What drove new Mercedes-Benz dealership owner to success? He credits grandparents

Wearing a steel blue suit that perfectly matches his eyes, Scott Biehl speaks matter-of-factly about his success as he stands in the showroom at Mercedes-Benz of Fresno.

Biehl acquired the dealership in April, after a 32-year career that began with him dropping out of college.

“I thought I wanted to be a stockbroker,” Biehl says. But his first taste of salesmanship in 1987 changed everything. “I took a semester off of school and I sold 15 cars in my first 12 days in the car business.”

He got his first check from Michael Automotive Center and says he bought his first house a month later, at 21 years old.

Biehl, now 53, says he’s never looked back.

“Right before I reach a goal,” he says, “I typically already set the next goal. It’s a positive thing, but it could also be a curse, as well. I’m always looking for what the next plateau would be.”

The climb

After Michael Automotive Center, Biehl became a sales manager at the then-new Honda North store on Peach and Herndon avenues in Clovis. He says the store, “in the middle of a peach orchard, essentially,” was the No. 1-selling Honda store in the Valley for the dozen years he was there.

He jumped to Mercedes-Benz in 2003 as a general sales manager, quickly moving up to general manager. He partnered with Ray Beshoff in 2011, becoming a shareholder and operator when the dealership was sold by Asbury Automotive Group.

In April, Biehl bought out Beshoff (who’s president of the Fresno FC soccer club) and became owner and dealer principal.

Under Biehl’s leadership, Mercedes-Benz of Fresno has won three Best of the Best Awards from Mercedes Benz USA, and Biehl was named president of the Fresno-Clovis New Car Dealers Association in 2014.

Biehl’s wife of 26 years, Katie Biehl, says he is focused. She has worked alongside him in the past, marketing and appearing in commercials with her husband. “He really likes to take care of people,” she says.

“I would describe him as relentless,” says Rod Salinas, who has worked with Biehl as a controller at Mercedes-Benz of Fresno since 2005. “He’s always looking at what’s next.”

Humble beginnings

Biehl says he owes his strong work ethic – and style – to his grandparents.

As a kid, he would visit his maternal grandparents in the summers and on the weekends on their small ranch in Bowles, about 11 miles south of downtown Fresno.

“When you have to get up at 6 a.m. and you’re 8, 9, 10 years old and you’re actually working – that work ethic just stays with you,” he says.

His paternal grandfather was boxer Billy Mahoney, a figure that Biehl still looks up to today. After his boxing career, Mahoney was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame as a boxing writer and historian.

Biehl has a painting of his grandfather hanging in his office. “It’s my favorite thing in the world that I have,” Biehl says about the artwork. “That painting actually hung in his office when I was a kid and it’s the only thing I ever wanted.”

He recalls seeing his grandfather get dressed up on Fridays for lunch, which inspired Biehl’s own style in the office.

“As kind of a tribute to my grandfather, I wear a pocket square every day and I get to look at his picture,” he says. “That kind of reminds me that there’s a good fight out there, and if you keep working hard then good things will happen.”

Biehl has taken that motivation and already set his sights on the future.

“The next goal now is to really build an automotive group company and own several dealerships,” he says. “We have the backing to do it.”

This story was originally published July 5, 2019 at 10:35 AM.