(Photo by Brett Dunlap) The former Superior Toyota dealership on Seventh Street was recently purchased by the Peden Family of Dealerships and has become Parkersburg Toyota.

PARKERSBURG — Superior Toyota in Parkersburg has been sold.

On Wednesday, Superior Toyota owner T.R. Hathaway confirmed that the sale of the longstanding area dealership had been finalized on Tuesday this week.

The dealership, which was bought by the Peden Family of Dealerships, will now be called Parkersburg Toyota. New owner Thomas Peden II said they want their dealerships to be identified with the towns they’re in.

“This is our eighth dealership,” said Peden, who runs the dealerships with his sister, Ashley.

They operate Toyota and Honda dealerships in Zanesville and a GMC and Mazda store in Dover, Ohio. They purchased the Pioneer Group in Marietta in October, which has Chevy and Ford, and the Parkersburg Honda dealership.

They are originally from Ripley, and their family was behind the original Tom Peden Country dealership.

“This is home for us; this is West Virginia,” Peden said. “This town has been so great to us.

“We are happy to move our family here and get everyone here. I will be here every single day.”

Peden said one of his goals is to make automobile purchases more convenient in terms of pricing, service hours and more.

“Whatever it is, we want to be much more convenient to the community,” he said. “We don’t name the dealerships after ourselves. … We name them after the town because that is where we are.”

Peden sees a lot of potential in selling the Toyota brand locally and being able to grow the business.

Hathaway said he was thankful to the community for supporting the dealership and its employees over the years.

“It has been a joy to be able to serve the Mid-Ohio Valley,” he said. “I am very appreciative.”

Hathaway said he wanted to be able to spend time with his wife Sallie, travel and visit their three grandchildren in South Carolina while they were still able to do so.

“They are all in car seats, and our daughter needs some extra hands,” he said with a laugh. “We just wanted to be able to enjoy life.”

At the time of the sale, Superior had around 50 employees who are remaining with the dealership.

“The nice thing is the employees are still there,” Hathaway said. “Rest assured it is the same great Superior team that will be selling and servicing Toyotas in the Mid-Ohio Valley.”

Peden also gives a lot of credit to “the awesome people” who were already in place at the dealership when they took over.

“To be able to inherit all of this is just amazing,” he said. “These folks do it all.”

The dealership started in the early 1970s as Superior Motors and was founded by Hathaway’s parents, Tom and Betty Jo Hathaway.

T.R. Hathaway started when he was 14 years old working washing cars after school at Van Devender Junior High, along with his younger brother Scott, when his family had a used car lot at Lakeview and Murdoch.

After the mall opened, they moved to their second lot in the Traffic Circle.

He worked at the family Texaco Station on the north end of Parkersburg when he was in high school. In 1979, his family got the local Toyota franchise and moved to Seventh Street, where they have been since.

“It was humble beginnings,” Hathaway said. “Toyota wasn’t the product they are today.

“We got to watch them become the No. 1 auto manufacturer in the world. Our timing couldn’t have been better.”

The business has always remained challenging over the years.

“No business is ever easy,” Hathaway said. “We have seen a lot of changes over the years.”

Toyota was a fuel-efficient car when they came in at a time when the gas crisis was happening in the late 70s.

“They were in the market at the right time and put a lot of their money back into research and development,” Hathaway said.

He ran the dealership for a number of years with his brother before Scott passed away in 2015.

Hathaway looks back fondly at his time with the dealership from being involved in the community to serving their customers and the family he has with everyone at the dealership.

“When you own a business, you are thinking about it 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said. “It’s been a blessing for sure, from the people I have met to the customers, the employees and the people from Toyota.”

He is also thankful he got to work at the dealership for 10 years with his son, Tommy.

Hathaway said he is planning to remain in the area.

“My home has always been in West Virginia,” he said. “I will always be a West Virginia guy.

“This is all bittersweet. There is a lot I am going to miss about the dealership, but we are excited about starting this new chapter where we are going to be focused on family.”

Peden is looking forward to the future with the dealerships throughout the area offering different brands and bigger inventory levels of both pre-owned and new cars.

“We are excited to be here,” he said. “We love selling cars.”