Congratulations to Joseph Robinson of Robinson Toyota being named to the 2025 Automotive News “FORTY UNDER 40”!

2025 Retail 40 Under 40

Joseph P. Robinson

General manager, dealer principal

ROBINSON TOYOTA

For a son who’s followed pretty closely in his father’s career footsteps, Joseph Robinson now finds himself cutting his own path as general manager and dealer principal of family-owned Robinson Toyota in Jackson, Tenn.

After college, Robinson, 39, went into banking like his father, Richard, had. The elder Robinson had been a mortgage banker before buying the then-underperforming Toyota store in 1996, while the younger Robinson had spent his 20s as a credit analyst underwriter in the finance industry.

But nine years ago, after staring at numbers on a screen and working for others, “a light went off,” Joseph Robinson said. “I realized that if I’m going to spend all my time working so hard, I might as well do it for my family. And so I made the phone call to my parents, and said it’s time for me to come home and get into the car business.”

He didn’t exactly start at the top.

“I started off as a porter, at the age of 30,” he recalled with a laugh. After a few months, he worked his way into service as an oil change technician, then into parts, and then into sales, all while analyzing how the dealership operated and where it might be improved. The tour helped him not only learn the business, but also to more deeply appreciate those who relied on the dealership for their livelihoods as well as the community it served.

“I just got bit by the car business in 2017. I fell in love with it,” Joseph Robinson said. “I love the people. I love the processes and procedures, and I love cars. I’ve always loved cars. My dad bought the store when I was 10, and the cars have always been one of my favorite things.”

Purchasing a 20 percent stake from his father, who now serves as partner and an occasional visitor, Joseph Robinson sought to put his own mark on the dealership. He broke down barriers between the fixed and variable sides of the dealership, refocused the dealership’s staff on customer service and problem-solving and even took all of the new vehicles out of the showroom.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, “We had no more inventory to sell, so the showroom was empty. We’d already had a few old classic Toyotas that were in there, maybe two. But my dad and I went on a kind of shared experience together, that was such a great father/son thing. We started looking for all these classic Toyotas — low miles, older classics,” Joseph Robinson said. “And at this point, we’ve got every generation of Supra ever made, every generation of MR2, and essentially every generation of Land Cruiser on our showroom floor. So we actually have a classic car museum, and people love it!”

— Larry P. Vellequette

Congratulations to Johnny Wayne Farris for being Tennessee’s nominee for Time Dealer of the Year

TAA congratulates Johnny Wayne Farris, president of Farris Motor Company in Jefferson City for being Tennessee’s nominee for the 2026 TIME Dealer of the Year national award. He is a recognized leader in our industry here in Tennessee and we congratulate him for this great accomplishment! Johnny Wayne is one of a select group of 47 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 109th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 5, 2026.  Johnny Wayne literally grew up in the business founded by his grandfather in 1929. After earning a B.S. from Tennessee Technological University, he joined Farris Motor Company full time in 1972 and has led Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealerships through multiple industry cycles, centering the operation on the Golden Rule, transparency, and long-term relationships. Johnny Wayne has served the TAA on the Board of Directors since 2000, including Secretary/Treasurer (2010–2011) and Chairman (2011–2012), In 2025, he received the Roberts V. Weaver Award, the highest honor a Tennessee dealer can receive.   His community work includes long-standing support of God’s Warehouse, which has shipped 140+ forty-foot containers of humanitarian aid over the last twelve years—supporting East Tennessee families, Israel (via the Joseph Project), and Ukrainian refugees. The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. The award recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Farris was chosen to represent Tennessee in the national competition – one of only 47 auto dealers nominated for the 57th annual award from more than 20,000 nationwide.   To read the press release from Time, please click here.