Penske enters Charlotte, N.C., market with purchase of Mercedes-Benz store

Penske Automotive Group Inc. has entered the growing Charlotte, N.C., market with its acquisition Thursday of Felix Sabates' Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte, in Pineville, near the South Carolina border.

The second-largest new-vehicle retailer based in the U.S. said in a news release Friday that the store is expected to add $150 million in annual revenue. The dealership acquisition is Penske's first since late 2018, when it bought Lexus stores in Texas.

Penske said the more than 70,000-square-foot dealership, which opened in 2006, includes 50 service bays.

Sabates, like Penske CEO Roger Penske, has ties to the racing world. He was a NASCAR team owner with Chip Ganassi Racing and was set to retire as an owner last year. Sabates owned the dealership with Terry Taylor, according to Sabates' Chip Ganassi Racing biography.

The acquisition marks Penske's 26th Mercedes-Benz dealership globally. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. The store will be renamed Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte.

"We are thrilled to enter this new market area and we welcome the Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte team to Penske Automotive Group," Penske President Rob Kurnick said in a statement. "With the completion of this acquisition, Penske Automotive Group has now added over $700 million in expected annualized revenue to its operations this year as the company drives to its target goal of achieving $1 billion in earnings before taxes in 2023."

Penske this year opened a Porsche dealership in Washington, D.C., that is expected to generate $50 million in annual revenue. In April, it acquired Kansas City Freightliner, which Penske said would add $450 million in annual revenue.

It also plans to open by the end of the year an Audi dealership in Southern California and a Honda dealership in Texas, which are under construction. Those stores are expected to add a combined $100 million in revenue.

Penske, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., ranks No. 2 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 178,437 new vehicles in 2020.