Eide Automotive Group adds Ford, Kia dealerships
Eide Automotive Group on Aug. 1 acquired Bill Barth Kia and Bill Barth Ford in Mandan, N.D., from Bill Barth Automotive Group.
The dealerships were renamed Eide Ford Mandan and Eide Kia Mandan. Mandan is west of Bismarck, N.D.
Jesse Peterson, the group’s CEO and dealer principal of Eide Ford Mandan, said the acquisition allowed Eide Automotive to buy out its Ford competition in the Bismarck-Mandan market and pick up an up-and-coming brand in Kia.
“There was two Ford dealerships and they were one and we were the other one,” Peterson, a 2018 Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree, told Automotive News. “We were able to pick up the other Ford dealer and that was a big deal to us — to be able to expand our footprint here.”
With the addition of the two stores, Eide Automotive is up to six stores, including two Ford stores, three Stellantis stores and one Kia dealership in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Bill Barth Automotive, meanwhile, is out of the business, Peterson said.
Since taking over the stores in August, Eide Automotive has completed some minimal physical upgrades. The biggest changes, Peterson said, come in the form of increased staff.
“We were able to retain all the employees that wanted to stay,” Peterson said. “We added a few to forecast for future growth.”
Ken Garff Automotive Group expands in Arizona
Ken Garff Automotive Group on Dec. 12 added two more dealerships in Arizona when it bought two import brand stores from Earnhardt Auto Centers.
The former Earnhardt Volkswagen in Gilbert and Rodeo Kia in Avondale were renamed Ken Garff Volkswagen Gilbert and Ken Garff Kia Avondale, according to Megan Maybee, a company spokeswoman.
“Arizona is a strong market for us and opening two dealerships at once brings the Ken Garff level of service to even more car shoppers,” Ken Garff CEO Brett Hopkins said in a statement.
The Ken Garff group of Salt Lake City ranks No. 9 on Automotive News’ most recent list of the 150 top dealership groups in the U.S., retailing 58,787 new vehicles in 2021. Earnhardt Auto Centers of Chandler, Ariz., ranks No. 18 on that same list, retailing of 30,221 new vehicles in 2021.
Ken Garff now has more than 50 dealerships in eight states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Texas, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming, Maybee told Automotive News.
The group has been both a buyer and seller in recent months. Ken Garff sold a Honda store in Reseda, Calif., to Brandon Steven Motors on Oct. 3, and the group exited Michigan in July when it divested a Cadillac store in Novi, as well as Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram stores in Southfield and Taylor to Fox Motors of Grand Rapids.
On June 21, Ken Garff purchased Nate Wade Subaru in Salt Lake City from Kirk Schneider. The group also purchased its first two Arizona dealerships from family-run Earnhardt Auto in August and September 2021.
Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented Earnhardt Auto in the sales to Ken Garff.
Kerrigan Advisors also represented Earnhardt Auto in its Feb. 28 sale of Earnhardt Buick-GMC Las Vegas and Earnhardt Mazda Las Vegas in Nevada to Jerry Seiner Dealerships, which marked Earnhardt’s exit from the state, Kerrigan Advisors confirmed.
