Ford dealership changes hands in Texas
Lee Mehta on March 9 purchased Energy Country Ford from husband-and-wife team Larry and Patti King, according to Frank O’Donnell, managing partner at Biltmore Automotive Service. O’Donnell represented Mehta in the transaction.
The store, in Port Arthur, Texas, is Mehta’s fourth franchised dealership and his first selling the Ford brand, Mehta told Automotive News.
The dealership was renamed Town & Country Ford. Port Arthur is east of Houston.
Mehta also owns Reliance Chevrolet-Buick-GMC and Reliance Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, both in Bay City, Texas, and Reliance Nissan in Alvin, Texas.
Joe Ozog, president of Ozog Consulting Group in Scottsdale, Ariz., represented the sellers in the Ford transaction.
Urrutia and Team Auto add Nissan store
Tony Urrutia, owner of Team Auto Group, expanded his dealership holdings to three stores when he in December bought a Nissan dealership in Pittsfield, Mass.
Urrutia on Dec. 1 bought Haddad Nissan from Haddad Auto Group, according to George Haddad, dealer principal of Haddad Auto.
The dealership was renamed Nissan of Pittsfield. Pittsfield is in the western part of the state, near the New York border.
“We really liked the area and overall potential of the brand in that market,” Bruce Novicky, COO of Team Auto, wrote in an email to Automotive News. “Our other stores are in more metro areas and we were excited about building a local brand/store.”
Novicky said Team Auto of Hartford, Conn., recruited a general manager who moved to Pittsfield and the company plans to upgrade the facility.
Urrutia’s group also owns Volkswagen of Freehold in New Jersey and Team Mitsubishi Hartford in Connecticut, Novicky said, adding they are looking to grow.
Haddad Auto has two Subaru stores and Hyundai and Toyota outlets in Massachusetts and Vermont, according to its website.
Brothers purchase Iowa dealership
Brothers TJ and Todd Stalker purchased M&M Motors in Creston, Iowa, from retiring owner Jack Davis, according to an April 29, 2022 Creston News Advertiser story.
Both General Motors and Stellantis brands were sold at the M&M location, according to the Creston News Advertiser.
The Buick and GMC lines moved to the brothers’ existing dealership, Stalker Chevrolet in Creston, down the street from M&M Motors. That store was renamed Stalker Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, according to an April 29 Facebook post on the dealership’s page.
The store’s website no longer lists Buick in its name and a salesperson at the store said the dealership no longer sells new Buicks. It’s unclear what happened to the franchise. But GM last year announced a buyout plan for U.S. Buick dealers who don’t want to make investments for the brand’s transition to an all-electric lineup by the end of the decade.
The Stellantis brands acquired in the transaction stayed at the former M&M Motors, now renamed Stalker Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram.
The Stalker brothers had owned the Chevrolet store since 2004, according to the news story. Creston is southwest of Iowa’s capital city Des Moines.
The transaction closed the week of April 24, 2022, according to the Creston News Advertiser.
