MileOne Autogroup sells 7 Virginia dealerships to Atlantic Coast Automotive

MileOne Autogroup, one of the largest privately owned dealership groups in the U.S., divested seven franchised dealerships in Chesapeake and Newport News, Va., according to a Thursday LinkedIn post from Presidio Group, an investment banking and dealership advisory company in Atlanta and Denver.

Atlantic Coast Automotive Group of Miami Lakes, Fla., bought the stores selling Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chevrolet, Nissan, Hyundai, Acura and Ford brands, according to the post. Presidio Group represented MileOne in the transaction.

Representatives for Presidio declined to comment further. Ali Ahmed, co-owner of Atlantic Coast, did not return messages seeking comment, and a representative from MileOne could not immediately be reached for comment.

The sold stores appear to have been part of MileOne's Hall | MileOne Autogroup. They are: Hall Nissan Chesapeake, Hall Hyundai Chesapeake, Hall Chevrolet Chesapeake, Hall Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Chesapeake, Hall Acura Newport News, Hall Hyundai Newport News and Hall Ford Newport News.

Atlantic Coast Automotive does business as Southern Auto Group. Facebook pages for all seven of the dealerships posted messages Sept. 12 announcing new ownership as part of Southern.

A Nissan Motor Co. spokesperson confirmed the Nissan store's sale from MileOne to Ahmed and Atlantic Coast.

Southern Auto's website lists the dealerships with new names: Southern Nissan Chesapeake, Southern Hyundai Chesapeake, Southern Chevrolet, Southern Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Chesapeake, Southern Acura Newport News, Southern Hyundai Newport News and Southern Ford.

MileOne, of Towson, Md., has 65 dealerships operating under various group names across the mid-Atlantic, with stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.

Atlantic Coast in June purchased the former Sutherlin Nissan of Fort Pierce in Florida from Sutherlin Automotive Group.

In 2022, Atlantic Coast purchased 16 stores, including 10 from Vision Automotive. Its acquisitive streak put it second behind only public auto retail giant Lithia Motors Inc. for the most dealership purchases in 2022, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.