What’s Not Going to Change – Grappone Automotive Group

Back in April, 2025, my father and I stood before our team members to make an announcement about the future of our 101-year-old family business. Many in the audience weren’t expecting to hear what we had to say: we had decided that in order for me to carry on the family business, parts of it would have to be sold.

The founders of Grappone Automotive, my great-grandparents, Rocco and Emanuela Grappone

On some days since last April, it has felt like most of my world is changing. And on others, I can see more clearly: though “Grappone” won’t mean Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Mazda, and Honda any longer, it will still mean “Grappone”. 

HERE’S WHAT’S NOT GOING TO CHANGE:

Grappone Automotive is still the company that two southern Italian immigrants started as a gas station in 1924.

Grappone Automotive is still under the ownership of the fourth generation of the Grappone family.

Grappone Automotive still hires, coaches, and mentors team members who we believe are caring, kind, respectful, and responsible people.

Grappone Automotive still promotes from within whenever possible.

Grappone Automotive still supports its community – which we define as the State of NH – in meaningful and intentional ways. 

Grappone Automotive remains committed to being a student of the auto industry, analyzing trends and changes, and getting involved in boards and committees that allow us to stay on top of what’s going on in our industry and our world.

Director of Sales Jeremy Seeley and COO Dave Hammond, grilling for the team on a hot summer day

You might not know that when I joined our company for the first time (I’m on my second tour), Grappone Automotive Group consisted of 13 new car franchises. We sold heavy trucks, had a rental fleet, and operated in Vermont and New Hampshire. Back then, there were more than 500 team members reporting to work every day. I remind myself of this when I reflect on the changing nature of my family business. Times change.

The filling station I always thought was ours until someone told me she googled “1924 NH gas station” and this showed up…

My great-grandparents, southern Italian immigrants Rocco and Emanuela Grappone, opened a gas station in Concord, NH in 1924 for the simplest of reasons: they had to feed their seven children and pay their bills. As the decades passed the word Grappone became less a surname and more a word that roughly translates to “car sales.”, To say that introducing myself as a kid as Amanda Grappone launched many car stories is an understatement. I grew up “a Grappone”. By definition, that meant I was a car person. 

Which I’m actually not. But I am a people person. I love our team. I love our guests. I love our community. And that is why I am committed – as the sole owner, a fourth-generation family member, and the last Grappone in the family business – to making sure some things don’t change.

We’ll see you at Grappone Ford, Grappone Honda, and Grappone Mazda in Concord and Bow, NH, and you can fact-check me 🙂