Three of the largest auto dealerships in the country, including a publicly traded retailer, expanded their footprints with first- and second-quarter acquisitions, while a regional group bolstered its presence in Ohio in February.
Here’s a look at the deals involving luxury, import and domestic dealerships in Kansas, Ohio and California.
Three transactions involved auto retailers ranked on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups.
Baxter Auto buys Audi store
Baxter Auto Group bolstered its presence in Kansas with the purchase of a luxury dealership from another large auto retailer last month.
Baxter Auto, of Omaha, Neb., on May 8 bought Audi Shawnee Mission in Merriam, Kan., southwest of Kansas City, from Holman Inc. Holman originally acquired the Audi store when it bought Kuni Automotive in 2016.
The dealership’s name remains, Baxter Auto confirmed. The group now has two Audi dealerships in its portfolio, the company said.
It marks Baxter Auto’s first acquisition since it bought a Toyota store in Colorado from Asbury Automotive Group Inc. in March 2022, the company confirmed. In October, Baxter Auto sold four Stellantis dealerships.
Baxter Auto ranks No. 33 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 21,889 new vehicles in 2022. Holman, of Mount Laurel, N.J., ranks No. 26 on that list with sales of 23,902 new vehicles in 2022.
Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented Holman in the Kansas transaction.
Martin Management Group enters Cleveland area
Growing Martin Management Group expanded its brand portfolio in March with the purchase of a Toyota dealership, its first of the Japanese brand.
Father and son Chuck Gile and Matt Gile on March 8 sold Motorcars Toyota in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, east of Cleveland, to Martin Management, according to Matt Gile.
Renamed Toyota Cleveland Heights, the store is Martin Management’s first location in the Cleveland market, Chad Martin, the group’s president, told Automotive News in an email.
The Toyota dealership is the group’s first acquisition since it bought a Southern California Volkswagen dealership in December, Martin confirmed.
In September 2019, the Gile family sold Motorcars Honda, also in Cleveland Heights, to Foundation Automotive Corp. and was looking then to sell the Toyota store as it pivoted to focus on different businesses, including car washes. Matt Gile said they had found a buyer for the Toyota store earlier, but that deal fell through.
“Times were good during the COVID era, so we stuck with it longer,” he said.
The Toyota store was the last franchised dealership the family owned, he added. Matt Gile said his group of car washes is now up to seven locations in the Cleveland area.
Foundation Automotive ultimately sold the Honda store in October 2021.
Tim Wild, director of the Midwest and Plains region for Tim Lamb Group, a buy-sell firm in Columbus, Ohio, represented the sellers in the Toyota deal.
Martin Management ranks No. 130 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups, retailing 6,231 new vehicles in 2022.
AutoNation adds Hyundai store in California
AutoNation Inc. on Feb. 1 purchased the former Parkway Hyundai in Santa Clarita, Calif., from Parkway Motorcars Valencia Inc., and relocated the store, according to Parkway CEO Bob Bakshi.
Bakshi told Automotive News that AutoNation moved the Hyundai dealership to one of its facilities in the same Valencia Auto Center auto mall, while Tesla bought Bakshi’s former Hyundai facility. Valencia is a neighborhood within Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.
AutoNation representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Bakshi said Parkway had owned the Hyundai dealership since 2005 and closed its Genesis point a few years ago. His group still owns an RV store and Buick-GMC-Cadillac dealership in the auto mall, Bakshi said.
AutoNation now has six dealerships in the mall, including the renamed AutoNation Hyundai Valencia, according to its website.
The retail giant on June 5 bought five stores from Bob Baker Auto Group, bolstering its presence in the Carlsbad Car Country auto mall in California, near San Diego.
AutoNation divested three stores last summer, including a July sale of its Jaguar-Land Rover Columbia dealership in South Carolina to Mills Automotive Group. In December, AutoNation acquired four dealerships in Colorado.
AutoNation, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranks No. 2 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups, retailing 229,971 new vehicles in 2022.
Spitzer adds two Ohio dealerships
Spitzer Management, doing business as Spitzer Autoworld, added to its Ohio footprint with the purchase of two dealerships in Findlay, Ohio, in the northwest part of the state.
The family-owned group in Elyria, Ohio, on Feb. 16 bought Warner Buick-GMC and Warner Nissan from Larry Warner.
In an interview with Findlay radio station WFIN that aired in March, Warner said he intended to retire after the sale, having turned 79 in January. He said that he bought out the prior owner in 1988.
Spitzer renamed the dealerships Spitzer Buick-GMC and Spitzer Nissan.
Drew Picon, managing director of DCG Acquisitions, a Dave Cantin Group company, facilitated the transaction. In June 2022, he handled Spitzer Management’s purchase of a pair of dealerships in northern Pennsylvania.
Picon said the Spitzer organization has been in growth mode the past few years. It has dealerships in Ohio and Pennsylvania.