Steering for success.

Greg Penske's drive has made his Toyota outlet the Southland's largest auto dealership, while he also oversees eight others in California

Longo Toyota in El Monte employs 985 workers. When honcho Greg Penske is on the premises, he literally waves and says hello by name to every employee he passes. Penske says he knows the names of all except about 25.

He says he's able to do this because the dealership has low employee turnover, so people are there a while. Also, he spends plenty of time out and about, rather than in his back office.

"It's a people business, and I love dealing with people," he says.

One can easily see, though, that it's in Penske's blood to be enthusiastic and outgoing about the car business. The athletic-looking 33-year-old, who has brown hair cut conservatively short, shows the excitement of a child at a carnival when he gives a visitor a dealership tour.

He points out pictures on the wall of how the dealership grew from five acres in 1985 to 24 acres today by converting an adjacent neighborhood shopping center.

He explains his "one bumper" theory by pointing out rows of perhaps 60 cars all lined up perfectly so their front bumpers looked like "one."

He gives a tour of the adjacent underground Longo Lexus service center, saying how it was once the underground floor of the former shopping center's Woolworth's, and that the department is being expanded.

And he brags about the spic-and-span area where the mechanics work on all the cars. "You could eat off the floor if you wanted to," he says.

Greg Penske is president of El Monte-based Penske Automotive Group Inc., a subsidiary of Detroit-based Penske Corp., a privately held, auto-oriented company run by the Penske family.

Penske Automotive Group Inc. encompasses not only Longo Toyota, the largest auto dealership in L.A. County (ranked on the Business Journal's List by the number of new vehicles sold in 1994), but eight other dealerships in California as well. These include Longo Lexus and Longo Motorcars (which sells Mercedes-Benz cars) at the El Monte site.

Penske was born virtually with a car in his crib. His father is Roger Penske, a championship race car driver in the 1950s and 1960s. His dad also owns the most successful racing car team in Indy car history, Greg Penske says.

The Penske family owns a privately held, auto-oriented company based in Detroit, appropriately called Penske Corp. It owns auto dealerships (including those run by Greg Penske), the championship racing team and motor speedways. The company also manufactures diesel engines, operates 900 retail auto service centers and leases trucks. It employs more than 30,000 worldwide.

Greg Penske says he officially launched his career at age 13 as a janitor at his family's dealership near Philadelphia, where he grew up. Then, throughout high school he worked in various positions at the dealership, he says. At one point, while he did some car-detailing on his own, he realized he wanted to spend his career in the car dealership business.

He attended Cornell University, where he majored in business administration and played soccer and lacrosse, he says. He spent his summers in Downey, working at a Cadillac dealership the family owned.

After graduating in 1985, at age 22, he became the youngest Cadillac dealer ever when, with some help from Penske Corp., he bought a Cadillac dealership in Bakersfield, he says.

The venture was great, he says. It seemed to him the equivalent of getting a Harvard M.B.A. in the car business.

During the first eight months he owned it, he says, the dealership's sales grew by 400 percent.

He says he made subtle yet important changes that made the difference. For one, he displayed the cars better than before.

He also started providing better repair service, he says.

For instance, one customer had been to the dealership four times to get an electrical problem corrected. The technicians didn't have the training to fix it, nor did they bother to read the repair manual to learn how.

So Penske read the manual himself and helped the technicians fix the problem.

Two years later, in 1987, Penske headed south and was appointed general sales manager at Longo Toyota. Penske Corp. had already bought the dealership back in 1985.

Two years later Penske Corp. added Longo Lexus, and Penske became general sales manager of that as well.

Then, he was appointed general manager, the top position, of both dealerships in 1991, he says. Two years after that he was appointed to his present position with the already-existing Penske Automotive Group Inc. In his tenure with the dealerships, he has implemented several changes, such as how employees are hired.

Before, salespeople were typically interviewed and hired by one sales manager, he says. Now, each salesperson is interviewed by four sales managers, then the general sales manager, then the general manager. Lastly, each new salesperson must get the approval of Penske and the personnel manager.

"We don't like turnover," he says.

He and his team have implemented dress codes for the employees, he says. For example, salespeople aren't allowed to sport sunglasses, no matter how strong the rays are out on the lot, because it's important for them to have eye contact with customers.

And of course, he requires a clean repair shop, he says. "Technicians have more pride in their work with a clean place."

Penske's responsibilities will soon expand. When Penske Corp. finishes building a racetrack in Fontana next year, the California Speedway, he will run it in addition to keeping his responsibilities at the dealerships, he says.

Penske has boundless amounts of energy, says Ken Hunt, general manager of Longo Toyota, who works under him. "He's just relentless."

Penske puts in long hours, but he spends Sundays with his wife, Patricia Durham Penske, and his 19-month-old daughter Sophia Elizabeth.

He also stays active by going to the gym (at 5 a.m.), playing squash, running and skiing (both water and snow).

He says he doesn't need much sleep. Good thing.

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Age: 33 Native of: Philadelphia Resident of: Santa Monica Education: B.S. in business administration, Cornell University Spouse: Patricia Durham Penske