Group 1 Automotive adds Kia store, sells Ford dealership

Group 1 Automotive's acquisitive year continued with the June 1 purchase of Beck & Masten Kia in Tomball, Texas, a few weeks after the Houston company bought three high-volume Buick-GMC stores in Texas, all owned by retiring John Beck and James Masten.

The auto retailer now has purchased dealerships that are expected to add about $1 billion in revenues this year, with the Houston-area Kia store, which will retain its name, projected to bring in $85 million.

"Kia is a new brand for our Houston platform," Group 1 CEO Daryl Kenningham said in a statement. "Kia America experienced the best first-quarter sales performance in the company's history and Houston is the second-fastest growing major metropolitan area in the U.S."

Interest in Kia stores is rising across the country, according to Ryan Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors, a dealership sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev.

"That franchise has had a really good run of product, of profitability," Kerrigan told Automotive News. "The largest dealership groups and the publics like Group 1 are looking to grow their relationship with Kia."

Kerrigan said his firm, which represented Beck and Masten in both sales, continues to see outsized interest in "business-friendly, growing markets such as Texas," which translates into "significant premiums" paid for those dealerships.

While Group 1 has been buying stores, the auto retailer on May 22 sold Bohn Ford in Harvey, La., to Damian Mills, CEO of Mills Automotive Group, according to Performance Brokerage Services, a buy-sell firm in Irvine, Calif. George Chaconas, senior partner for Performance Brokerage's southeast region, facilitated the transaction.

The dealership was renamed Ford of Harvey.

Growing Mills Automotive made several acquisitions in 2022, including the purchase of a Honda dealership in Harvey. Harvey is across the Mississippi River from New Orleans.

Group 1 said a Ford store in New Orleans, which it sold in the second quarter, generated about $60 million in revenue. In March, Group 1 purchased Estero Bay Chevrolet in Florida.

Group 1 ranks No. 4 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 154,714 new vehicles in 2022.