History

On February 2, 1959, Mr. Norman D. Hébert Sr. made a bold decision by purchasing Park Avenue Chevrolet, which was then located on Park Avenue in Montréal. The dealership was on the verge of going bankrupt and few people thought it could ever recover.

Two years later, Norman Hébert Sr. made an even bolder decision by moving the dealership to the corner of Viau and Jean-Talon in the North end of Montreal. The enormous dealership was built on farmland in what was to become a new suburb and very few people thought it would ever survive. They obviously didn’t know its founder very well! In 1964, while Park Avenue Chevrolet was enjoying its success, Norman Hébert Sr. recognized a need on the market for commercial fleets and opened the first long-term car leasing company in Canada, Location Park Avenue. Today, Location Park Avenue remains fully active with a fleet of more than 3600 vehicles on the road. In 1969, who better than Norman Hébert to call the shorts during the first ever Salon de l’Auto de Montréal? Backed by the entire business community, this visionary had nothing else to prove!

With the support of his son, who joined the family business in 1981, they acquired a large vacant lot on Taschereau Boulevard in Brossard. This marked, in 1985, the beginning of a new chapter in the family’s history. Mr. Hébert Sr. entered into partnerships with various manufacturers to successively open nine different dealerships, including six on the same property.

Today, Mr. Norman Hébert Jr. is President of Groupe Park Avenue and has started to develop a second strategic sales point in Sainte-Julie, where he will inaugurate his 10th dealership in 2010.

50 years and 400 employees later, Groupe Park Avenue is still a leader in the automotive industry. Our founder’s initial vision was passed on to his son, who was able to increase the family business tenfold; a business that now works hand in hand with its personnel toward a common goal: “creating customers for life”.