Meet the most fascinating person in my opinion in the Canadian automotive world.
Greg Carrasco, who has been working for dealerships for more than 30 years and recently became Managing Partner of Direct Nissan in Mississauga, has an assortment of visible tattoos, rides a motorcycle, co-owns several Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the Greater Toronto Area, hosts his own radio/podcast show that sometimes has nothing to do with buying and selling cars. The show is intended, in his words, to “activate, antagonize and provoke.” He is into philosophy and can easily quote from the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. He more than eight million views on YouTube, 95,000-plus followers on Instagram, 12,400 followers on LinkedIn and 5,000 followers on Facebook. He proudly philosophises “stay wild and live furiously.”
That in and of itself is impressive, even more so when you consider his roots. The 53-year-old native of Chile left his impoverished village to come to Canada in 1989 at the age of 17 with barely any money and could not speak the language. The only person he knew In Canada was his sister. She is the only relative in Canada, everyone else still lives in Chile. He says he basically ran the risk of possibly being killed in his village if he stayed there because of the violence.
Four years later, he began working in the automobile business as a salesman at Dixie Nissan in Mississauga, where a combination of his personality, drive and people skills helped him to become a key employee. He worked for the company for 20 years, the last 10 as Manager.
He later moved to an Infiniti-Nissan dealership as President/General Manager, then transferred to a Hyundai dealership as GM. He switched from the retail side to corporate side as Vice President of Hyundai Dealership in the Greater Toronto Area, then returned to retail as Vice President of Operations/GM at a Nissan and Infiniti store.
To many people, he is known as the guy who says “there’s something happening here” in his radio commercials. I’ve interviewed him several times, and when I asked him a few years ago about his tag line he said: “I think the tag line represents what we do as a crew. I know this is going to sound trite or corny, if you will, but I am honestly the least important person. I am the one waving the flag of wherever I happen to be working at, but once the customer comes in here the staff is responsible for my success and whatever I push forward. They are the ones executing my will.”
It’s been a fascinating 30-plus years in the car industry and, in a broader sense, life. I think it could be made into a movie. It would be an interesting choice who would play him, but I’d go with Timothée Chalamet, who is quite popular these days, or maybe Colin Farrell.
He recently created a ripple on social media when he announced he was leaving the world of managing other people’s stores to becoming Managing Partner of Direct Nissan in Mississauga. He was congratulated by so many people you’d think he was going to run for the Premier of Ontario or the Prime Minister of Canada. That is not in his future, but he did suggest he will run for Mayor of Oakville in 2026.
What I found truly fascinating is that I’ve often asked him why he hasn’t moved into an ownership role, which he’s been offered in the past but didn’t find a good fit. Some people want to manage someone else’s business rather than put some of their own money into. But Dave Raymond, President of Direct Nissan, caused Carrasco to make the broad leap into ownership. It was a whole bunch of reasons that caused Carrasco to put in some of his own skin, or as he says: “Put my money where my mouth is.”
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.
