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Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2025: GRAMM, JAMES
PRESIDENT, SAFFORD AUTOMOTIVE GROUP, SPRINGFIELD
Virginia Business //September 2, 2025//
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2025: GRAMM, JAMES
PRESIDENT, SAFFORD AUTOMOTIVE GROUP, SPRINGFIELD
Virginia Business //September 2, 2025//
In 1983, barely five years after graduating from high school in Alexandria, Gramm sold two new cars on his first day as a sales rep at a dealership in Vienna. “The retail automobile business has been in my blood ever since,” he says.
Gramm worked in car sales in Virginia and Maryland, becoming vice president of Maryland Motors before buying his first dealership, Safford Dodge and RV in Fredericksburg, in 2002. In 2022, Safford purchased
Brown Automotive Group, which includes 16 stores in Virginia and Maryland and more than doubled Safford’s store count. The leadership team at Brown, based in Fairfax County, joined Safford, and the combined privately held company is now branded Safford Brown Automotive Group.
In 2025, Safford ranked No. 54 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 vehicle dealership groups, a drop of 16 places from the previous year. Between 2023 and 2024, it had jumped from No. 87 to No. 38, which at the time made it the fastest- rising dealership in the nation.
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