A top 150 dealership group bought its first two stores in Illinois in August, while a luxury auto retailer acquired a Porsche store in Colorado and opened a new location with the premium brand, both in the second quarter.
See here two transactions involving import and luxury dealerships.
Morrie’s Auto Group on August 28 purchased Mike Miller Hyundai and Mike Miller Kia, both part of Mike Miller Auto Park. campus in Peoria, Illinois, by Mike Miller.
The group did not acquire the Genesis and Mitsubishi dealerships in the car park. These stores are now closed.
Morrie’s Auto of Minnetonka, Minn., entered Illinois with the acquisition. It also has dealerships in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Morrie’s Auto will retain the store names and Mike Miller staff, and Mike Miller will continue to work at both dealerships.
“Mike himself is a huge part of the Peoria community and has built his stores on honesty, integrity and treating customers well, which also aligns with the overall Morrie’s values,” said Brant Schmitz, vice president of marketing for Morrie’s Auto.
This is not the first acquisition of the year for Morrie’s Auto. The group acquired Chilson Motors in January, which gave Morrie’s three dealerships in the Eau Claire, Wisconsin market: Morrie’s Eau Claire Subaru Chippewa Falls, Morrie’s Chippewa Falls Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Morrie’s Cadott Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram.
Schmitz said Morrie’s Auto has no other acquisitions planned, but is looking for “well-established dealership groups in the Midwest that have strong management and strong brands.”
Morrie’s Auto is ranked 76th on Automotive News’ list of the 150 largest U.S. dealership groups, selling 14,319 new vehicles in 2023.
Luxury dealership specialist indiGO Auto Group in Houston now has eight Porsche stores in the U.S., after acquiring one in Colorado and opening a new location in Arkansas.
The group acquired Ed Carroll Porsche in Fort Collins, northern Colorado, on April 30. It has been renamed Porsche Fort Collins and is indiGO’s first dealership in Colorado.
The selling dealer was John Carroll. He continues to operate Volkswagen and Audi stores on the same Fort Collins campus as Porsche Fort Collins. The new owner plans to relocate the Porsche store elsewhere in Fort Collins.
Carroll is the son of founding dealer, the late Ed Carroll, who founded Ed Carroll Motor Co. in 1967.
The Colorado store was Porsche Store No. 7 for indiGO. No. 8 is Porsche Little Rock, an open location that is the only Porsche dealership in Arkansas, according to Porsche Cars North America. That store opened on June 17.
It is one of the largest Porsche dealerships in the USA.
Porsche Cars North America spokeswoman Jennifer Pifer Bixler told Automotive News in an email that Penske Automotive Group Inc. owns the most Porsche franchises in the U.S., with nine, though it actually has 10 locations, as one of them is a satellite location.
There are 201 Porsche dealerships in the U.S., the company said. That’s more than the 198 franchises on Jan. 1 that Automotive News counted in its annual Dealer Census.
The indiGO group has dealerships in five states. In addition to Porsche, its brand mix includes Audi, Volkswagen, Bentley, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Jaguar, McLaren, BMW, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Rimac and Ferrari.
IndiGO Auto is wholly owned by Pon Holdings, a Dutch mobility and transportation conglomerate that distributes and sells most of the Volkswagen Group brands in the country.