Expanding their wealth and control over auto sales: DeVos-owned Fox Motors acquires even more auto dealerships in West Michigan

According to a recent article on Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, the DeVos-owned Fox Motors is set to acquire auto dealerships in the Kalamazoo area, known as the Maple Hill Auto Group.

The Crain’s article is fairly straight forward regarding the acquisition by Fox Motors, with the only source being that of the CEO of the Maple Hill Auto Group. However, the Crain’s article does provide some other useful bit of information such as:

Fox Motors ranks No. 44 on Automotive News’ list of the Top 150 dealerships based in the U.S., with 22,289 new vehicles sold in 2024. The group, which generated just over $2 billion in revenue in 2024, has several domestic and import stores in lower Michigan and in the state’s Upper Peninsula along with a Ford store in Chicago.

The CEO of Fox Motors is Dan DeVos, who is one of the four children that Richard & Helen DeVos had, along with Dick, Doug and Cheri. According to the Fox Motors website the company owns 47 locations throughout Michigan, which includes All Powersports that consists of a Harley-Davidson dealership and other stores that specialize in jet skis and off road vehicles.

Of course this recent DeVos family acquisition doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Controlling more of the auto dealership market in Michigan is rooted in several dynamics.

First, the new acquisition means the family will be able to expand their wealth. Second, the DeVos family, which is the largest single contributor of campaign contribution in Michigan since 1990 will benefit from the politicians they own who will not pass laws to expand mass transit options throughout the state.

Third, the DeVos family has funded numerous entities that either deny Climate Change or push to de-regulate certain industries like fossil fuels and auto manufacturers, groups like:

• American Enterprise Institute
• The Heritage Foundation
• The Mackinac Center for Public Policy
• The Action Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty

You can look up which of the DeVos foundations have funded the above groups by going to this link, which has been tracking their foundations since 2013.

Regarding the Acton Institute, in 2005, Mother Jones magazine listed the Acton Institute among a group of organizations who had received funding from ExxonMobil, pointing to a $155,000 donation. ExxonSecrets reports that the Acton Institute has received at least $315,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

The former Indymedia site Media Mouse wrote in 2007: 

“the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, a think-tank located here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, brought global warming skeptic Fred Smith to Grand Rapids for a lecture as part of the Institute’s 2007 lecture series. Fred Smith is the founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a rightwing think-tank that promotes free-market ideals over human concerns and opposes government regulations on everything from fuel economy to pesticides. However, both Smith and the Competitive Enterprise Institute are most known for their role in attacking the idea of global warming. In its opposition to government regulation and opposition to global warming, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has much in common with the Acton Institute. While the Competitive Enterprise Institute has received attention for being given more than $2 million by ExxonMobil to fund its operations, the Acton Institute has received $160,000 from ExxonMobil.”

Like all DeVos acquisitions, the decision to acquire more auto dealerships is strategic, since it not only expands their wealth, but does so within industries that they have a great deal of control over as it relates to public policy.