In a separate transaction, the Criscuolo family on Monday sold Lexus of Ann Arbor, Spartan Toyota in Lansing and Wolverine Toyota in Dundee to Germain Auto Partnership.
The three stores are Germain Automotive Partnership’s first in Michigan, the group confirmed. Germain Automotive Partnership, of Columbus, Ohio, is owned by Rick Germain and his sons. It is independent of Germain Motor Co., which has three dealerships in Ann Arbor, and is led by Steve Germain, Rick Germain’s brother.
The Spartan Toyota name remains, while the other dealerships were renamed Germain Lexus of Ann Arbor and Germain Toyota of Dundee. Dundee is south of Ann Arbor, near the Ohio border.
Germain Automotive Partnership said it now has 16 dealerships across Ohio, Florida and Michigan. The Michigan acquisitions were the group’s first since it bought a Lincoln store in Florida in December 2021, the company confirmed. In November 2019, Germain Automotive Partnership bought five dealerships in Columbus from Sonic Automotive Inc.
Spartan Auto’s Rosario Criscuolo, a longtime dealer who was dealer principal of the four Michigan stores, died in July at 71.
In 1984, he acquired and became dealer principal of Spartan Toyota in Lansing. In 2008, he added a Toyota dealership in Monroe and operated it there until he relocated it to Dundee in 2019.
Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nevada, represented the Criscuolo family in the transactions.
