I sometimes get asked, “How can I become a dealership owner if I don’t have that much experience in the new car retail business?” Usually I am not too optimistic. But one story this week shows that it is possible.
Todd Blue, founder of IndiGO Auto Group in Houston, has grown his group from one to 12 luxury franchises in just 15 years. He didn’t have any new car retail experience when he acquired his first Porsche dealership in 2010. That’s not to say Blue didn’t have relevant experience, of course. And he had a passion for Porsches.
It wasn’t as big, or as industry-rocking, as the news that Warren Buffett was buying Van Tuyl, but AutoNation’s announcement last week that it was acquiring 16 stores representing $600 million in revenue was still pretty big. Both the groups that AutoNation acquired were family-owned.
Is this just one more nail in the coffin of the family-owned dealership group business model? While scale and resources such as those an AutoNation offers are becoming more important in today’s dealership world, family-owned groups are still going strong in the buy/sell world as the hunters, not just the prey, my industry sources tell me.
Of course y’all will also check out the latest Transaction News.
Enjoy!
