Lithia exits North Dakota with sale of two stores; closes Va. dealership

Lithia Motors Inc. last week exited North Dakota with the sale of two dealerships and separately closed a dealership it acquired just more than a month ago.

The auto retail giant on Thursday sold its last two North Dakota dealerships, Lithia Ford of Grand Forks and Lithia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Grand Forks, to the Nelson family, a Lithia spokesperson confirmed.

Grand Forks is in eastern North Dakota, near the Minnesota border.

The dealerships were renamed Nelson Ford of Grand Forks and Nelson Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Grand Forks, according to brand dealership locator websites.

The Nelson family owns dealerships in Williston and Watford City, N.D., as well as Fergus Falls, Minn., according to the Fergus Now news website.

Lithia sold a Toyota store in Grand Forks last year.

The August divestiture follows Lithia's purchase of a Texas Honda store on July 31. The sale marked the auto retailer's first since it sold a Virginia Toyota store in June, the Lithia spokesperson confirmed. Lithia also sold two other dealerships in June.

Virginia closure

Also last week, Lithia closed one of the Priority Auto stores it bought in June.

Lithia on Aug. 1 closed Priority Mazda-Nissan Tysons in Vienna, Va., near Washington, D.C., the Lithia spokesperson confirmed, but she didn't comment on why.

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranks No. 1 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 271,596 new vehicles in 2022. Lithia's sales figures include dealerships outside of the U.S.