Used to luxury

Paul Clinton

He has a lot full of exotic foreign automobiles and trucks, but

Malcolm Phillips insists he is in the toy business. The big-ticket

toy business, that is.

“We sell toys,” Phillips said. “It’s a way of life here [to own an

exotic vehicle].”

Phillips has owned and run Phillips Auto, in the Mariner’s Mile

section of Newport Beach, for the past three years.

Since everything on his 30,000-square-foot lot is a luxury used

vehicle, Phillips does not compete directly with Fletcher Jones

Motorcars or the other dealers who sell Mercedes Benz, BMW and other

high-end brands fresh off the boats from Europe.

A quick glance at some of the vehicles on Phillips’ lot reveals a

few prize gems, including a black 2001 Porsche Turbo, an anthracite

BMW 740I and a sage green Hummer H2.

Phillips moved to Corona del Mar from South Africa in 1976 with

$50 in his pocket. He had traveled Europe for four years before that

and was looking to find his career path.

After selling clothing at a men’s clothing store for six months,

Phillips took a job selling European cars at a dealership in Buena

Park. By 1984, Phillips had secured his dealers’ license and began

buying and selling luxury cars on the wholesale market. Many of his

clients were other car dealers.

Phillips grew out of the Santa Ana warehouse he was using by the

late-1990s and decided to move to West Coast Highway into the former

Miller’s Landing slot, across from the Balboa Bay Club.

Phillips sank $300,000 into the building in improvements.

With his decades of experience in the car business, Phillips has

been enjoying a run of success of late. In 1999, he opened a second

Newport Beach location, at Birch and Bristol streets, as a service

yard for the vehicles.

Phillips doesn’t discuss profit margins, but said he sells about

50 vehicles a month retail and maintains a smaller niche in the

wholesale business.

He stresses the importance of customer service.

“The reason for my success is that I’ve been in the business for

so long,” Phillips said. “And I’m extremely hands-on with the

business.”

Phillips, 52, has a staff of 24 employees, including six

salespeople. About half his staff are women.

Even with the city seemingly saturated with dealers selling luxury

vehicles, Phillips says competition is a good thing.

“It’s a healthy competition,” Phillips said. “The more luxury

dealerships we have, the more people are going to come down to this

area to buy the cars.”