An American Dream Come True
Mike Savoie Chevrolet was established on May 10th 1966 by Myron (better known as “Mike”) Phillip Savoie.
In 1920, Mr. Savoie was born into a family of 8 and raised on a farm in St. Anne, Illinois until he moved to Marlette, MI as a young man. While Mr. Savoie loved the outdoors, he did not take well to life on the farm, and consequently enlisted in the United States Navy to avoid a future as a farmer. While in the service, Mr. Savoie was assigned to a submarine chaser squadron, which accompanied ocean supply transports across the Atlantic from Trinidad to North Africa. Just as his enlistment period in the military was coming to a close, the United States entered World War II and as a result, Mike was retained for an additional four years.
After Mr. Savoie’s service in the Navy was complete, he returned back home and enrolled in the General Motors Institute in Flint under the Buick Motor Division where he studied as an Industrial Engineer. After graduation, Mr. Savoie was placed full-time in a local Buick manufacturing plant. As a man that grew up outdoors on a farm, and most recently had lived the demanding life of a Navy seaman, he did not care for “plant life”. He soon left the plant and went to work for Cawood Auto Sales in Port Huron as a Service Writer.
As Mr. Savoie acclimated to dealership life, he began to set his sights on selling cars, not servicing them. Having been denied the opportunity to sell at Cawood Auto Sales, he left focused on becoming a salesman. With that singular goal in mind, Mr. Savoie went from dealership-to-dealership down Gratiot Avenue from Port Huron to Detroit looking for a sales opportunity. His efforts were met with success when he eventually was hired as a salesman at Art Rose Chevrolet in Mt. Clemens (currently Moran Chevrolet). Although hired in as a salesman, he ironically was placed back as a service writer. He eventually went on to reach his goal of becoming a salesman, then grew to the New Car Manager, and ultimately progressed to the General Manager.
In May of 1966, Mr. Savoie was given the opportunity to purchase Patterson Chevrolet located in downtown Birmingham (at the corner of Lincoln & Old Woodward). Much to his father’s skepticism, Mr. Savoie took a risk, and moved his family across town to open what is now known as Mike Savoie Chevrolet today. After a little over a year in Birmingham, Mr. Savoie relocated the dealership to its current location in the Troy Motor Mall on Maple Road. Mike Savoie Chevrolet was one of the original dealerships to move into the Troy Motor Mall, and one of only two that remains owned and operated by the original family today.
In 1975, Mr. Savoie’s son, Michael, joined the family business after graduating college. Shortly after, circumstances took Mr. Savoie away from the daily operations much sooner than expected. Having had worked at the dealership since he was 13, the focus and operation of the dealership fell to Michael fresh out of college. In 1977, General Motors officially added Michael as the dealer-owner operator, at the ripe age of 25.
Michael has carried on his father’s legacy for over 40 years, and continues to operate the dealership today. For decades, the entire team at Mike Savoie Chevrolet have been consistently recognized as one of the top dealerships in the country.
In April of 2017, after college and her first job took her out of state, Michael’s youngest daughter, Rachel, returned to Michigan to learn the family business. You can see her throughout the dealership as she is working and learning her way through the company. Before she can take on the legacy that was set before her, she will have worked in every position at the dealership. Just like her grandfather, she too started as a Service Writer.
