Ford, Honda, Toyota and Chevy dealerships change hands in 5 deals

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a clarification of the brokers involved in the Tiller-Jones and Fullerton transaction.

Two of the country's largest dealership groups bought stores in August, a son this year purchased a majority stake in a dealership from his father, and a Chevrolet store traded hands this spring in North Carolina.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import dealerships in Michigan, California, Texas and North Carolina.

Three transactions involved an auto retailer ranked on Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups list.

LaFontaine expands into western Michigan

LaFontaine Automotive Group, of Highland, Mich., has expanded into Grand Rapids on the west side of Michigan, buying Keller Ford from Rob Keller.

The acquisition Monday marked the group's fourth Ford dealership and its first acquisition of 2022 following four deals last year in which it added five stores. The dealership, founded in 1966 by Rob Keller's father, Jack Keller, was renamed LaFontaine Ford of Grand Rapids.

"Grand Rapids is our first dealership in West Michigan and the Grand Rapids market has been a key area of focus as we've looked to expand our operations and deliver our Family Deal advantage," Ryan LaFontaine, CEO of LaFontaine Automotive, said in a statement. "We see a tremendous opportunity for continued growth in the greater Grand Rapids area."

The group said it now has 52 new-vehicle franchises at 30 locations and seven collision centers, all in Michigan.

LaFontaine named Scott Tarwacki, a general manager within the group, to oversee the Grand Rapids store and promoted Luke Field, sales manager of LaFontaine Chevrolet of Dexter, to general sales manager at the new location.

LaFontaine ranks No. 33 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 24,399 new vehicles last year.

Victory Automotive buys one Honda store, sells one

Victory Automotive Group, which has been both a dealership buyer and seller in 2022, purchased a Honda store in Northern California last month, while it also sold a Honda dealership in Southern California in June.

Victory Automotive, of Canton, Mich., on Aug. 8 bought Kastner Honda in Napa, north of San Francisco, from William Kastner Jr., Rodger Olson, the group's COO, confirmed to Automotive News in an email. The dealership's name remains.

It marks the first acquisition for Victory Automotive since it bought two Ohio dealerships representing four total franchises in June, Olson said.

Meanwhile, Victory Automotive on June 22 sold Ocean Honda of North Hollywood, north of Los Angeles, to partners Joe Shuster and Ted Bessen. That store was renamed Honda North Hollywood.

For Shuster and Bessen, the acquisition is a return to ownership of a Honda dealership.

In July 2020, Shuster, Bessen and a third partner, Sean Wolfington, sold Honda of Downtown Los Angeles to Brandon Steven Motors for $80 million. The trio of partners originally bought the assets of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles out of bankruptcy for $3 million in 2011 and later invested in a new $38-million dealership.

Shuster, who stayed on at Honda of Downtown Los Angeles as dealer principal until May 2021, said the Los Angeles market has been good to him and Bessen.

"We've always loved L.A.," Shuster told Automotive News. "And we've done very well in L.A. And we thought this was a store that was perfect for us. It's in a great market, something we're very, very comfortable with."

Shuster said that he and Bessen, along with a third partner, Carolyn Olavarria, were awarded an Acura open point and will be opening Acura of Los Angeles in the fourth quarter. Shuster added that he and Bessen also are set to purchase a New York dealership "very shortly," though he didn't offer specifics.

Bessen also owns three dealerships in New York, Shuster said.

The North Hollywood transaction was the latest sale by Victory Automotive this year. In two separate May transactions, it sold a Honda store in Alabama and a Honda dealership in New York.

Bill Scrivner and Mike Sims of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions, a Frisco, Texas, buy-sell firm, handled the North Hollywood transaction.

Victory Automotive ranks No. 14 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 36,958 new vehicles in 2021.

Son becomes majority owner of family's Toyota dealership

After more than a decade working with his father, Shawn Vaughan on Jan. 1 purchased a majority interest in the Texas Toyota dealership that Vic Vaughan opened in 2008.

The younger Vaughan said he had been working for an automotive advertising firm when he joined his father working at Vic Vaughan Toyota in Boerne, north of San Antonio, just before the Great Recession. Shawn Vaughan worked in a variety of roles, from business development center call center agent and finance and insurance manager to used-car director, general sales manager and general manager.

"We decided that it was time for me to step forward and purchase a majority stake in the store," Shawn Vaughan, CEO of Vaughan Automotive and an Automotive News' 40 Under 40 honoree in 2016, said in an interview.

Vic Vaughan retained an undisclosed ownership stake in the dealership. He is now an adviser and founder emeritus.

The Toyota store has grown to sell about 700 new and used vehicles combined annually and wasn't built for that kind of volume, Shawn Vaughan said.

"We are investing in a new state-of-the art facility to meet the needs of our community moving forward," said Shawn Vaughan, adding that construction could start in the first quarter of next year.

In addition to the Toyota store in Boerne, Vaughan Automotive in 2021 bought Mike Calvert Toyota in Houston.
Shawn Vaughan said he is "very active in M&A" and is open to adding dealerships selling other brands.

Tiller buys North Carolina dealership

Bryan Tiller of Tiller Automotive Holdings has purchased a Chevrolet dealership in Murphy, N.C., according to a dealership broker and a local news report.

Partners Jacky Jones and Jon Fullerton sold the store in late April to Tiller after operating it for more 26 years, according to the Cherokee Scout newspaper.

Tiller told the newspaper his partner for the store is Adam Crane, who was his general manager at another dealership.

The dealership was renamed Valley River Chevrolet. Murphy is in southern North Carolina, near the Georgia border.

Gerrick Wilkins of Dealer Support Network, a buy-sell firm with locations in Winnsboro, Texas, and Leeds, Ala., said he represented the buyer in the transaction. Andy Gill of Gill Automotive Group, a sell-side firm in St. Augustine, Fla., said he represented the seller.