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 McCarthy started as a family business and its roots can be traced back to a bicycle shop in Durban, established in 1910: the Coventry and Birmingham Motor and Cycle Company. This is where Justin McCarthy, on whom the title of “founder” of McCarthy can be bestowed, started his career in the motor trade, which he saw as the business of the future.
Justin McCarthy was as charismatic as he was bold: in the early years, he was instrumental in saving the company when, during the Great Depression, its cash-strapped partners wanted to liquidate. He engineered the 1936 listing of McCarthy Rodway on the London Stock Exchange and on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1937. He also successfully negotiated a number of franchises, including the much sought-after Morris franchise with Sir William Morris (later known as Lord Nuffield), and set up a very successful motor assembly business, which was an important part of the company’s success in the early years.
Apart from Justin McCarthy, other members of the McCarthy family played an integral role in the company’s development and success.
Justin’s younger brother, Pat, was a founder member of McCarthy Rodway and later Justin’s eldest son, Brian, joined at age 24. Brian was a major driving force behind the McCarthy success right up to his passing. Many of McCarthy’s current team members still remember Brian’s principled leadership and his maxim, “Men are valuable just in proportion as they are able and willing to work in harmony with other men.” This had been passed down from Justin McCarthy who, in turn, had seen it displayed on the London desk of none other than Lord Nuffeld!
Over the decades, McCarthy has grown and diversified, restructured, acquired and disposed of businesses, forged partnerships, gained new owners, survived wars, political upheaval and recessions, and led the industry in many ways. Yet the glue that has held the team together throughout the ups and downs and trials and tribulations has been a strong feeling of belonging, a strong focus on solid family values, and an intrinsic caring for people.
Since its earliest days, McCarthy has always placed a very strong emphasis on staff development and wellbeing (one of Brian McCarthy’s first jobs was to share with the sales executives the tricks of the trade he had learnt on a study trip to the US), the importance of caring for customers, and the value of establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with principals, suppliers and partners.
At its core, McCarthy has remained a family business despite having grown into an R18-billion-turnover industry leader which sells 85 000 vehicles per year across 32 brands out of a network of 120 dealerships, and which conducts 750 000 services and repairs.
This focus on staff training and development remains strong, with McCarthy investing in excess of R10-million a year on training. Its reputation for training excellence is such that several manufacturers and retail groups entrust their technical training to McCarthy’s Artisan Academy, which has been in existence for more than 50 years.
In many ways, McCarthy has been a pioneer since its earliest days and, to this day, remains an industry leader in various fields, including empowerment, training and development, electronic motor retailing, used car retailing and customer loyalty programmes, customer relationship management systems, and development.
But, most of all, the McCarthy team remains true to the vision of its founders.
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