The Larry H. Miller Family of Companies makes its first acquisition in California buying Quality Toyota from Bud Gordon in Corona. The new name of the store will be Larry Miller Toyota Corona. The dealership gives Miller, one of the top 10 dealer groups in the country, a foothold in the important southern California market. Bud… Continue Reading
UPDATED — At least ten (updated from eight) cases of manufacturers using the Right of First Refusal since January 2013, including at least three lawsuits, shows dealers wanting to sell their stores and the dealers hoping to acquire need to do their homework up front to know whether it will be an issue. Since we first reported…
Sonic Automotive is announcing more details today of its pre-owned strategy, which will include a national chain of used-car only stores. The initiative’s name will be EchoPark and will be launched in Denver in October. Ultimately, Sonic plans to be in approximately 50 markets, employing a hub-type model, each with a main store that will…
California Superstores have sold two more dealerships in the last month in what appears to be a dismantling of the dealer group. The group, which began in late 2010, once owned as many as 11 dealerships but is down to four. The two most recent sales include Courtesy Chevrolet-Cadillac in San Jose and the Folsom Chrysler…
DealerTrack reported strong second quarter earnings yesterday evening beating estimates on revenue by more than $11 million and earning-per-share by $0.04 giving its stock price a small bump during after-hours trading. Revenue for the quarter came in at $224.8 million — 85% higher than second quarter 2013. DealerTrack executives revised year-end revenue projections from $814.0…
The dealership buy-sell market remained hot in July with 27 confirmed acquisition bringing the total for 2014 to 151 rooftops and 225 brands changing hands. In 2013, 110 dealerships changed owners through July. To download an Excel file of this year’s acquisitions click TBR_July_Buy_Sell_Excel. Chevrolet held onto its lead for the year with 16 acquisitions.…
August 21, 2014 — UPDATED: Cox Enterprises announces Cox Automotive — as TBR predicted more than a week ago. Additionally, Manheim announced an acquisition in Brazil, adding to its global footprint. August 9, 2014 — Recently, there have been some intriguing developments in Atlanta at AutoTrader headquarters. Executive Leadership Earlier this week, AutoTrader.com announced it…
UPDATED — Maus calls off deal to join Peacock and First Team. In the last few months, at least three intriguing dealer groups that are potential big players in the buy/sell market have been created. First Team – Peacock & Maus As fast as we publish, sometimes the news changes — David Maus decided not to join…
August 8, 2014 — TrueCar held its first quarterly earnings call as a public company with analysts yesterday and the results they reported were fairly strong — strong enough to push the stock price to over $15 a share (now down to $14.66 a share), which is significantly up from the $9 a share it…
Confirming rumors that have persisted since April, Gannett Co. announced this morning that it is paying $1.8 billion to its four partners to acquire the portion of Cars.com it does not already own. Cars.com is owned by Classified Ventures, which is a joint venture between Gannett, A.H Belo Corp., Graham Holdings Co., Tribune Media and McClatchy. Gannett…