Less than two years ago, Fox Motors didn’t exist in the Traverse City region.

Then in January 2009 it bought Grand Traverse Auto, home to Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda and BMW dealerships on U.S. 31 South. Soon after, Fox moved the Mercedes dealership from Acme to the Fox Grand Traverse headquarters. In April of 2010 it opened Fox Powersports of Traverse City in the former Mercedes facility in Acme.

This month the Grand Rapids-based dealer staked new claim on the city of Cadillac, snapping up Four Seasons Ford Lincoln Mercury and Swaffer's Toyota – the first Toyota dealership in the Fox family.

A large piece of Fox’s overall strategy was nabbing a Toyota store, says John Cueter, Fox Grand Traverse’s general manager and director of the northwest division. “Toyota was a big hole in the line up,” he says. “We had almost every brand but Toyota.”

He says the recent Toyata recall did not give Fox pause. “Toyota as a company has been an outstanding success, with a good reputation and a great product. They’ve got a good quality rating. It was just a short window of time that they had some challenges, and their quality ratings are already back up. It’s a long-strong company; over time, [the recall will] be forgiven.”

And, Cueter tells The Ticker first, just days after announcing the purchase of the Cadillac dealerships, Fox signed the papers to add a third Yamaha store to its network, Powersports of Shawmut Hills (near Grand Rapids).

The total Fox Motors tally today? 40 brands across 20 stores – the first of which Fox Motor Group founder, Dan DeVos, opened only a decade ago in Grand Rapids.

Don’t call it a takeover, warns Cueter.

The rapid-fire appearance of Fox dealerships across northern lower Michigan is nothing more than a strategy to grow communities with a smart, economy-boosting business, he says.

“If you take a look at our vision and mission statements, community drives what we do,” says Cueter, “Service and selling cars is a by-product of that.”

He says that the local whirlwind of the last two years will cease – at least for the immediate future: “After Cadillac, we’re taking a breath. We’ve got a lot of operational things to take care of before we grow to the next level. We want to make sure our operation and our people are set before we grow again.”

But make no mistake: Continued growth is part of the Fox strategy, and northern Michigan will be part of that plan, confirms Rick Summers, corporate sales director for Fox Motor Group.

“Dan DeVos is committed to growing here. He has a real passion for northern Michigan. He has a place up here,” says Summers. “ … He always says, ‘I want to do business in places I like to go.’”

On the long-term agenda? More powersports stores. Powersports of Traverse City proved a strong component of the Fox empire, despite the fact that it opened at the height of the recession and its wares – primarily motorcycles, snowmobiles, 4x4s, personal watercraft, and associated accessories – could easily be considered luxury non-essentials in a down economy.

Nevertheless, says Cueter, “Powersports have been very successful for us. The goal is to buy a lot of these stores and consolidate them into a network, so we can structure operations and employees … as one large company.”

In the last two years, Cueter estimates that Fox’s growth in northern Michigan has required about a 20 percent increase in the number of Fox employees – good news for any community in Michigan, and a good, if unexpected surprise for Fox.

“We knew we’d grow. We’re focused on growth. But we grew very fast,” he says. “Our market share numbers went up at a surprising rate." He pauses and smiles. "I’m not complaining.”