE WHEEL
Today, Brian Jessel BMW oversees a magnificent 66,000-square-foot new car facility on Vancouver’s Boundary Road, and an additional 36,000-square-foot pre-owned space nearby. But Jessel nearly took another route in life. Despite his long-standing love of all things automotive, Jessel briefly considered an entirely different career path when he was a university student in Michigan.
“I went to university but never graduated I wanted to get to work. I interviewed at a prestigious Bay Street stock firm and was accepted for the position, but I never started,” he says. The pull of the auto industry was too strong. “A couple of weeks later I was selling cars at a classy GM dealership on the west side of Toronto.” Jessel eventually made his way out west, where he continued to work as a car broker until he was able to accumulate just enough inventory to launch his own shop. Today, his dealerships sell in excess of 5,000 cars annually; continually outpacing competing BMW dealers by a considerable margin.
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“WE CHERISH OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR CLIENTS”
SECRET TO SUCCESS
“We take a personal approach to the car business,” Jessel says. “We cherish our relationships with our clients and like to spoil them and treat them as VIPs. This is how I want to be treated, so this is how I grow my business relationships. Our people are knowledgeable but also warm and engaging. And we are laser focused on all things BMW. We aren’t using a cookie cutter format that works for selling everything from Bentley to Hyundai like large dealership groups need to be. Yet we are the size of five dealerships, so we still have all the economies of scale of the multi-brand.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
Much has changed in the automobile world since Brian Jessel BMW opened its doors in the 1970s, most notably, technological advancements that have turned cars into veritable computers. “As with everything in the world, the computer has changed how cars operate,” he says. “Twenty years ago, I went to Europe and drove the upcoming BMW 7 Series. It had a dial in the center console that controlled many of the car’s functions. Auto journalists hated the iDrive System when they first saw it. Now almost every manufacturer has followed BMW’s lead and has a similar operating system.” This begs the question: how much more advancement can we expect in automobiles of the future? “The new frontier is the electric car,” says Jessel, adding that despite the hype, as of 2020 less than 3 per cent of all vehicles sold are fully electric. “There is a mystique I like about electric cars. They are so quiet and have amazing low-end power.
I still love the feeling of an internal combustion engine, however, it is inevitable that electric vehicles will dominate by the end of this decade.” And it’s likely Brian Jessel BMW will continue its dealership domination along with them. cars operate,” he says. “Twenty years ago, I went to Europe and drove the upcoming BMW 7 Series. It had a dial in the center console that controlled many of the car’s functions. Auto journalists hated the iDrive System when they first saw it. Now almost every manufacturer has followed BMW’s lead and has a similar operating system.” This begs the question: how much more advancement can we expect in automobiles of the future? “The new frontier is the electric car,” says Jessel, adding that despite the hype, as of 2020 less than 3 per cent of all vehicles sold are fully electric. “There is a mystique I like about electric cars. They are so quiet and have amazing low-end power. I still love the feeling of an internal combustion engine, however, it is inevitable that electric vehicles will dominate by the end of this decade.” And it’s likely Brian Jessel BMW will continue its dealership domination along with them.
Brian Jessel BMW occupies a fabulous 66,000 sq. ft. new car facility on Boundary Road in Vancouver, a significant step up from his first dealership in Abbotsford, with an additional 36,000 sq. ft. pre-owned space nearby, selling more than 5000 cars a year, and continually outperforming other BMW dealers by a wide margin. Inside the show room, rows of “Dealer of the Year” banners hang as impressively as Stanley Cup pennants’.
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