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2016 Honda Civic: Coming Soon to Baltimore area Norris Honda

September 16, 2015, 9:00 pm
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  • Two all-new engine options boost dynamic performance and fuel economy, including the first Honda turbo engine in the U.S.
  • The Honda Sensing suite of technology features will be available. 
  • First for any compact sedan, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will both be compatible with the 2016 Civic.
  • Aggressive new styling features coupled with available LED lights make this the most stylish model yet. 
  • A lowered and widened platform gives the sedan class-leading cabin space. 
There have been numerous speculations and spy shots, but Honda officially revealed yesterday the tenth generation 2016 Civic Sedan. The car was given a comprehensive redesign, which is the "most ambitious Civic redesign ever, with an all new platform, all new powertrains and more variations than ever before," according to head of product communications Sage Marie.

For the last nine generations and 40 years, the Civic has been an undeniable staple in the automotive industry, with almost 35 million models sold globally. It has been the top selling compact sedan for retail customers over the past eight years, in addition to being the most popular vehicle for millennials. 

Throughout the years, the Civic has been designed to evolve with the needs of drivers, and this latest model is no exception. For a more connective driving experience, the car was given a wider and lower stance, shorter overhang, lengthened wheelbase and overall aggressive styling. With these updates, comfort and drivability were not lost on the car’s designers. 

"I think my favorite thing about this car is the way it sits on the road," said exterior design leader Jarad Hall. "That speaks volumes about the exciting driving experience."

 

Upper trim levels will have all LED lights, which not only add to the exciting exterior design but also give drivers expanded visibility. The interior was refreshed with premium touches, technological advances unseen in a compact sedan and expanded legroom in the class-leading cabin space. Another first for the Civic (or any compact car) is the addition of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

 

The impressive Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver-assistive features (including Collision Mitigation Braking, Road Departure Mitigation and Adaptive Cruise Control) will bring the comfort and value to the Civic. 

Both all-new available engine options have been updated to boost dynamic performance and increase fuel-economy. Civic Sedan LX and EX trims will have the 2.0-liter, 16-valve, DOHC i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine, the most powerful base engine ever offered, partnered with a 6+-speed manual (LX trim) or CVT. The 1.5-liter, direct-injected and turbocharged 16-valve DOHC inline-4 engine will be available on EX-T and above trims, with a specially designed CVT.

Quite simply put, this is "the best Civic ever."

Link to Honda's official press release.

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Norris Completes Acquisition of Leading Parts Supplier Papa Auto Parts

October 21, 2015, 11:26 am
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Norris Automotive Group, the leading supplier of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) auto parts in the Baltimore/D.C. area, has acquired Papa Auto Parts, one of Maryland’s oldest and most trusted suppliers of aftermarket parts. Established in 1934, PAPA Auto Parts specializes in sales of aftermarket parts with nine locations in Maryland and annual sales over $10 million.

Norris Auto Group’s acquisition of Papa Auto Parts represents a continued investment in the Company’s ability to service automotive customers and service providers in the Mid-Atlantic region. 

"When you think of aftermarket parts in the Baltimore metro area, you think of PAPA.  It’s a great Baltimore brand with deeps roots in the community.  We see the talented PAPA team members as a tremendous asset to the entire Norris Automotive Group and a natural fit to our organization," said Norris CEO Andy Franklin.

The addition of Papa Auto Parts will further strengthen Norris Automotive Group’s ability to serve Baltimore consumers and local businesses through an expanded inventory, increased delivery routes and a talented and experienced aftermarket parts team. 

ABOUT NORRIS AUTOMOTIVE GROUP:

Norris Automotive Group has been serving the automotive needs of Baltimore and surrounding areas since 1917. With locations in Dundalk, Ellicott City, Capitol Heights, College Park, Rosedale, and White Marsh, Norris Automotive Group boasts an extensive inventory of new, previously owned and certified used vehicles. Its retail dealerships include Norris Acura, Norris Ford, Norris Honda, Norris Nissan and AutoConnect. The Norris Commercial Division maintains over $7 million in parts inventory, over 50 parts delivery vehicles servicing the mid-Atlantic region with multiple daily deliveries, three dedicated commercial service facilities in Baltimore, Rosedale and Washington D.C., a mobile hydraulics repair service, 18 mobile service crews that operate 24/7, and the largest commercial vehicle sales team in the region. 

