Two Canadian auto retailers expanded their U.S. portfolios, while two large Midwest retailers expanded in their home states with transactions that closed in the first three quarters of the year.
Here’s a look at the deals involving import, luxury and domestic brands and stores in Michigan, Ohio, Texas and New York.
Two transactions involved auto retailers ranked on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups.
Fox Motors grew its Michigan footprint with the Monday purchase of a Kia dealership.
Fox Motors of Grand Rapids, Mich., said it bought Kia of Grand Rapids North from Liechty Auto Group. The dealership was renamed Fox Kia North.
It marks the second Kia dealership for Fox Motors. In a statement, Fox Motors CEO Daniel DeVos said the group’s existing Kia store, also in Grand Rapids, was one of the group’s first dealerships.
“The Kia brand has enjoyed significant growth in the U.S. market and our acquisition of Kia North will bring a consistent market presence in West Michigan,” DeVos said in the statement.
Mark Shackelford and Paul Kechnie, partners representing Midwest and Texas regions for buy-sell firm Performance Brokerage Services, of Irvine, Calif., facilitated the Kia transaction.
On July 21, Fox Motors also bought a Ford dealership — Babb Ford in Reed City in Northern Michigan from Bob Horan — but turned it into a Ford service center and used-vehicle store, renaming it Fox Ford PreOwned and Service Center.
In March, Fox Motors bought two dealerships as well as an Isuzu commercial truck center in metro Detroit.
Fox Motors ranks No. 54 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 14,457 new vehicles in 2022.
Growing Great Lakes Auto Group made its first acquisition of 2023 with the purchase of three Ohio dealerships.
The group on July 19 bought Dennis Hyundai of Dublin, Dennis Hyundai East in Columbus and Genesis of Columbus from Dennis Automotive, said Great Lakes President Joey Huang.
The dealerships were renamed Great Lakes Hyundai of Dublin and Great Lakes Hyundai of Columbus The Genesis store is keeping its name.
For Huang, the acquisition was an opportunity to grow with Hyundai, a brand he’s been with since 2005, he said. Huang said he previously served on the Hyundai National Dealer Council.
Huang described Columbus, Ohio’s capital and home of Ohio State University, as a good, growing market.
“I wanted to be more in Columbus,” Huang told Automotive News. “Hyundai has been a great brand, and I’m excited to keep growing with them.”
With the acquisition, Great Lakes now has three Hyundai stores. In 2017, Great Lakes bought a Columbus dealership representing sibling brand Kia, also from Dennis Automotive.
The July acquisition included a collision center.
Huang said Richard Sox, a partner in the Bass Sox Mercer dealership law firm, represented Dennis Automotive in the transaction.
In December, Great Lakes bought a Honda dealership in New York, the group’s first acquisition outside of Ohio.
Great Lakes also was awarded an open-point Honda dealership in Short Pump, Va., northwest of Richmond. That dealership is set to open in 2024.
Great Lakes, of Akron, Ohio, ranks No. 101 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 8,843 new vehicles in 2022.
Canada‘s Steele Auto Group in April purchased Volkswagen of Waco in Waco, Texas, continuing its ongoing expansion in the southern U.S. state.
Steele Auto, of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has accelerated acquisitions in the U.S. in recent years, all in Texas, to grow to nine dealerships in the state.
COO Kim Day said in a statement that the deal marked the first Volkswagen dealership in the U.S. for the group.
“We have a very strong relationship with Volkswagen Canada, and we are proud to be extending this relationship to the U.S.,” Day said in the statement.
Steele bought the dealership April 18 from Luis Perez, according to Automotive News Canada.
The dealership’s name remains.
Steele Auto entered the U.S. in 2020 with the purchase of Luling Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Texas.
The acquisition follows an acquisitive year for Steele Auto.
Last February, the group purchased two Hyundai stores in Texas from the Roger Beasley Auto Group, acquired a Hyundai store in the state from Group 1 Automotive Inc. in June 2022, a Stellantis dealership in Texas from William Day in July 2022 and a GMC store in October in Texas from Nyle Maxwell.
Steele Auto said it has 60 new-vehicle dealerships, two used-vehicle dealerships, three powerhouse equipment stores and nine collision centers.
Hicks Management & Consulting Group, a buy-sell firm in Arlington, Texas, brokered the Volkswagen deal.
Canada’s Alpha Auto Group on Feb. 14 purchased Biener Ford in Great Neck, N.Y., and kept the dealership’s name, a Ford Motor Co. spokesperson confirmed to Automotive News. The seller was Biener Auto Group.
Alpha Auto of Toronto, Ontario, also acquired the former Biener Audi in Great Neck from Biener Auto on Feb. 14, according to Breene Callahan, business development manager for the dealership.
That dealership is now named Audi Great Neck. Great Neck is on Long Island.
Alpha Auto entered the U.S. via Oregon when it purchased dealerships selling Subaru and Toyota in 2018. It is one of many Canadian auto retailers that have expanded into the U.S. Alpha Auto entered California in November 2022 with the purchase of Mercedes-Benz of Fresno.
On June 20, the group announced intentions to buy Lookers plc, a publicly traded auto retailer with about 147 locations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, through Global Auto Holdings Ltd., a special purpose acquisition company formed by the owners of Alpha Auto.
A month later, it looked like the deal may not go through after some Lookers shareholders voiced opposition, but in July, Global Auto increased its bid, which helped put the deal back on track.
A Tuesday financial filing from Lookers shows the deal, with an expected price tag of $639.9 million, has been recommended by the Lookers board, and meetings are slated for Sept. 5 to approve the deal.
David Kennedy, Toronto bureau chief for Automotive News Canada, contributed to this report.
