There aren’t many truck dealers like Rihm Kenworth. A fourth-generation family business, Rihm Family Companies has supported the transportation industry for nearly a century and has represented the Kenworth brand since 1949 — making it the second oldest continually operating Kenworth dealer in the world.
But to know Rihm Kenworth is to know not only its longstanding relationship with Kenworth, but also its uniqueness among its peers across the commercial truck dealer landscape.
Rihm Kenworth is a rarity. A company that experienced terrible tragedy and grew in its wake. A business celebrating its 90th anniversary that had never intended to last so long. And as one of trucking’s few woman-led dealer operations, an example of how diversity in the trucking industry can stimulate prosperity.
The Rihm Kenworth story began in 1932 but it is the last 12 years that have defined how the company evolved into what it is today, says President and CEO Kari Rihm. For it was 12 years ago that Rihm’s husband John passed away and the family’s exit plan — to sell the dealer business at John’s retirement — was upended.
Forced into a terrible situation, the Rihms were faced with a difficult choice. Kari Rihm says she remembers the pressure she felt to sell. But it was also in that tragic haze that her family saw an opportunity. Rihm Kenworth wasn’t on the market yet, and without a leader in place, its value had slipped.
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