AutoNation, Ken Garff Automotive among dealership buyers in Q3, Q4 deals

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.

Cronin adds Ford store

Patrick Cronin of Cronin Auto Group on July 13 purchased Middletown Ford in Ohio from Roosevelt Robinson, adding a second Ford store to his group.

The dealership, located midway between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, was renamed Cronin Ford North.

Opportunities to acquire Ford stores in the Middletown area are rare, Cronin said. He said he bought the store because it's near his stores in other markets and is part of a growing community. Cronin Auto has six other dealerships in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

Cronin's grandfather was a Ford dealer and his father was a Volkswagen dealer. When his father passed away in 1986, Cronin and his siblings ran the Volkswagen store for several years before selling it. Cronin started Cronin Auto in 1998.

Cronin Auto also has a Ford store in Harrison, Ohio, northwest of Cincinnati, which is considered the group's headquarters, Cronin said.

"We're looking forward to the growth," Cronin said, adding the new Ford store is in a larger market.

Tim Wild, director of the Midwest and Plains region for buy-sell firm Tim Lamb Group in Columbus, Ohio, represented the buyer in the transaction.

Eide Automotive Group adds Ford, Kia dealerships

Eide Automotive Group on Aug. 1 acquired Bill Barth Kia and Bill Barth Ford in Mandan, N.D., from Bill Barth Automotive Group.

The dealerships were renamed Eide Ford Mandan and Eide Kia Mandan. Mandan is west of Bismarck, N.D.

Jesse Peterson, the group's CEO and dealer principal of Eide Ford Mandan, said the acquisition allowed Eide Automotive to buy out its Ford competition in the Bismarck-Mandan market and pick up an up-and-coming brand in Kia.

"There was two Ford dealerships and they were one and we were the other one," Peterson, a 2018 Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree, told Automotive News. "We were able to pick up the other Ford dealer and that was a big deal to us — to be able to expand our footprint here."

With the addition of the two stores, Eide Automotive is up to six stores, including two Ford stores, three Stellantis stores and one Kia dealership in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Bill Barth Automotive, meanwhile, is out of the business, Peterson said.

Since taking over the stores in August, Eide Automotive has completed some minimal physical upgrades. The biggest changes, Peterson said, come in the form of increased staff.

"We were able to retain all the employees that wanted to stay," Peterson said. "We added a few to forecast for future growth."

Ken Garff Automotive Group expands in Arizona

Ken Garff Automotive Group on Dec. 12 added two more dealerships in Arizona when it bought two import brand stores from Earnhardt Auto Centers.

The former Earnhardt Volkswagen in Gilbert and Rodeo Kia in Avondale were renamed Ken Garff Volkswagen Gilbert and Ken Garff Kia Avondale, according to Megan Maybee, a company spokeswoman.

"Arizona is a strong market for us and opening two dealerships at once brings the Ken Garff level of service to even more car shoppers," Ken Garff CEO Brett Hopkins said in a statement.

The Ken Garff group of Salt Lake City ranks No. 9 on Automotive News' most recent list of the 150 top dealership groups in the U.S., retailing 58,787 new vehicles in 2021. Earnhardt Auto Centers of Chandler, Ariz., ranks No. 18 on that same list, retailing of 30,221 new vehicles in 2021.

Ken Garff now has more than 50 dealerships in eight states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Texas, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming, Maybee told Automotive News.

The group has been both a buyer and seller in recent months. Ken Garff sold a Honda store in Reseda, Calif., to Brandon Steven Motors on Oct. 3, and the group exited Michigan in July when it divested a Cadillac store in Novi, as well as Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram stores in Southfield and Taylor to Fox Motors of Grand Rapids.

On June 21, Ken Garff purchased Nate Wade Subaru in Salt Lake City from Kirk Schneider. The group also purchased its first two Arizona dealerships from family-run Earnhardt Auto in August and September 2021.

Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented Earnhardt Auto in the sales to Ken Garff.

Kerrigan Advisors also represented Earnhardt Auto in its Feb. 28 sale of Earnhardt Buick-GMC Las Vegas and Earnhardt Mazda Las Vegas in Nevada to Jerry Seiner Dealerships, which marked Earnhardt's exit from the state, Kerrigan Advisors confirmed.