Stellantis, Ford and GM dealerships acquired in 4 transactions

Four dealership groups bought domestic-brand stores in second-quarter and third-quarter transactions.

Here’s a look at the deals involving dealerships in Delaware, Ohio, New Jersey and Michigan. One of the deals involved a group ranked on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S.

I.g. Burton adds another Stellantis dealership

Charles Burton and MJ Lofland of i.g. Burton Auto Group added another Stellantis store to the retailer’s portfolio Aug. 17, purchasing Newark Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Delaware from father-son owners Gary Hendrixson Sr. and Gary Hendrixson Jr.

The store was renamed i.g. Burton Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Newark.

Charles Burton is the group’s president and owner. Lofland told Automotive News the purchase brings his group to 10 new-car dealerships, all in Delaware and eastern Maryland: four General Motors, four Stellantis, one Mercedes-Benz and one BMW dealership.

The group also owns a pair of Blue Bird school bus stores, Lofland said.

The Stellantis store was the Hendrixsons’ only new-car dealership, Lofland said. After decades in the business, they believed it was time to step away, according to Lofland.

“I think they were just ready to get out,” Lofland said. They were “legacy dealers — they had operated the business for over 40 years.”

I.g. Burton thought the store would fit nicely into its portfolio, Lofland said.

“We’re certainly circling the wagon looking for opportunities, and we really like the Stellantis brand,” he said. “It’s within our market, and we feel really, really good about the Stellantis product.”

Lofland also said acquiring new dealerships provides promotional opportunities for his staff, something the group values in its culture.

“We really look to grow from within, and we’re buying more stores to provide opportunities for our current staff and give them a platform for growth,” Lofland said.

Gershon Rosenzweig and Matt Wilkins of the Northeast region of Performance Brokerage Services, an Irvine, Calif., buy-sell firm, facilitated the transaction.

SVG Motors expands in Ohio

SVG Motors Auto Group on June 13 grew its domestic-brand dealership count, purchasing Springfield Buick-GMC in Ohio from Kenwood Dealer Group Inc.

The dealership was renamed SVG Springfield Buick-GMC and brings SVG Motors to six new-car stores: four General Motors, one Stellantis and one Toyota, according to its website. All of the stores are within the greater Dayton, Ohio, area.

The group also operates two used-car lots, said Scott Lozan, general sales manager at SVG Springfield Buick-GMC.

Robert McClurkin, director of operations for SVG Motors, told Automotive News that the group wanted to buy the Buick-GMC dealership to both impact the Springfield community and keep an “iconic” dealership running.

“It’s been a landmark for many years,” McClurkin said.

Keeping SVG Motors local to the Dayton area is a core tenant for the group, McClurkin said. And expanding into Springfield, about 25 miles northeast of the city, made perfect sense and aligned with President Steve VanGorder’s vision, McClurkin said. VanGorder was an Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree in 2013.

“We wanted to have dealerships that surround the Dayton area,” McClurkin said. “Steve’s mission has always been Dayton strong.”

Kenwood, of Mason, Ohio, now has 14 stores, according to its website. The group ranked No. 74 on Automotive News’ list of top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 13,434 new vehicles in 2021.

Nielsen Automotive adds two stores in N.J.

Nielsen Automotive Group, of East Hanover, N.J., led by owner and dealer principal Eric Nielsen, added its ninth and 10th new-car dealerships with the August purchase of two stores in Morristown, N.J., west of Newark.

The additions, purchased Aug. 15, are Beyer Ford and Beyer Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, sold by Beyer Family Automotive Group.

The dealerships were renamed Nielsen Ford of Morristown and Nielsen Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Morristown, according to broker Stuart Lasser of Lasser Advisory Services in Morristown. Lasser said he represented the seller in the transaction but worked closely with both parties.

As part of the transaction, Nielsen Automotive also purchased a commercial truck operation in East Hanover, N.J. The fleet business specializes in vehicle sales to state and local governments, such as police cars and trucks for public works departments.

For Eric Nielsen, the Morristown market is familiar territory. All of his group’s dealerships are in New Jersey.

“The dealerships are in my operating area — in my backyard, basically,” Nielsen said in a phone interview. “I have both brands already, in other dealerships. They are very familiar, and I like the Stellantis brands and the Ford brand.”

Those include a Ford dealership in Sussex and Stellantis stores in Rockaway, Sussex and East Hanover. Other franchises in the group include Chevrolet, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Nissan. The group also owns a used-vehicle store in Wharton and a service center in Dover.

Nielsen said he’s looking forward to growing the fleet business.

“It’s a very good business, and we’ve got people who have been doing it for 15 or 20 years, some of them,” he said of the staff he inherited with the fleet operation. “They’ve really got it figured out. For example, they do service at night because the trucks are in such demand during the workday.”

The Beyer group continues to operate a GMC dealership in Fairview, N.J., according to its website.

McDonald buys Chevrolet-Buick dealership in Michigan

Bill McDonald of McDonald Auto Group in early August purchased Dave Hall Inc., a Chevrolet-Buick dealership in Marlette, Mich., from Mike Hall.

McDonald renamed the store McDonald Chevrolet-Buick. Marlette is north of Detroit in Michigan’s Thumb region. The Sanilac County News reported the sale.

McDonald has other dealerships in Michigan: McDonald Chevrolet in Millington, McDonald Cadillac-GMC and McDonald Kia in Saginaw, and McDonald Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Clare.

Bill’s father, Tom, founded the group in 1980, according to the Sanilac County News, while the Dave Hall store, named for Mike’s father and which sold General Motors vehicles, opened in 1972. The newspaper said Mike Hall bought the business from his father in 2014.