Jim Butler Auto Group, Faulkner Automotive Group, Horne Auto Group and Coughlin Automotive Group have each expanded their dealer portfolios with acquisitions in late Q4 2021 or early January 2022.
Here is an overview of agreements involving domestic, imported and luxury brand dealerships.
Missouri Growth
Jim Butler Auto Group expanded its reach in Missouri with the acquisition of a Ford-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership.
Jim Butler Auto, through a subsidiary, purchased Auffenberg Motor Co. of Mexico, Mo., from Chris Auffenberg on Thursday.
This is the first Ford dealership and the second Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership for Jim Butler Auto of Fenton, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.
However, Jim Butler Auto is not keeping the dealership in its current location.
The group moved the franchises to a single temporary facility next to Jim Butler Centralia Chevrolet in Centralia, Missouri, about a 20-minute drive west of Mexico.
Jim Butler Auto President Brad Sowers said the group acquired the Chevrolet dealership in February and purchased 12 acres surrounding the store.
The group plans to invest approximately $3 million to build a Ford dealership, a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership and an expanded service facility on this land. The dealerships will be called Jim Butler Centralia Ford and Jim Butler Centralia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram.
The group aims to complete the construction project in 2024.
Don Day, co-owner of subsidiary Linn Powerhouse Holdings, which bought the Ford-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store, also has a stake in other stores. These include Jim Butler Centralia Chevrolet, Jim Butler Chevrolet Linn and Jim Butler Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Linn, both of Linn, Mo., Sowers said.
“We had great success with CDJR at the Linn site and wanted to expand our presence with Stellantis,” Sowers said. Automotive News. “We appreciate the relationship and it’s been very successful for us. We don’t have a Ford franchise, so this is the first opportunity for us to grow there.”
In addition to the two upcoming concessions, Jim Butler Auto has seven other rooftops, plus a used-only dealership, all in Missouri.
Sowers, former Co-Chair of the Chevrolet Dealer Council, is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Maserati Dealer Council and president of the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association, he said.
Sowers is one of 47 dealerships nominated for the 2022 Time Dealer of the Year award.
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