Cart Mart, a San Marcos-based golf cart dealer and distributor, has grown to $12 million in annual revenues. The company recently signed a deal to become the primary dealer for Club Car golf carts in the lucrative Coachella Valley market. Cart Mart expects to increase its staff from 60 to 75 employees to support the new dealership, which CEO Brian Rott believes will triple their current business. While Cart Mart sells golf carts to courses, most of its sales come from modified carts used in planned communities, businesses, universities, and military bases throughout Southern California.

1. Page 6 www.sdbj.com SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL September 7, 2015
Cart Mart page 7
Deal Gives Cart Mart New Inroad Into a Lucrative Market
VEHICLE: Dealer
And Distributor Also
Can Customize Carts
■ By MICHAEL LIPKIN
Stephen Whalen
Brian Rott, CEO of Cart Mart Inc., said the San Marcos-based company has grown to $12
million in annual revenues and is poised to expand even further.
as Baja, Mexico. But most sales don’t
come from golf courses. Some of
the carts are street legal and used in
planned communities, while business
such as General Dynamics’ NASSCO
and the San Diego Chargers use modi-
fied, industrial carts to lug up to 60,000
pounds of equipment or beer. Clients
also include the University of San Di-
ego, the University of California, San
Diego, the San Diego Padres and vari-
ous military bases.
Golf carts run from $6,000 to as
much as $25,000 for a fully optioned,
licensable vehicle.
The Coachella Valley expansion,
which will cover Palm Springs, Indian
Wells, Rancho Mirage and other cities,
willfocusalmostexclusivelyonClubCar
vehicles. Cart Mart also sells Yamaha,
Taylor-Dunn and Polaris vehicles.
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When Ben Bellman started manu-
facturing electric vehicles in 1959 for
the now-defunct Marketeer brand, the
phrase “golf cart” hadn’t been popular-
ized. But that’s what they were: open-air
two-seaters with a flatbed in the back to
lug clubs and other equipment.
“They were called ‘electric caddie cars,’”
said Brian Rott, Bellman’s grandson.
“There was no established term for it.”
Bellman, one of the first golf cart
manufacturers according to Rott, even-
tually sold his Arizona-based business to
Westinghouse Electric Corp. and started
a dealership and distribution company
in San Marcos, selling the same type of
carts he used to make.
Rott, who succeeded Bellman as CEO
of Cart Mart Inc., said the company has
grown to $12 million in annual revenues
and is poised to expand even further. Cart
Mart announced a deal last month with
Club Car, a major cart maker, to serve
as the primary dealer in the Coachella
Valley, one of the most lucrative golf cart
markets in the county. Rott expects to
staff up from about 60 employees to 75
by October, when the new office opens.
“The opportunity is three times what
we’re doing here,” Rott said.
Street Legal
Cart Mart sells mostly electric-pow-
ered vehicles throughout San Diego,
Orange and Imperial counties as well
CART MART INC.
CEO: Brian Rott
Revenue: $12 million
No. of local employees: 55
Headquarters: San Marcos
Founded: 1972
Company description: Dealer, distributor,
servicer and renter of golf carts and other
electric vehicles, serving much of Southern
California
Key factors for success: Cart Mart’s
predecessor manufactured the vehicles in the
1950s, and the company’s rental business has
attracted major clients, including the NFL
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