Lithia sells Kia, Hyundai dealerships in Q2

Lithia said it sold four dealerships in the second quarter, including a Kia dealership in California and Hyundai outlet in New York.

The vehicle retail giant, which also divested Audi Valencia in California and Hazleton Honda in Hazle Township, Pa., in the second quarter, said it sold Lithia Kia of Stockton on May 26 and Carbone Hyundai in Yorkville, in upstate New York, on May 7.

Lithia, the second-largest dealership group in the U.S., had owned the Kia store since October 2013 and the Hyundai dealership since 2016. The Hyundai dealership was part of the retailer's acquisition of the nine-store Carbone Auto Group in New York and Vermont.

Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer told Automotive News last month that the Kia and Hyundai store divestitures were done for "network optimization and performance."

"They're just small businesses that we just passed and felt that someone else could probably do a better job representing that manufacturer in that marketplace than we did," he said.

The Kia store is now operating as Kia of Stockton. Lahham Automotive holds the dealer license for the store, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The Hyundai store is now called Mastrovito Hyundai, led by dealer principal Frank Mastrovito. He formerly was COO of the Upstate New York region for Prime Motor Group and worked as vice president of sales for Carbone Auto Group and Lithia, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mastrovito had wanted to have his own dealership since he was 12 and "recognized a life-long dream," according to a report from WKTV in Utica, N.Y.

DeBoer said the Audi Valencia sale was related to contiguous market agreements with Audi.

In May, Lithia sold Hazleton Honda to Fred Timbrook, Lee Wilson and David Ainsworth of Timbrook Automotive. Lithia had purchased the Honda store less than two years earlier from an ailing dealership group. It also had bought Hamilton Honda in New Jersey in that deal.

"We had always intended to sell that," DeBoer said of Hazleton Honda. "We just needed the help Honda out with a financial situation they had with the seller. So we stepped into it to help them."

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranked No. 3 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 171,168 new vehicles in 2020. But Lithia's April acquisition of Michigan's Suburban Collection makes it the second-largest group going forward.