ABOUT PAPA AUTO PARTS:

With 79 years of experience in Baltimore metro area, PAPA is a pillar in community for aftermarket parts.  The employees strive to make personalized service a priority, which many larger national chains do not. Papa Auto Parts also boasts a fleet of over 80 delivery vehicles and nine retail locations, all designed to provide the best service and selection in the region.  For more information, please visit www.papaautoparts.com.

 

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Two Outstanding Employees Win BOB Award

February 15, 2016, 12:37 pm
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A few weeks ago, Maryland was hit with a historic snow storm that closed schools and businesses across the state for several days, including our own dealerships. If it weren’t for our incredible team, especially John Waszelewski and Bill Lawrence, our Dundalk stores would have been closed for much longer. They worked around the clock to plow the lots and keep up with the immense amount of snow. Both gentlemen went above and beyond their call of duty to get everything cleared by Sunday, which is why they are the latest recipients of the Best of the Best (BOB) Employee Excellence Award.  

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The efforts made by these men were felt by everyone, particularly sales managers Bill Vowles, Chris Crocker and John Rooney, who were able to start welcoming customers back into the dealership much sooner than expected. 
 
“Both Andy Franklin and myself appreciate the tremendous amount of hard work John and Bill put into their duties on a daily basis,” said Norris COO Ben Fenlon. “Their work ethic exemplifies Bob Bethke’s own, and they deserve this recognition.” 
 
John and Bill expressed humble thanks as they accepted their awards, stating they were just doing their jobs, but it’s evident to everyone else they did so much more. As our company continues to grow in unprecedented ways, it’s our dedicated employees driving that success, and we could not be more proud to showcase some of their efforts. 
 
Congratulations once more to John and Bill, and thank you for everything you do!
 
 
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The Latest BOB Award Recipient: Fran Cullen

May 5, 2016, 9:00 pm
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Our company’s culture has always been to take care of our own, so when a long-standing Ford employee went through one of life’s most difficult journeys, we wanted to express our gratitude to his dedication by awarding him the latest BOB Employee Excellence Award. 

Fran Cullen’s wife was diagnosed last year with stage four lung cancer, and the first several months of treatments and procedures were unimaginably difficult. Even through the toughest times, Fran came to work with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Happily, after several months, his wife began to pull through and started showing signs of improvement. 

Norris CEO Andy Franklin describes the incredible moment Fran was able to share the news everyone had been waiting for: “I saw Fran running out of the parts department, and he yells, “She’s cancer free!” It was probably one of the best conversations I’ve ever had.” 

Fran displayed an immense amount of inner strength as his wife fought cancer, and he stayed positive throughout the entire ordeal. 

“I think his positivity, both at home and at work, really helped his wife overcome this,” said Andy. “He could have easily hung his head and given up, but he never did.”

A small crowd gathered inside the parts department as Andy prepared to give Fran his award, and the amount of love and respect everyone holds for Fran was palpable. Not many people can say they’ve lived through something so traumatic but persevered no matter what.
 
Please join us in celebrating Fran’s accomplishment and his wife’s recovery! 

You can watch a video of the ceremony here. 

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Chesapeake Ford Truck Wins Top Parts Award

May 19, 2016, 2:47 pm
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Today was a day of celebration for our team at Chesapeake Ford Truck: they held their grand opening event with great success, and their parts department was awarded as one of the top twenty parts dealers in the region! Pictured above is parts manager Alan Wilkes receiving this prestigious honor by the Ford Blue Diamond representative, with Alan’s team proudly standing behind him. 

Out of 118 dealerships, stretching from Virginia to Delaware, our team is 11th for selling the most diesel parts in 2015. We moved up five spots from 2014 and were able to reach 148 percent of their target goal. None of these accomplishments could have been possible without the hard work and dedication from the entire parts staff. 

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In addition to receiving this great award, we also celebrated the grand opening of our state-of-the-art commercial facility located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.  We had food, music and giveaways that were graciously donated by some of our supporters, namely Dejana Trucks, Pepco, Metro, SunTrust Bank, Top Tier Gear, Vermeer Mid Atlantic, Morgan, PJ Motor Supply, Ford Diesel and many more. 
 
We want to thank all of our attendees for joining us on such a momentous occasion and for our generous sponsors for allowing us to make the event even more special. 
 
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NAG Accounting Team Supports Great Cause

May 19, 2016, 9:00 pm
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According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, someone in the United State is diagnosed with blood cancer every three minutes, and approximately every nine minutes, blood cancer takes a life. Our accounting team took a stand yesterday to help beat those odds by participating in WNST and There Goes My Hero’s charity event for a night of celebrating champions and survivors of this life-threatening illness. 

