Dealerships sell in December and January in Georgia, Texas, Oregon and North Carolina

A dealership group this month bought an Infiniti store in the South, while three Ford dealerships exchanged hands in single-store deals, either in December or January.

Here's a look at the transactions involving luxury and domestic brands. One deal involved a group on Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups list.

Georgia acquisition

Jim Hudson Automotive Group has expanded its footprint in Georgia with the acquisition of an Infiniti dealership.

Jim Hudson Automotive, of Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 20 bought Napleton Infiniti of Augusta from Napleton Automotive Group.

The dealership was renamed Jim Hudson Infiniti of Augusta.

It marks the first Infiniti franchise for the group, said Josh Waters, director of public relations for Jim Hudson Automotive. The group also has Acura and Lexus stores in Augusta.

Jim Hudson Automotive now has nine dealerships and a used-only store in its portfolio across Georgia and South Carolina.

Napleton Automotive, of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., ranks No. 13 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 35,768 new vehicles in 2020.

Brian Brown and Mike Lacey of DCG Acquisitions, a Dave Cantin Group company, handled the transaction.

Texas Ford dealership changes hands

Susanty Roberts has purchased Sabine River Ford in Orange, Texas, near the Louisiana border, from dealer Ross Smith.

The transaction closed on Dec. 9, Ford Motor Co. confirmed, and the dealership was renamed Roberts Ford.

Roberts, along with husband Craig Roberts and Mitchell Roberts, Craig Roberts' son, most recently managed used-vehicle dealership Arriba Motors in Porter, Texas, according to a Dec. 21 article from the County Record newspaper. Porter is near Houston.

Smith had owned the dealership since 2011 and changed the name from David Self Ford to Sabine River Ford, according to a 2014 story in the County Record.

Oregon dealer adds Ford store

Sami Mohamed, aiming to diversify his brand representation, purchased long-standing Newberg Ford in Oregon this month from Jim Corliss and the estate of John Kerekanich.

It marks Mohamed's first Ford store and is his second current dealership. He purchased Newberg Ford on Jan. 12, according to Brian Evans, principal of Ozog Consulting Group of Scottsdale, Ariz. The dealership buy-sell firm advised the seller in the transaction.

Mohamed, who is dealer principal of Newberg Ford, also owns AutoTown Buick-GMC in Gladstone, Ore., near Portland. He previously owned a Mazda dealership that he sold in 2013, Mohamed told Automotive News.

Corliss owns Landmark Ford-Lincoln in Tigard, Ore., and has been a Ford dealer for more than 40 years. He and his partner, Kerekanich, were looking to capitalize on the high dealership valuations and had agreed to the sale months before Kerekanich's death, Evans and Corliss said.

Kerekanich's date of death is unknown, but he died after a brief illness, according to Evans and Mohamed.

Newberg Ford will retain its name and all 34 employees, Mohamed said.

In 2021, Newberg Ford sold about 600 new vehicles and 300 used vehicles, Evans said.

North Carolina acquisition

Dealership owner Charles Jones sold Brock Motor Co., his Ford store in Trenton, N.C., to two buyers last month.

Christopher Thomas and Thomas Swigart purchased the store, marking their first franchised new-car dealership. The deal closed Dec. 13, and they renamed the dealership Ford of Jones County.

Thomas said that he, Swigart and three others operate used-vehicle-only Byrider stores in Raleigh and Durham, N.C. Trenton is about 100 miles east of Raleigh.

Thomas told Automotive News that he and Swigart saw acquiring the dealership as a more affordable way to step into the franchised dealership space.

"It's in a part of the state that we think is growing," Thomas said. "The town that it's in, although it's a very rural town, is situated in proximity to several other larger markets, so we think that there was some untapped potential here."

Jones had concerns about the possibility of the dealership transitioning to someone who would "clean house" from a personnel standpoint, Thomas said.

"He wanted someone who would kind of grow the existing staff and store and stay in town," Thomas said.

Thomas said he and Swigart plan to do just that. They also plan to brighten up the five-acre property.

"We're not going to change its footprint, but we're gonna replace furniture and the carpeting and repaint everything, interior and exterior," Thomas said. "There are mechanical infrastructure updates that need to be made, newer lifts and things like that."

Hal Feder of Murphy Business & Financial Corp. in Williamsburg, Va., represented the seller in the transaction.