BMW Northwest 2020 Magazine - Flipbook - Page 16
Dashboard
High Beams
Accolades and Honors
Celebrating the impact of our Family Business Award, introducing our Product Geniuses
and Platinum Winners and looking back on an outstanding two years
Family Business
of the Year
Last year, as Scharmach Enterprises celebrated its 50th
anniversary, Seattle Business
magazine presented the company with the 2018 Family
Business of the Year award. The
award was the cherry on top
of an American success story.
In 1956, Werner Scharmach
left Germany to work as a car
mechanic in the United States.
Twelve years later, he opened
BMW ’s f irst dealership in
Western Washington, BMW
Northwest.
In 2002, Werner’s son, Manfred—who started at BMW
Northwest washing cars—
bought the business and
expanded it to include Northwest MINI in 2003 and Seattle
MINI in 2009. Manfred’s daughter, Maddie, started working at
the dealerships when she was
a teenager and is now the TV
spokesperson and Special Projects Manager.
“We’ve grown from a small
auto repair shop in Olympia to include four thriving
dealerships and are proud to
operate one of the oldest family-owned BMW dealerships
in the nation,” says Manfred
Scharmach, CEO and President of Scharmach Automotive Group.
And now, on the one-year
anniversary of their Family
14 BMW Northwest Life 2020
“We’re terrifically
honored ... this is
the only country in
the world where
something like my
achievement can be
done. To this day,
I appreciate the
fact that I ended
up here.”
Business of the Year award,
they’re growing again.
The team at Scharmach Automotive—which includes a staff
of 258—has their sights set on
expanding client service even
further with Collision Center
Northwest, scheduled to open
in summer 2020 (read more on
page 12).
None of this would be possible without their customers
who have a real understanding of what it means to be a
family business. “Many of
our customers make a point
of supporting local family
businesses,” says Scharmach.
“ We appreciate that. We
have customers who drive
long distances to do business with us and continue
to do business with us
over the years. We’re very
respectful of that.”
As Werner Scharmach
said at the award ceremony
last year, “We’re terrifically
honored over this and all
I can say is this is the only
country in the world where
something like my achievement can be done. To this
day, I appreciate the fact
that I ended up here.”
—Andrea Bassett
PHO TO REPR IN TED FROM SEAT TLE BUSINESS M AGA ZINE
One year later