October 20, 2025 3:40 a.m.
In the KQEN Business Spotlight:
Time Magazine has announced that local auto dealer Clint Newell has been nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award.
A TIME release said Newell is one of a select group of 47 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 109th annual National Automobile Dealers Association Show in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 5th, 2026.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is said to be one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. It recognizes the nation’s most successful dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Newell was chosen to represent the Oregon Auto Dealers Association in the national competition for the 57th annual award from more than 20,000 nationwide.
After earning a business degree from Oregon State University in 1983, Newell partnered with his father and a colleague to acquire a new car store. Over time he became the 100 percent owner of what is now Clint Newell Toyota. The company employs 80 team members in Roseburg.
In 1994, Newell purchased a vacant former Montgomery Ward building and converted it into a modern dealership. In 2018, Newell invested $1.8 million to remodel the facility to current industry standards, focusing on customer-facing areas. Newell said, “Customers notice when you invest in them. We hear it every day”. Newell also launched a longstanding technician education/apprenticeship program. Newell said, “We build our own technicians – paying for school, training, and tool allowances. It’s one of the vest investments we make in people”.
The release said service to community is central to Newell’s life and business. In 1992 he was one of the founders of the free summer concert series, Music on the Half Shell. In 2014, Newell was given the male First Citizen award by the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He has been a member of the Umpqua Community College Automotive Advisory Committee since 2015. Since 2024, he has been a director of the Douglas County Baseball Association.
Dealers are nominated by the executives of state and metro dealer associations around the country. A panel of faculty members from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year. Three finalists will win $5,000 for their favorite charities and the winner will receive $10,000 to give to a charity, donated by ALLY Financial.