LORAIN — For 30 years, Mike Bass Ford has stood squarely behind Ford Motor Co., selling a lot of the company’s products but not enough to be the top Ford dealership in the state.

Until now.

After a year in which 2,010 new Ford cars and trucks left the local dealership, Mike Bass Ford recently earned the title of top Ford dealership in Ohio — beating out perennial top-seller Ricart Ford of Groveport.

Ricart, a Columbus-area dealership that was No. 1 for years, sold 1,917 vehicles, said Lydia Cisaruk, Ford spokeswoman. The ranking looked at each dealership’s overall new Ford vehicle sales for the 2007 calendar year.

Local sales included a good mix of Ford models with the F-150 pickup truck being the most popular, said Jim Bass, president of Mike Bass Ford.

“Over time, our sales haven’t been skyrocketing, as all Ford sales are falling a little bit, but I think what sets us apart from other dealerships has a lot to do with what I learned while teaching business years before going into auto sales,” Bass said. “Any successful business needs to know the four P’s of marketing. They all work together.”

The four P’s Bass refers to are the so-called golden rule of running a successful business — place, product, price and promotion.

While three of the four — place, price and promotion — are things Bass has some leeway with, product is most important to a loyal Ford man. And it has everything to do with whether the dealership at Interstate 90 and Detroit Road thrives.

“The industry is changing,” Bass said. “Ford doesn’t have the hold on the domestic market as it did 20 years ago, but here, we believe in the product. The quality of the Ford product today is a lot better than what it was when I got into the business.”

Bass believes that will only continue and he remains optimistic about Ford’s future.

“The management has made a lot of changes that were needed for a long time,” he said. “Now, it’s just a race against the clock. Can Ford provide products that appeal to customers quickly enough? I think they can and will.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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