Grieco grows in Florida
Grieco Automotive Group expanded in Florida with its purchase of Phil Smith Chevrolet in Lauderhill, according to a Nov. 4 South Florida Business Journal article.
Grieco Automotive bought the dealership from Phil Smith Automotive Group. It paid $17.4 million for the property, according to the report.
The transaction date wasn’t immediately available, but the store was renamed Grieco Chevrolet of Lauderhill, according to a Nov. 9 Facebook post by the dealership.
The dealership, north of Miami and near Fort Lauderdale, is Grieco Automotive’s third Chevrolet store and 13th dealership, according to its website. In addition to Florida, Grieco Automotive has dealerships in California, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Phil Smith Automotive, of Lighthouse Point, Fla., ranks No. 96 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 9,718 new vehicles in 2020.
Ford dealership in St. Helena, Calif., changes hands
A longtime St. Helena, Calif., dealership formerly known as Zumwalt Ford changed hands in a Dec. 13 transaction.
Ron Clark sold the store to Cal Sager. The dealership was renamed Sager Ford.
Sager told Automotive News that employees were retained except for a parts manager who retired. He plans to hire for that position and additional sales employees.
Sager previously worked as general manager of Lithia Ford-Lincoln of Fresno and was a partner in Mercedes-Benz of Fresno, both also in California.
He plans to use the existing Ford dealership — albeit with some renovations.
“There is a lot of work to be done there,” Sager said. “We’re gonna remodel — hopefully this summer.”
Sager said the plan is to spend about $1 million to refresh the dealership’s look. It hasn’t been remodeled in six or seven years, he said.
St. Helena is in Napa Valley.
“I’m hoping by the end of maybe August we’ll have a beautiful facility that belongs in St. Helena,” Sager said.
