An expanding Swickard Auto Group entered Southern California via a majority stake purchase of John Elway's Crown Toyota in Ontario, one of the Japanese automaker's highest-volume U.S. dealerships.
And the dealership's price tag also fetched near-record blue sky value, according to the broker who facilitated the sale. Blue sky is the intangible value of a dealership, including goodwill.
Swickard Auto on Aug. 22 bought a 90 percent stake in the dealership just east of Los Angeles from Elway, Mitch Pierce, Dan Grubb and Paxton Gagnet, said Swickard's Greg Gates, vice president of business transformation. The four Elway partners collectively kept a 10 percent stake in the dealership, Gates said.