Some of the event’s special guests included former and current head coaches of the Baltimore Ravens, Brian Billick and John Harbaugh. Billick brought the Ravens to Super Bowl victory in 2001, and our team was able to get a picture with him.  

 
  

There are few people in our entire company who haven’t been in contact with someone from our incredible accounting department because they provide each branch of the Norris Auto Group with vital services each day. They in turn volunteered to provide cancer patients with an invaluable service as well—everyone was swabbed and registered for the Bone Marrow Donor database to save a life if needed.

“It was awesome to see every person at our Norris table walk over and join the Bone Marrow Donor registry,” said Kayce Gomes, who attended the event last night.

Cancer is a terrible disease that has tragically touched many in the Norris family, including employees and their families, so this particular event hit very close to home.

“The event was for a great cause,” said Norris CEO Andy Franklin. “This act was just another example of how great they are not only as employees, but as people.”

The accounting team keeps this business running like the well-oiled machine it is, and we can never thank them enough. This act of kindness deserves to be recognized, so please join us in thanking them for their tremendous support!

For those unfamiliar with There Goes My Hero, their mission is to “restore hope to leukemia patients and their families by increasing registered bone marrow donors, providing nutritious meals to patients undergoing treatment, and supporting blood cancer research.” For more information, visit theregoesmyhero.org.


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Honda Week of Service Food Drive

June 6, 2016, 9:00 pm
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According to the Maryland Food Bank, more than 750,000 people in Maryland don't know where their next meal is coming from. During the first annual Honda Week of Service, our Honda and Acura dealerships are attempting to help. 

From now until the end of June, we will be collecting non-perishables and filling vehicles with those donations. For every car we fill, we will donate an additional $250 to the Food Bank. We already have a great start, but we are hoping to make a real impact for the community. 

 

Some of the most needed items are:
  • Canned meat (tuna, chicken, etc.)
  • Peanut butter
  • Pasta
  • Fruits (canned or dried)
  • Canned soup
  • Canned vegetables
  • Evaporated and powdered milk
  • Infant formula
  • Breakfast cereal and oatmeal
  • Rice
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Beans (canned or dried) 

Please join us in helping fight hunger!

Get more information on the Maryland Food Bank at www.mdfoodbank.org.


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The NSX Arrives at Norris Acura

September 20, 2016, 9:00 pm
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The supercar we've all been waiting for has finally arrived: the redesigned and re-engineered 2017 NSX. Our dealership is NSX Authorized to sell and service the pinnacle of Acura precision performance. Select members of our sales and service teams have completed OEM trainings that allow us to be an exclusive retailer and servicer of the supercar. 

  

This exemplary vehicle runs on a powerful mid-mounted 3.5-liter twin turbocharged V6 that can produce 573 horsepower. All-wheel drive and a nine-speed dual clutch transmission with a direct drive electric motor and front twin motor unit come standard. Each aspect of this car is meticulously tested, inspected and broken in to ensure it’s ready whenever the owner is. 

The Acura Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio is the hub of the design and creation of the NSX. Next door, the factory produces around 800 popular Acura and Honda models a day, where the PMC will build only eight NSXs. 

  

The assembly process is a beautiful combination of hand-crafted precision and machine intervention. A single master technician builds each engine by hand, which takes around six hours to complete. Every critical bolt and stud (a total of around 547) is also started by hand and then torqued by machines to finish. 

The frame becomes a completed car by spending about one hour in each of 22 works stations along the assembly line. The only robots in this portion of the process are used for adhesives to bond the painted door surrounds, the roof panels, the trunk outer panels and all the fixed glass. The exterior body panels are installed almost last to guarantee the paint is not scratched or damaged before arriving to the customer. 

Once the car is completed, it is run through a myriad of quality tests because this vehicle is either “zero defects…there are no in-betweens,” according to quality project leader Jim Mankin. It is imperative that every component works as it should because this supercar represents the best of Acura power, handling, form and function, sport and luxury.  

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Chesapeake Truck Shows Its Patriotism

October 30, 2016, 9:00 pm
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Larry Sinnott, service manager at Chesapeake Truck, knew that his store was missing something important. He reached out to Norris Auto Group CEO Andy Franklin for permission to install a flagpole at the dealership, and Andy immediately agreed.

“We always wanted a flagpole, and it just seemed like something that was needed,” said Larry. “I got goosebumps when we raised it.”

