Lithia Motors Inc. said it added Virginia’s Priority Auto Group, one of the largest dealership groups in the country, according to posts on the auto retailer’s social media pages Monday.
The acquisition is the auto retail giant’s first U.S. dealership acquisition of 2023.
The transaction announced on the company’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages early Monday have since been taken down. A message on the Priority Auto Group’s website said the group’s dealerships will reopen at noon Monday.
Lithia didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The acquisition builds off Lithia’s small footprint in the Mid-Atlantic state and gives the auto retailer a sizable presence throughout Virginia.
If Lithia acquired all Priority Auto stores, it would mark this year’s biggest deal in terms of the number of dealerships added, as tracked by Automotive News.
Priority Auto lists 17 franchised dealerships on its website with locations near Washington, D.C., in the southeast part of the state near Newport News, Hampton, Chesapeake and Norfolk, as well as Roanoke in the southwest part of Virginia. The group lists domestic, import and luxury brands on its website, with multiple Toyota, Lexus and Honda locations.
Priority Auto, of Chesapeake, Va., ranks No. 55 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with sales of 14,447 new vehicles in 2022 and total revenue of $1.26 billion. Dennis Ellmer is listed as Priority Auto CEO.
Lithia first entered Virginia with the purchase of Sterling Motorcars in Sterling in 2020.
Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer told Automotive News last week that the auto retailer’s network development, or acquisition, target for its plan to reach $50 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2025, is now $25 billion in acquired revenue, up from the previously stated $20 billion.
DeBoer said then that all the acquisitions Lithia had under contract were in the U.S.
“The rest of the year will round out pretty nicely,” DeBoer said. “We think it should come in around $4 billion” of added revenue.
Lithia had not made a U.S. acquisition since December, when it entered Kentucky with the purchase of a Stellantis dealership.
In February, the auto retail giant bought an Acura dealership in Canada.
Lithia’s most significant acquisition in 2023 was its entrance into the United Kingdom with the purchase of Jardine Motors Group in March.
Lithia previously said the two international acquisitions would add $2.1 billion to the company’s annual revenue.
Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranks No. 1 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups, retailing 271,596 new vehicles in 2022. Lithia’s sales figures include dealerships outside the U.S.
