He'd seen the growing move to bicycles for personal transport in his home country and wanted to do the same in South Africa – and so Coventry & Birmingham Motor & Cycle Company was born. Shortly after the first world war, Rodway merged his business with a dealership called Fisher & Simmons, subsequently acquiring the Auburn car franchise. The company changed its name to Fisher, Simmons & Rodway and in 1923 it expanded its product offering by adding the popular Dodge brand.

In the meantime, a young man called Justin McCarthy joined the company as an accounts clerk in 1921. He was excited about the developing motor trade and saw it as a much brighter career prospect than banking, where he'd started. His entrepreneurial acumen and a good head for figures saw McCarthy acquiring shares in the business. Rodway & McCarthy set about forming alliances with key international personalities such as Lord Nuffield, from whom they acquired the Morris franchise. As the business grew, McCarthy Rodway Limited was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1936, and in Johannesburg in 1937.

Strategically, the group decided to focus on automotive distribution, selling its motor assemblies' business in 1963 to Toyota South Africa. This move helped cement the relationship between Toyota and McCarthy, which has remained intact ever since. In 1966, McCarthy acquired a substantial portion of Atkinson-Oates, a national vehicle distributor and retailer, and one of McCarthy's main competitors. The remaining shares were acquired in 1975.

McCarthy has weathered many storms. This included an extreme recession driven by the global oil crisis that hit the country during 1976/77, reducing vehicle sales by 23%. Also, in 1977, the company's state-of-the-art computer room located within its Durban premises and housing the sophisticated (at the time) data processing department, was destroyed in a fire. Over the years McCarthy has undergone major changes and restructuring in line with its single-minded focus on motor retailing.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the company, now renamed McCarthy Group Limited, experienced extraordinary, growth. New franchises and brands were added, efficiencies were honed, and technology was upgraded substantially. Sales and turnover soared, while total assets and the number of employees increased substantially. However, in the late 1990's, economic and other challenges changed the course of McCarthy's history. It essentially led to Bidvest acquiring McCarthy on 1 January 2004, for R967 million.

Working closely with existing management, as well as an improving economy, it resulted in Bidvest introducing numerous interesting and unique concepts, which accelerated the expansion of the business into one of South Africa's largest and most eminent automotive retailers. It included financial services (later becoming part of Bidvest Financial Services), car rental as well as vehicle auctioneering. Today it boasts an annual trading profit of over R600 million, up three-fold since acquisition, with 26 brands of vehicles are sold out of a network of 83 dealerships.