Marsh Butler had never done a podcast. On his first one, he says his 15-store group is “a little behind” on AI, calls the last few years of acquisitions “a little too conservative,” and explains why it took him and his brother to replace their father.
In Episode 76 of Presidio’s Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with the co-president of Butler Automotive Group. His grandfather Milton opened the first family store in 1946, and his father opened Butler Toyota in Macon in 1970. Marsh talks about what’s working across the group’s stores in 2026, where affordability is breaking down, and how a third-generation family business plans to grow.
Inside this episode:
- The 2026 scorecard: new and used volume up, fixed ops solid, collision down, and the gross compression squeezing profit
- Too few cars at some franchises, too many at others, and how to manage both at once
- “It seemed like we were moving to EV too fast”: why hybrids are where most buyers are landing
- $800+ payments and rising rates: why Butler steers customers away from 84-month loans and toward 36-month leases
- Who’s getting priced out of new cars, and why a “$10,000 and under” page is the most-viewed page on one store’s website
- A frank admission that the group is “a little behind” on AI, and why it’s choosing to build instead of buy
- The baseball analogy for AI: give your best hitter more at-bats
- Co-presidents for 17 years: how Marsh, Morris and COO/CFO Dennis Botto settle disagreements
- Bringing the fourth generation into the business, and why it’s harder than he expected
- Done being conservative: why Butler is ready to get aggressive on M&A, and why scale matters in the AI era
- “Time and transparency”: rebuilding the guest experience for online buyers, in-store buyers and everyone in between
- Taking over on January 1, 2009, “with our hair on fire,” and the piece of feedback that changed how he walks into a store