The son of mega-car dealer Billy Fuccillo is opening dealerships and selling cars—his way.

Last week, the 23-year-old Fuccillo Jr. opened his second dealership, Fuccillo Volkswagen in Schenectady.

The franchise, located at 2242 Central Ave. across the street from his father’s Fuccillo Hyundai, is Fuccillo Jr.’s second dealership. Last August, he opened Fuccillo Nissan of Clay, near Syracuse. His company operates as BFJ Enterprises.

I spoke with the younger Fuccillo this week by phone while he was tending to his Clay dealership. He tells me he has other acquisitions in the works, but is not able to discuss them yet.

As a youngster, Fuccillo Jr. spent many years learning the trade while working at his father’s dealerships. Today, Fuccillo Sr.’s Fuccillo Automotive Group includes 26 stores in New York and Florida with combined annual revenue of almost $1 billion.

After graduating in 2011 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in political science and Spanish, Fuccillo Jr. managed his father’s Fuccillo Hyundai and Kia stores in Schenectady before opening up his own dealerships.

Fuccillo Sr., who is known for his catch phrase, “H-U-G-E,” once told me for one of our 10 Minutes With interviews that he saw a lot of potential in the car business for “Junior’s” friends, many of whom were college graduates working in mediocre-paying jobs.

“Why would they go work for Enterprise-Rent-A-Car when they could start at our company for a lot more?” Fuccillo pondered during that interview.

His son, who crammed in quite a few marketing, accounting and advertising electives while attending Chapel Hill, made that philosophy part of his business model.

He says his Nissan dealership, which is near Syracuse, has been the automaker’s second-highest U.S. performer for five of the 12 months it has been open. It mainly operates with people who have never been in the car business before

Fuccillo Jr. is applying that same philosophy to his Volkswagen dealership.

“I think that’s really what helped us. We’re no pressure. It’s a fresh feeling. We’re kinda like going into an Apple store, where we want to show you all the cool features. It’s especially important with brands like Volkswagen because it’s a really tech-advanced brand,” says Fuccillo Jr., who commutes often between his stores in Schenectady and Syracuse.

He plans to break ground in the next six months on a 27,000-square-foot Volkswagen showroom that will replace the existing one.

Fuccillo Sr. says he expected nothing less from his son.

“He’s very talented. He’s really very qualified to do this,” he told me in a separate phone interview.

Fuccillo Jr. closed on the Schenectady Volkswagen dealership on July 23, purchasing it from Long Island-based Dibre Auto Group. Dibre had recently bought the franchise from Langan Automotive Group.

Rather than doing TV commercials, which have been the staple of his father’s business, Fuccillo Jr. is investing in radio ads.

“My Dad does a great job on television. Me, I do radio,” he says.

The pair will share one familiar thing: The “H-U-G-E” slogan that is the hallmark of each of Fuccillo Sr.’s commercials.

Says the younger Fuccillo: “It’s recognizable to everyone.”

Reference Link- https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/2013/08/billy-fuccillo-jr-powers-his-own-auto.html