Lithia Motors buys three Stellantis dealerships, including rare standalone Jeep store

Lithia Motors Inc. made its second three-rooftop acquisition of 2022 with the late-March purchase of three Stellantis dealerships in Las Vegas, bulking up its presence there.

The nation's second-largest new-vehicle retailer also sold a Texas Honda store this week.

Lithia bought Desert 215 Superstore, a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership, Sahara Chrysler-Dodge-Ram and Jeep Only, all in Las Vegas, on March 28, Tom Dobry, Lithia's vice president of marketing, confirmed to Automotive News in an email.

John Grant operated the dealerships.

Jeep Only, one of the few standalone Jeep dealerships in the country, opened in March 2020. It is the first standalone Jeep dealership for Lithia, Dobry said.

As of Jan. 1, 2022, there were just 15 exclusive Jeep dealerships in the country, according to Automotive News' annual dealership census.

In May 2021, Lithia entered the Las Vegas market when it acquired three Hyundai stores and one Genesis dealership from John Staluppi Jr.

The Stellantis acquisitions are Lithia's first purchases since it bought three dealerships in Northern California in January, Dobry confirmed.

Lithia, which sold a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat dealership in California last month, also divested of a Honda dealership in west-central Texas.

Lithia on Tuesday sold Honda of Abilene to Fernando Varela of Varela Auto Group, Dobry confirmed.

The dealership will be renamed All Star Honda, according to DCG Acquisitions, a Dave Cantin Group company, which handled the transaction. Tony Karabon was the broker in the Texas deal.

In addition to the two divestitures, Lithia in January also closed its BMW of Utica dealership in New York.

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranks No. 2 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 260,738 new vehicles in 2021.