Dealerships acquired in Calif., Ga.

Four dealership groups have expanded in separate transactions this month and in the second and third quarters of the year.

Three of the deals were for stores in California.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import dealerships. One transaction involved a group ranked in Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups.

Victory Automotive growth

Growing Victory Automotive Group expanded its California footprint with the purchase of Albany Subaru in the San Francisco Bay area.

Victory Automotive, of Canton, Mich., bought the dealership on Nov. 15 from John Nakamura and Laurie Bush, according to Performance Brokerage Services, an Irvine, Calif., buy-sell firm that handled the transaction.

It marks the second Subaru franchise for Victory Automotive, with its other Subaru store in Fullerton, Calif., and the group's 45th dealership location.

In August, Victory Automotive bought Murfreesboro Volkswagen in Tennessee from Hudson Automotive Group.

Victory Automotive ranks No. 15 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 35,035 new vehicles in 2020.

Dealer Brandon Steven bought his second and third dealerships in California last week with the purchase of Harbor Chevrolet and Harbor Hyundai in Long Beach.

Steven, president of Brandon Steven Motors in Wichita, Kan., bought the stores Nov. 15 from dealer Randy Johnson. The family business dates back to 1923 and Harbor Chevrolet will soon celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Terms weren't disclosed, but the dealership names will remain.

Steven in July 2020 bought Honda of Downtown Los Angeles for $80 million.

"I'm only expanding in the Los Angeles area right now. I'm done expanding in Kansas," Steven told Automotive News. "I'm talking to as many people as I can."

Steven, who owns several other dealerships in Kansas and Missouri, said he is retaining nearly all the staff at the two dealerships. He said he plans to build two new facilities and wants to "double and triple the sales pretty quick."

Mike Sims of Pinnacle Mergers and Acquisitions, a Frisco, Texas, buy-sell firm, handled the transaction.

Putnam Automotive Dealer Group of Burlingame, Calif., added Honda to its growing portfolio of brands in mid August when it purchased Primo Honda in San Carlos, Calif.

The transaction closed Aug. 18 after the owners of Primo Honda sold the dealership's property to a real estate development company which plans to construct a large life sciences building on the site, said Andrey Kamenetsky, Putnam's group operations manager, in an email to Automotive News.

San Carlos is about 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Putnam will move the store, renamed Honda of San Carlos, less than a mile away in San Carlos effective Dec. 1, Kamenetsky said. The store will operate out of modular buildings while a new facility is built, he said.

"We had to (quickly) find a suitable replacement property in the same city in a tight real estate market and found a similar two-plus acre site less than a mile away from the current location that met Honda's market requirements," Kamenetsky said in the email.

Primo Honda sellers were the dealership's general manager David Meese and partner Jeff Qvale, said Mike Toth, a partner in Haig Partners, a buy-sell firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which represented the sellers in the transaction.

Putnam is a family-owned and operated dealership group dating to 1965 when Joe Putnam opened a Buick dealership in Burlingame. Putnam sells 20 vehicle brands from more than a dozen dealerships and also operates a service-only Subaru location in San Francisco, according to its website.

Griffin Auto Group in June added a second Stellantis store when it bought Cass Burch Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Valdosta, Ga.

Griffin during the week of June 7 bought the store from Cass Burch, said Toth of Haig Partners, which represented the seller in the transaction.

The dealership was renamed Griffin Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Valdosta. Valdosta is in southern Georgia.

Griffin Auto, celebrating its 35th year in business, also has a Chevrolet dealership in Sylvester, Ga., and Ford-Lincoln and Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealerships in Tifton, Ga., according to its website.

Cass Burch Automotive Group operates Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Chevrolet stores in Quitman, Ga., according to its website.