The clientele at a commercial truck store tend to be hardworking men and women who value the importance of the flag, and we can now show those people that our dealership feels the same.

The colors of the American flag symbolize perseverance, valor and justice, and as a whole, it represents the freedoms on which our country was founded. Those freedoms have been fought for by the brave members of our Military, and our company proudly employees and serves Veterans. Adding the flagpole shows respect for these men and women, but it also has a very personal meaning for Larry.

“My dad, who is deceased, was a Combat Marine Veteran in World War II,” said Larry. “He taught my family to respect this country and the flag because that’s what he fought for.”

The company that installed the pole, F. W. Haxel, made the process simple and swift. They took care of working with the county to get approval and had it installed quickly after that.

Now, every time Larry sees this flag waving in the breeze, he can think of his dad and smile because we are fortunate to live in such a great country!

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Betsy Johlitz: Latest B.O.B Award Winner

December 26, 2016, 9:00 pm
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At times, it can feel impossible to continue on with our daily lives when facing a tragedy, but those who do find ways to move forward are incredibly brave. One of our longest-standing employees did just that as she dealt with unimaginable pain, and for this resilience and much more, Betsy Johlitz is the latest recipient on the B.O.B Employee Excellence Award!

Betsy’s reputation as a kind, dedicated and reliable person is known through all realms of the Norris Auto Group. What better way to express how much her presence means to those around her than to share their sentiments? There are numerous others who undoubtedly appreciate what she does for them every day but aren’t shared here.

John Rooney, Sales Manager: “I’ve been in this business for almost 30 years and I’ve never had an employee to show such dedication. If she is given a task from anyone it is always completed to perfection. Betsy is one of those rare employees you would like to clone.”

Frank Balsamo, Finance Manager: “She is the most wonderful, caring and hardworking individual I know. She takes on more work than she has to and always gets it done effectively and efficiently.”

Russ Bara, Sales Manager: “I’ve only been here for a year but from day one, Betsy has made me feel like I’ve been here for a long time. She made my transition to Norris very easy and has made coming to work enjoyable. I truly believe she is the most important person we have in our department.”

April Cheery, Corporate Controller: “Betsy embodies all of the same traits as the award’s namesake, the late, great Bob Bethke.  She is the ultimate team player, loyal, kind, and always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it.  She continues to persevere through the hardest of circumstances, coming to work every day, and giving her all.   She truly is one of the best of the best, and I think I speak for all who know her when I say she is truly deserving of this award.  Congratulations, Betsy!”

Wendy Nieberlein, CFO: “Betsy is one of the most reliable and hardworking employees here at Norris.  In addition and more importantly – Betsy is one of the most genuine people with a big heart.  She is loved by all!”

Congratulations, again, Betsy! We are a family and will continue to support you as you’ve done for this company over the years. 

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Customer Testimonial

October 5, 2014, 9:00 pm
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Thank you! 

A retired Major from the Maryland State Police took the time to write a very thoughtful letter about his experience with a Norris Acura service adviser, Jeremy Ford. We strive to provide each customer with this level of commitment and satisfaction. Thank you to this customer for sharing his kind words and thank you to Jeremy for being an outstanding employee! 

  
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Thank you to Bob Leedy: An Outstanding Citizen

September 14, 2015, 5:00 pm
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Bob Leedy, a parts salesman with Norris Auto Group for the past several years, found himself in a situation that many people fear: he unwittingly came upon the scene of a crime. His actions and bravery that followed were noticed on Facebook by Norris CEO Andy Franklin, who asked that we share this story to commend Bob. 
 
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While riding his bike on a path in Anacostia, Bob saw a man sitting on top of a woman, beating her. Bob began to scream at the man to leave the woman alone and reached for his phone to call police. The assailant turned and lunged with a knife towards Bob, causing him to drop his phone. A fight ensued between the men as Bob did everything in his power not to become a victim himself. The attacker eventually fled, and Bob flagged down a fellow biker for help (his phone was thrown in the river by the attacker). Police were able to find the man responsible after an aerial manhunt, and other than a few knife scratches on his bike, Bob was unharmed. 
 
“I was lucky, lucky, lucky,” said Bob, speaking of the entire ordeal. “I wasn’t trying to be a tough guy.”
 
He maintained that giving his side of the story was not an attempt to glorify himself or his actions, but his bravery speaks for itself: not many can attest to stopping a violent crime while unarmed and unsuspecting. Please join us in sending thanks and good thoughts to Bob! 
 
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