Gilchrist Automotive on Sept. 26 acquired its first Oklahoma dealership by purchasing Toyota of Lawton as the group also returned to the Toyota brand after more than two decades.
The dealership, now named SouthWest Toyota of Lawton, also marks the Gilchrist group’s first dealership outside of Texas, said Stephen Gilchrist, the group’s co-owner and dealer operator. The seller was Orr Auto Group, Gilchrist said. Lawton is southwest of Oklahoma City.
Gilchrist said his group has looked at expanding to nearby states amid a lack of acquisition options in the Dallas-Fort Worth-area, where the group is based, and the high dealership prices in Texas, where its other dealerships are located.
The group’s expansion outside of northern Texas began this year after it bought two central Texas dealerships in Gatesville in February. Gilchrist Automotive also in June sold its Parkway Buick-GMC dealership in Sherman, Texas, north of Dallas, to Vanguard Automotive Group.
Justin Rogers, who previously managed that store, will be the Oklahoma dealership’s new general manager, Gilchrist said, adding most existing staff there were retained.
The group also had an interest in owning a Toyota store again, Gilchrist said. Gilchrist Automotive hasn’t owned a Toyota dealership since it sold its Weatherford, Texas, store in 1999, Gilchrist said.
Toyota Motor Corp. CEO Akio Toyoda’s skepticism of U.S. EV sales targets also encouraged Gilchrist Automotive to partner with the Toyota brand, he said. Gilchrist said he agrees with Toyoda’s opinion that hybrid vehicles may be the most realistic way to reduce carbon emissions in the near future.
Toyota’s continued investment in internal combustion engines is important, “especially when you’re in places like Texas and Oklahoma where we still drive a lot of trucks and big SUVs,” Gilchrist told Automotive News.
“We’re starting to see more interest in EVs, [but] it’s not like we can flip a switch tomorrow and everybody’s going to want to buy an EV,” Gilchrist added.
Gilchrist Automotive, of Hudson Oaks, Texas, ranks No. 112 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 8,766 new vehicles in 2021.
Dealership buy-sell firm Hicks Management & Consulting Group Inc. in Arlington, Texas, represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction.
Chantz Scott buys Kia dealership, sells two Stellantis stores
The Chantz Scott Auto Group acquired its second Kia dealership, the former Grindstaff Kia in Johnson City, Tenn.
Chantz Scott Auto bought the dealership July 26 from Steve Grindstaff. It was renamed Kia of Johnson City.
“I wanted to buy this Kia store because this is where I started selling cars back in 2004,” Chantz Scott, CEO of his namesake auto group, told Automotive News in an email. “We already have an existing footprint with Chantz Scott Kia, located in Kingsport, Tenn.”
Scott said he also sold both of his Stellantis dealerships this year.
He said he sold Auto World of Big Stone Gap, a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store in Big Stone Gap, Va., which he acquired in 2016, to Gavin Harbolt on May 13. That store was renamed My Town Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram.
Harbolt, who has a used pickup truck and RV dealership in South Point, Ohio, said this is his first franchised dealership. He said he partnered on the purchase with Scott Reed and Dr. John Pappas, both from Lexington, Ky.
Harbolt told Automotive News that he is also under contract to buy a Chevrolet dealership in Tennessee and wants to acquire 10 new-car stores in five years.
Scott, an Automotive News 40 Under 40 award winner in 2017, was set to sell his Stellantis dealership in Tennessee to LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. LMP Automotive said in August 2021 that it planned to spend $5 million to buy the dealership, fixtures, furniture and equipment, but that deal was terminated in February.
Scott said he sold that dealership July 6.
That dealership was renamed Carville Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram. Carl Reinhart told Automotive News that he is the new owner of the dealership after he was general manager since March 2020.
In December, ZT Motors, a unit of ZT Corporate, bought Grindstaff Ford and Grindstaff Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Elizabethton, Tenn., from Grindstaff.
