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Cliff Cummings, who owns three dealerships at the San Bernardino Auto Center, has survived some adversity since he started selling cars and trucks in the Inland Empire in 1991.
Regarding the automobile industry, Cliff Cummings is an unabashed optimist, something he has every right to be.
Cummings owns three automobile dealerships at the San Bernardino Auto Center Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi. He has fought through some tough times since he purchased Toyota of San Bernardino in 1991, including two recessions and San Bernardino’s bankruptcy filing in August 2012.
During his 25 years in San Bernardino, Cummings has seen a lot of his competitors close up shop. Cadillac, Chrysler, Isuzu, Jeep and Kia all disappeared from the auto center in 2008, when the Great Recession kicked into gear.
Selling cars is difficult during the best of times, so Cummings could be excused if he were to decide to play it safe. But someone who considered playing golf for a living before he settled on a career in automobiles, even though he knew very little about the automobile industry at the time, isn’t one to avoid taking chances.
Cummings is planning to move his Toyota dealership closer to Interstate 215 to increase its freeway visibility. The move, which is expected to take about 18 months to complete, will likely cost between $15 million and $18 million.
When the new dealership is finished, Toyota of San Bernardino will occupy an 82,000-square-foot building on 11 acres. Currently it works out of a 50,000-square-foot building on nine acres at 765 Show Case Dr North.
At the moment, all three of Cummings’ San Bernardino dealerships are performing well. Toyota is selling approximately 400 cars and trucks a month, Subaru and Mitsubishi about 150 vehicles combined.
Cummings, who also owns a Toyota dealership in Indio that is moving 250 to 300 vehicles per month, isn’t concerned that he might be expanding at the wrong time.
“The automobile industry is doing well, and we’re dong well in San Bernardino despite all of the problems the city has had,” said Cummings, who has won the prestigious Toyota’s President’s Award seven times. “People keep talking about the bankruptcy, but I really believe the city has done a good job getting out of it. I think all of that is in the past.”
Cummings’ entrance into the automobile industry happened in part because of his desire to be a professional golfer.
A native of Newark, N.J., Cummings graduated from Lynchburg College in Virginia in 1976 with a degree in political science. He soon decided to pursue golf instead of going to law school, but knew he needed a way to support himself while he worked on his game and prepared for the PGA Tour.
He then landed a job as a salesman with an automobile dealership in Virginia, eventually working his way up to a management position. By the mid-1980s, Cummings was part-owner of a Toyota dealership in Northern Virginia.
“By that time I had figured out that I probably wasn’t going to make a living playing golf,” Cummings said. “I had also decided I wanted to own my own dealership.”
A group of dealers then referred him to the Toyota dealership in San Bernardino, which was then located on E Street. Cummings, who was familiar with California and its automobile market, looked at the downtown dealership and immediately liked what he saw.
“I could tell it was strong, and Toyota was also doing well in California at that time,” said Cummings, who signed an agreement to manage the facility with an option to buy it over time. “I also loved the climate.”
Perhaps the key to his success, particularly during the hard times, has been keeping his employees, Cummings said
“We have very little staff turnover because we want our people to stay,” said Cummings, who bought the Subaru and Mitsubishi dealerships five years ago. “We have people who have been with us for 30-plus years, which makes my job a lot easier.”
Like a lot of businessmen, Cummings is looking forward to the Trump Administration.
“I think the economy will be extremely dynamic, but I also think that California will have to adjust to what is going on in Washington, D.C.,” Cummings said. “It’s not clear at all that it can do that.”
Cummings’ automobile dealerships are invaluable to San Bernardino’s economy, said Judi Penman, president and chief executive officer of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Cliff is a team player, and he’s very committed to San Bernardino,” Penman said. “He can be hard-nosed, but he treats his employees very well and he’s passionate about his business. That’s why he’s so successful.”
