Asbury Automotive Group sells Toyota dealership in Colorado

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. last week sold one of the Toyota dealerships it acquired in its December purchase of Larry H. Miller Dealerships: Larry H. Miller Toyota Colorado Springs in Colorado.

Baxter Auto Group of Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday bought the dealership from Asbury, said Courtney Goldenberg, the company's senior director of marketing.

The store was renamed Toyota of Colorado Springs, and it marks the group's second dealership in the state. It also owns Lexus of Colorado Springs.

"We are delighted to have Toyota of Colorado Springs join the Baxter Family," Mickey Anderson, CEO of Baxter Auto, said in a statement. "This is a part of our long-term strategy to diversify our geographic footprint, while deepening our longstanding relationship with Toyota Motor Co."

Baxter began its expansion beyond Nebraska in 2008, when it entered Kansas. It now has 23 dealerships in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. Last July, Baxter opened a new Subaru dealership in La Vista, Neb.

The sale of the Toyota store marks at least the second dealership sale in a few weeks for Asbury.

Last month, it sold its Plaza Lexus dealership in Creve Coeur, Mo., near St. Louis, to Gurley Leep Automotive Family.

Asbury CEO David Hult told Automotive News in December that the dealership group would have to sell two Lexus stores following its acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships and Stevinson Automotive, which combined included five Lexus outlets.

Asbury grew to 10 Lexus stores with those acquisitions, and high-performing dealership groups are allowed up to eight Lexus stores nationally under framework agreements, Hult said.

Hult also told Automotive News in December that the auto retailer expected that with those big acquisitions — Larry H. Miller included 54 new-vehicle dealerships, and Stevinson included eight stores — it may have to sell a few dealerships stemming from a density issue with another manufacturer he didn't name.

A spokeswoman for Asbury didn't immediately respond to questions Monday.

Baxter Auto ranks No. 36 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 21,889 new vehicles in 2020.

Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., ranks No. 6 on that same list, retailing 95,165 new vehicles in 2020. Asbury has estimated that incorporating Larry H. Miller and its other 2021 dealership acquisitions would make it the fourth-largest new-vehicle retailer when measured by pro forma annualized revenue.