Skowhegan auto dealership starts off 2021 with awards, expansion
Courtesy / Hight Family of Dealerships
Sam Hight, dealer princpal at Hight Ford in Skowhegan, ceremonially breaks ground where the dealership's new retail truck accessories building is going up next to the Ford dealership on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan.
An auto dealership in Skowhegan is coming out of a year of pandemic with a string of good news.
Hight Ford was recently recognized with two of Ford Motor Co.'s top awards for the second straight year, and has also broken ground on a 3,000-square-foot specialty retail addition at its 250 Madison Ave. location in Skowhegan.
The company was started by Walter Hight in 1911 and now, besides Hight Ford, the dealership family owns Hight Chevrolet Buick GMC, in Skowhegan; Hight Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, in Madison; and Hight Chevrolet Buick GMC, in Farmington. The company employs about 100 across the four locations.
"It has been a very strange 12-plus months in the car business," said Sam Hight, dealer principal at Hight. "By focusing on customer experience, and doing our best to stock inventory and pricing it fairly, we were fortunate enough to not only have a strong year, but also give back to our communities." The company had no layoffs or wage cuts during the pandemic, he said.
The Ford dealership has been awarded the Ford Motor Co. President's Award and the One Ford Elite Award for 2020; Hight Ford also won both awards in 2019 and the President's Award in 2016. The President's Award recognizes dealers for top performance in sales and customer satisfaction. The One Ford Elite Award goes to the top President's Award winners in the region.
Receiving the recognition two years in a row "makes me incredibly proud of my staff, our customers, and our communities," Hight said. "With constant focus on customers and community, we were able to overcome great odds and continue to support our 110-year legacy."
Hight Ford is one of three dealers in the Northeast, and the only one in Maine, to receive the One Ford Elite award this year. Hight is one of two dealers in the Northeast to win it both in 2020 and 2019. The President's Award is awarded to 335 Ford dealers nationwide out of more than 3,000; the One Ford Elite Award went to 160 dealerships, 1% of Ford Dealerships received both awards, according to a news release.
The new stand-alone building at the Ford site, which is under construction, will sell Hight Protection truck accessories, including Line-X bedliners and Valugard undercoating products.
Hight noted that through four generations, two world wars and two pandemics, the company is still owned by the same family, in the town where it started.
In 2011, the National Automobile Association awarded Hight Family of Dealerships the Century Award, which is given to dealers that have owned and operated a business in the industry continuously under one family for 100 years. The NAA has given the award to 52 dealers over the years, and Hight is the only Century Award recipient in New England.
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