It’s Never Been About the Cars

By Heather Beasley Doyle

The idea seemed fun to 24-year-old Ray Ciccolo. He was not secretly itching to get close to Porsches and Lamborghinis, nor did he care about cars more than the average American. What compelled Ciccolo to purchase his first auto dealership in 1963 was an innate need to create his own business, a need that had expressed itself from very early on. “I was five years old, selling Kool-Aid on a corner,” the Cambridge, Mass., native recently told MSADA magazine.

By the time he bought his first dealership, Gene Brown Motors in Newton Centre, Ciccolo had graduated from Suffolk University in 1959 with a degree in business administration. He owned three laundromats, which he sold to fund his new venture. The previous owner “was a bit of a playboy and I just figured if I employed what little business experience I had, I ought to be able to make a go of it,” Ciccolo said. “Worst case scenario” he figured, “I lose everything and start over.” He did not lose everything. Ciccolo’s first dealership flourished, and today — 60 years later — his company, Village Automotive Group, includes 13 dealerships in Greater Boston and employs more than 500 people. Ciccolo has no complaints about his six decades in the auto business. Now 85, he laughs out loud at the idea of retirement, instead offering takeaways, advice, and thoughts on the future of car dealerships.

Early Effort

Soon after buying Gene Brown Motors, then a Volvo/Nash dealership, Ciccolo did two things to boost profits. He ended the dealership’s longstanding practice of allowing customers to buy vehicles on store credit. “You never knew when you were going to get paid” for a vehicle bought on credit, he said. Ciccolo also stopped selling Nash vehicles, which created more expenses and brought in less money than Volvos. “I gave up Nash and the rest, as they say, is history,” Ciccolo said. “Profitability went up significantly” at the renamed Volvo Village.

Since then, the business has grown markedly. With his wife Grace by his side, Ciccolo began attending countless meetings early in his career, from manufacturers’ new car introductions to 20 Group gatherings, establishing himself as a presence in the Massachusetts automotive world. He eventually represented Volvo and Saab nationally, served as a director of both the National Automobile Dealers Association and MSADA, and a myriad of other roles that have defined him as more than just a local dealer. He has been recognized by the American International Automobile Dealers Association and was inducted into the MSADA Hall of Fame. Volvo Village began offering Hondas in

1974, and, in 2010, the company expanded to Norwell, then a year later into Danvers. In 2021, the group began representing Polestar electric cars, and earlier this year Village Automotive moved into Metro West by acquiring the Brigham-Gill dealership in Natick. Several hundred thousand customers have done business with Village Automotive Group, according to the company’s website. “It’s been a wonderful ride,” Ciccolo said.

Weathering Economic Trends, Adapting to the Climate Crisis

That ride has endured challenges affecting the national and global economies. “We went through 25% interest rates, and we went through no gasoline” during the 1973-1974 gas crisis, he