Ed Morse Automotive buys dealerships in Iowa

Ed Morse Automotive Group has expanded into Iowa, buying three domestic brand dealerships.

The dealership group, of Delray Beach, Fla., on Monday bought a Ford-Lincoln-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram rooftop and a Chevrolet-Buick-GMC dealership in Muscatine, plus a Chevrolet-Buick-GMC dealership in DeWitt, from Krieger Auto Group.

The dealerships were renamed Ed Morse Ford-Lincoln-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Muscatine, Ed Morse Chevrolet-Buick-GMC Muscatine and Ed Morse Chevrolet-Buick-GMC DeWitt. The transaction also included a NAPA Auto Parts store in Muscatine. In total, the Ed Morse group said it is adding nearly 125 employees to its team.

Muscatine is located along the Mississippi River and the Illinois border. DeWitt is northeast of Muscatine.

"To be able to expand our automotive footprint into the great state of Iowa is tremendously exciting for our organization," Teddy Morse, CEO of Ed Morse Automotive, said in a statement. "We look forward to making significant capital improvements and supporting the communities of Muscatine and DeWitt."

The Ed Morse group has been in expansion mode. In December, it bought a Ford dealership in St. Robert, Mo., and entered Illinois with the purchase of Weir Chevrolet-Buick-GMC and Weir Ford, both in Red Bud, and Weir Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in New Athens. In July, Ed Morse Automotive bought two dealerships in Texas,and in May, it entered Missouri with the purchase of four dealerships; the group also sold two Florida dealerships that month.

Ed Morse now has about 30 franchised dealership rooftops in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Iowa.

It ranks No. 60 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 14,169 new vehicles in 2020.

Jennifer Rafael of Dealer Solutions Mergers and Acquisitions, a Markham, Ontario, buy-sell firm with U.S. offices, represented the seller in the transaction, according to the Ed Morse group.