Auto retail giant AutoNation, large privately owned Ken Garff Automotive Group and two other auto retailers expanded their dealership portfolios with acquisitions in third and fourth quarters.
Here's a look at the deals involving domestic, luxury and import dealerships and stores in Colorado, Ohio, North Dakota and Arizona.
Two transactions involved an auto retailer ranked on Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups list.
AutoNation adds four Colorado stores
Auto retail giant AutoNation Inc. has closed on the acquisition of four Colorado dealerships, a purchase the company announced in October, as it expands its presence in the Centennial State.
AutoNation in a Dec. 5 Twitter post said it had added two locations in Colorado Springs: AutoNation Acura Colorado Springs and AutoNation Dodge-Ram Colorado Springs. And on Dec. 9, in a tweet, it said it had added AutoNation Dodge-Ram Broadway and AutoNation Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Cañon City.
Doug Moreland, president and part owner of Moreland Auto Group, told Automotive News that his Pikes Peak Acura store in Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Dodge, a Dodge-Ram dealership in Colorado Springs, were acquired by AutoNation on Dec. 5, while Brandon Dodge on Broadway, a Dodge-Ram store in Littleton, and City Auto Plaza, a Stellantis store in Cañon City, closed Dec. 8.
AutoNation in October said it expected the acquisition would add $320 million in annual revenue.
Moreland said he had partners in his stores "looking to take the chips off the table" and selling the stores to AutoNation "seemed like the right fit." He said that he had been in talks with the auto retailer for about a year and previously had sold a dealership to AutoNation.
Moreland said AutoNation also has a Chrysler-Jeep dealership just down the street from Brandon Dodge and had been interested in acquiring his store for years. The acquisition gained them dealerships in Southern Colorado.
Moreland's partners included Alex Jannicelli at City Auto Plaza, Carl Ventsam at the Acura store and Colorado Springs Dodge, his son Brandon Moreland and family at Brandon Dodge, and James Jannicelli at Colorado Springs Dodge and the Acura store. James Jannicelli will remain a general manager for AutoNation, Doug Moreland said.
Moreland said he still has two Kia dealerships and a Mitsubishi store in metro Denver, a Chrysler-Dodge-Ram and a Jeep-only dealerships in Fort Collins, a Stellantis store in Cheyenne, Wyo. He is building an awarded open-point Stellantis dealership in Loveland, Colo.
W.G. Nielsen & Co., a Denver investment banking firm, was a financial adviser to Moreland Auto in the transaction.
AutoNation ranked No. 1 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 262,403 new vehicles in 2021.