Editor's Pick: May's Top 5 African American Auto Stories That Flew Under the Radar

Chrysler pays back government bailout loan early, again. Doesn't everyone wish they had a relative like Chrysler? Where are the critics that wanted Chrysler to go under at the height of the recession? Yes, everybody needs a helping hand -- even the car industry. Once again Chrysler has proven that it really does have nine lives while at the same time President Obama puts another feather in his cap. The auto industry helped to create many African American millionaires and was the root of the African American middle class.  And for those black pundits criticizing the Obama administration for not doing enough for the community, what would have happened had Obama not funded the auto industry? How many minority factory workers, suppliers and dealership employees would have been steered to the unemployment lines and forced into foreclosure?

                                    

Yes, the seats in your car could not only have the imprints of an African American, but also be built by Ronald E. Hall Sr. company, Bridgewater Interiors. Hall's business was named Black Enterprise Magazine's Industrial/Service Company of the Year last week. Hall's company pulled-in over $1.6 billion in revenue in 2010, up from $1.1 billion in 2009. By hitting the $1.6 billion mark, this makes Bridgewater Interiors the second-largest African American company in the world and one of four companies to top the billion mark last year. 



Robert Johnson, one of the richest African Americans in the country, may be out of the basketball game, but he continues to reign supreme -- as the number one new-vehicle dealer in the country -- according to Black Enterprise Magazine. Johnson is on track to become the second African American-owned dealer to crack the $1 billion mark. Last year his stores pulled in $893 million in revenue. This is up from the $641 million he raked in for 2009 at a time when many dealerships folded. 

seat.   Jenell Ross, a graduate of Emory University and the CEO of the family-owned dealership, Bob Ross Automotive, is Black Enterprise Magazine's Auto Dealer of the Year. Ross' father passed away in 1997 and her mother died suddenly last year.  Ross' family became the first African American Mercedes-Benz dealer in the country, before it was even fashionable for automakers to award dealerships to women and minorities. Ross' daughter, who is only 37, took over last year after her mother suddenly passed, managed to increase sales by 10 percent. Ross is a testament to the second-generation of African Americans being able to successfully run the family business and remain in the driver's

Fay Ferguson and McGhee Williams Osse are co-CEOs of Burrell Communications Group, one of the premiere ad agencies in the country. While this agency represent a number of Fortune 500 non automotive companies, Toyota has helped to put them on the map. Because of these pioneers, Toyota has become the number one brand for American Americans based on new-vehicle sales, according to a recent study by Polk USA. With Toyota, both Ferguson and Williams have worked diligently to project African Americans in a positive light in addition to promote green technology. Because of  the leadership abilities of these two visionaries, this is one of the many reasons why Burrell Communications was named as Black Enterprise Magazine's Advertising Agency of the Year.