Increasing Morgan Automotive Team of Tampa, Fla., acquired two Florida Kia dealerships from LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. past 7 days and bought a Florida Stellantis keep in a separate, unrelated November transaction.
It marks the third dealership sale introduced by modest automobile retailer LMP in three months. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., firm stated in a Monday news release that it is under contract to market two far more dealerships and is advertising and marketing its two remaining franchised suppliers.
The deal for Kia of Cape Coral and Kia of Port Charlotte shut on Dec. 15, according to Morgan Automotive CEO Brett Morgan. The dealerships’ names stay, he reported.
“That was variety of third time’s the appeal striving to get these shops simply because we bid on them when Fuccillo [Automotive Group] was marketing,” Brett Morgan instructed Automotive Information, referring to when LMP acquired the dealerships in March 2021. And he claimed his team was intrigued when LMP introduced the Kia suppliers to sector this calendar year.
LMP was set to offer the two Kia Florida dealerships and 4 other West Virginia merchants to Atlantic Coastline Automotive Team. On the other hand, in October, LMP mentioned that deal had been terminated by the buyer.
“We ended up happy to be in a position to have another chance to obtain those people two dealerships,” Morgan mentioned of the Kia outlets. “We really like Kia and like people two markets.”
The acquisition provides to Morgan Automotive’s footprint in Southwest Florida. “It is a increasing current market in Florida,” Brett Morgan stated.
The Kia dealership acquisitions are the most recent acquire by Morgan Automotive in a active 12 months.
Last thirty day period, the team purchased Tallahassee Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram, which also marketed Fiat motor vehicles. Brett Morgan said it marks his group’s first retail store in Tallahassee, Florida’s funds.
Morgan Automotive acquired the retail outlet on Nov. 11 from seller Ken Marks, Brett Morgan explained. The dealership was renamed Tallahassee Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat.
The Tallahassee acquisition was the to start with because August when Morgan Automotive bought three dealerships in Sarasota, Fla. In June, Morgan Automotive purchased Ford of Clermont and offered its Genesis of Fort Myers dealership, the two in Florida. In May, Morgan Automotive bought Fuccillo Kia of Clermont, as well as two domestic-branded dealerships in Tampa.
Morgan Automotive does not have any other acquisitions less than contract, however Brett Morgan indicated he expects his group will be in the hunt for much more in 2023.
“We are nonetheless a quite acquisitive firm,” he stated. “The reality is it’ll possibly look a lot like this calendar year and the calendar year prior. But tough to perform crystal ball. If the suitable opportunities are out there, we’ll do as significantly as we have the ability to receive.”
Brett Morgan mentioned the group continues to be bullish on Florida, the only state it has dealerships in.
“We are not searching any where else,” Brett Morgan reported of other states. “But we are open-minded individuals.”
Morgan Automotive now has 61 franchised dealerships. The group wound down operations of a employed-vehicle retailer in Lake Metropolis, Fla., this month, Brett Morgan added.
Morgan Automotive ranks No. 8 on Automotive News‘ checklist of the top 150 dealership teams dependent in the U.S., retailing 60,951 new cars in 2021.
