Group 1 Automotive sells 4 dealerships in Alabama, Maine and Oklahoma

Group 1 Automotive Inc., which has been active on both sides of the U.S. dealership buy-sell market in 2023, divested four dealerships in three transactions, including a pair of Maine stores it sold to New England dealer David Rosenberg and partners.

Group 1, in its most recent sale, sold Nissan of Mobile to Tameron Gulf Coast on July 31, according to Ryan Mayer, the group's owner and president. The dealership was renamed Tameron Nissan, Mayer noted.

It marks the first Nissan store for Tameron Gulf Coast, which is based in nearby Daphne. The group now has six dealerships across Alabama and Mississippi, Mayer said.

In March, Tameron Gulf Coast bought a Subaru store, also in Mobile, from Lithia Motors Inc.

"It's a market that we're in and we like the brand," Mayer said of the Nissan dealership. "We think it'll be an asset to our portfolio along the Gulf Coast here."

The acquisition marked the second dealership Tameron Gulf Coast had purchased from Group 1, having bought a Mississippi Kia dealership from the auto retail giant in 2021.

Presidio Group, an investment banking and dealership advisory company in Denver and Atlanta, represented Group 1 in the Nissan dealership transaction.

One week earlier, Group 1 sold Ira Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Volkswagen Saco, both in Saco, Maine, south of Portland, to DSR Motor Group on July 24, Rosenberg confirmed to Automotive News.

The stores were renamed Jack Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Jack Volkswagen of Saco. Jack was the middle name of Rosenberg's late father, Ira Rosenberg, who started Ira Motor Group near Boston in 1975 and sold it 25 years later to Group 1. He also co-founded Prime Motor Group with David Rosenberg. Ira Rosenberg died in 2019.

Both Saco dealerships were part of Prime Automotive Group when Group 1 acquired the majority of the company in November 2021, Rosenberg said. Rosenberg had been CEO at Prime Automotive until being fired by Prime's then-majority owner, GPB Capital Holdings, in September 2019. Rosenberg launched DSR Motor Group afterward.

Rich Dempsey is operating partner and has a minority ownership stake in the Volkswagen dealership while Chris Gannett is operating partner and has a minority ownership stake in the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store, Rosenberg said, adding that he worked with both previously.

Rick Bickford, operating partner at DSR Motor's Tri-City Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Tri-City Subaru in Somersworth, N.H., also is an equity partner in both the Volkswagen and Stellantis stores, Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg said the familiarity with both stores drew him to the acquisition. He said he still owned the real estate where the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership was and the current building is in need of a facility upgrade.

"I was probably the best buyer for the store," Rosenberg told Automotive News. "And I'm looking to grow the group anyway. I feel a lot of loyalty for the people that I used to work with. It made sense in both cases to buy the stores back."

The two-store purchase was DSR Motor's first since it bought a Audi-Volkswagen dealership in Massachusetts in June 2022, Rosenberg confirmed.

Rosenberg said he continues to look for acquisitions.

"I have a lot of people that were loyal to me that deserve to be dealers themselves," Rosenberg said. "I'd like to help them accomplish that."

In an Aug. 2 press release, Group 1 said the three divested dealerships generated $85 million in annual revenue.

In addition to the Alabama and Maine sales, Group 1 also sold Smicklas Chevrolet in Oklahoma City, Okla., according to Pete DeLongchamps, Group 1's senior vice president of manufacturer relations, financial services and public affairs.

Husband and wife Dorian and Lilly Jimenez, along with business partner Tom Durant, bought the dealership on June 20, Dorian Jimenez told Automotive News in an email. The dealership was renamed Classic Chevrolet Nw Expy.

Group 1 also resigned its Jaguar franchise in Albuquerque, N.M., DeLongchamps noted, but didn't specify when. In March, Automotive News reported Jaguar Land Rover had begun offering dealers extra allocations of hot-selling Land Rover nameplates if they give up their Jaguar franchises.

In May, Group 1 sold a Louisiana Ford store. The auto retail giant also sold a New York Buick-GMC dealership and a New Jersey Acura store this year.

Meanwhile, Group 1 has purchased five dealerships across Florida and Texas in 2023.

Group 1, of Houston, 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. Group 1's sales figures include dealerships outside of the U.S.