MAIL ROOM TO COMPANY PRESIDENT WILLIAM GOETZE’S 49 YEARS IN THE CAR BUSINESS, Mike Geylin - 2009-03-20

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – William Goetze followed a different path 49 years ago into America’s automotive business – he followed his wife Marilyn to an entry-level job in Chevrolet’s Peoria, Ill. Zone office. Now, after almost five decades working in various field and headquarter positions, he will retire at the end of March 2009 as president of Global Vehicles U.S.A., Inc. Global Vehicles is the company he helped establish to distribute and market vehicles built by India’s Mahindra & Mahindra, Ltd. in the United States.

According to John Perez, chief executive officer of Global Vehicles, “Bill has been instrumental in getting Global Vehicles off the ground. His comprehensive and diverse automotive background, especially in developing a dealer organization, has positioned us for the U. S. launch of the first Indian-built vehicles.

“Even though he is retiring from everyday activities, we will continue to rely on his expertise and help as senior advisor and past president as we move through the launch of the Mahindra pickups. Bill will be an ambassador for Global Vehicles, visiting dealers and continuing to spread the word about our company and our trucks.”

Goetze may have devoted most of his life to the auto business, including 19 relocations, but his roots were in the American Midwest. “I always had an interest in automobiles,” said the 71-year-old executive. “And I also had an interest in sales, as well as an entrepreneurial streak; but not so much in farming.”

Farming was Goetze’s parents’ business, but, following high school, Bill decided to follow a different path. Remaining in the small town outside Peoria where he was born and raised, he decided to try his hand at manufacturing, taking a job in the local Caterpillar plant. After advancing his way to the top of his section in the plant, he decided a sales job was his future.

“In the mid ‘50s I wanted a change, wanted to try my hand at sales,” he recalled. “So I joined the Peoria Typewriter Company to sell this new machine which made something called photo copies.”

Copier sales were slow, so he moved to typewriter sales, but the entrepreneurial bug, along with an understanding of the farming industry and farmers led him to a company called Farm Services. Out of his Farm Services truck, Goetze went from farm to farm selling feed, fertilizer and farm equipment.

While Goetze was going from farm to farm in his truck, his wife was working for Chevrolet. Business and social encounters with the Chevrolet zone staff led to an offer to join the company; and so in 1960 he began his automotive career working in the zone office’s mailroom. He quickly moved up the ladder, holding internal positions in sales, service and business development, “but I was getting antsy in the office setting; I wanted to be a district manager,” Goetze said.

Chrysler provided the opportunity he wanted, offering him the district manager’s post in Wausau, Wisc. in 1969. Again, he advanced through Chrysler’s Chicago Zone, moving steadily into larger and larger districts until 1972 when a startup company known as Mazda called.

Goetze joined the new-to-America Japanese brand in Chicago building the dealer network. He transferred two years later to Mazda’s Jacksonville, Fla., office assuming the role as regional sales manager.

By 1975 a series of events brought Mazda car sales to a virtual standstill and Goetze spent his final months with Mazda trying to save dealers. This effort ended in 1976 with layoffs, including Goetze.

Some two months later he was back in the car business, working as the sales manager for Distributors, Inc., the independent Subaru distributor based in Palm Beach, Fla.

“We were selling Subaru cars in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina,” he said. “And it was tough to sell them, but we slowly built up the business, establishing a dealer network of around 120.”

Goetze, by now vice president and general manager, remained with the organization even after Subaru of America bought the distributorship and made it the Southeast region.

“But I left Subaru of America in 1987 because I did not want to move to the company headquarters in New Jersey,” he said. “Instead Mazda called again, asking me to return to run the Southeast region.”

His stay in Florida was short lived as Mazda moved him around the country, sending him first to New Jersey, then to California to fix problem areas. “I was always a sucker for a challenge,” he explained. “And in 1993 they sent me back to Jacksonville for my last Mazda regional posting.”

Four years later he “retired” from the auto business, settling in West Palm Beach, Fla. “But it did not last,” said the disgruntled retiree. “I got my real estate license, but did not care for the business, and then I got a call from a friend to meet a guy about a new product possibility.”

In 1998 Goetze met John Perez, who was heading up a group hoping to bring a Romanian SUV into the U.S. Goetze helped build an organization, including a dealer group for this program, but a decision was made not to bring the vehicle to the U.S. market. When Perez began assembling the team for Global Vehicles, Goetze was a natural for the presidency.

“I knew how smart and savvy Bill was from our time together,” explained Perez. “He was an easy choice to be our first president.”

“I love this business,” said Goetze. “I won’t fully retire; I’ll still be doing something in the automotive business.”

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