Rahim Hassanally, President and Dealer Principal of Momentum Auto Group, Fairfield, CA, knew at a very young age that the family business was not his cup of tea. Despite the ease of entry Hassanally would have had into the chain of hotels his parents owned in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area, he wanted to do something different.
“Different” quickly defined Hassanally’s life. At age 16, he jumped at the chance to take classes from 8 a.m. Until noon and sell new cars in the afternoon at Colonial Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep in Dallas under his high school co-op, work-study program. After 60 days on the job and coaching from a mentor at the dealership, the high school sophomore was selling 25 to 30 vehicles a month. By the time he was 24, he had worked at three local dealerships, being promoted to General Sales Manager, and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In 2006 at age 28, Hassanally purchased his first dealership, which houses Infiniti of Fairfield and Volvo of Fairfield, in Fairfield, CA. He now operates 16 franchises, which employ more than 250 people and generated $300 million in revenues in 2012. Analytical and driven by nature, Hassanally saved his money and investigated many different stores until he located one that was within his budget. Hassanally sets goals and never lets up until he achieves success.
Although he initially desired to be a lawyer and was accepted into law school, he passed on that opportunity to pursue his career in automotive retailing. Early on, Hassanally adopted two key philosophies: make the customer happy and keep expenses in line. He runs his business on a percentage metric, allocating specific percentages of his budget to areas such as advertising, salesperson compensation, supervision compensation and data processing. That means that he spends less when revenues are down and retains more net profit when revenues are up. His philosophy served him well during the recession.
On September 24, 2013, the governor of California, Edmund G. Brown, Jr., appointed Hassanally a member of the New Motor Vehicle Board of the Department of Motor Vehicles and on December 12, 2013 Rahim was appointed to the California Consumer Motor Vehicle Recovery Corporation Board of Directors. Hassanally has received numerous accolades and awards, including Automotive News “Top 40 Under 40”, Panel Expert at the Western Automotive Conference, and Urban Wheel Awards 2014 Asian Dealer of the Year.
Where other dealers blame the economic downturn of recent years for their lack of success, Hassanally views the experience as character building. He credits the economic crisis with teaching him to manage his resources for maximum profitability, thus, making him a stronger dealer in the process.