Group 1 Automotive buys high-volume Toyota store in Texas

Group 1 Automotive Inc. on Monday acquired Charles Maund Toyota in Austin, Texas, which the vehicle retailer expects will include $435 million in annual income.

Team 1, of Houston, said it renamed the dealership Toyota of North Austin. The sellers were Doug Maund, a son of the dealership’s founder, Charles Maund, and Managing Companion Jim DiMeo, reported Pete DeLongchamps, Group 1’s senior vice president of producer relations, economical providers and community affairs.

Team 1 mentioned the dealership, which is its 16th Toyota store in the U.S., ranks in the leading 20 for Toyota new-vehicle product sales quantity nationally. Group 1 claimed it now has 13 new-motor vehicle franchises in central Texas.

Earl Hesterberg, Team 1’s CEO, reported in a assertion that the auto retailer sees a “good advancement chance” with the Toyota manufacturer and in the Austin.

“The Austin marketplace is leading the way as a dwelling for a lot of huge companies which have been relocating to Texas in modern a long time,” Hesterberg stated in the assertion. “The Austin metro industry has grown by more than 30 percent and included above 500,000 citizens to develop into the nation’s fastest expanding huge metro spot from 2010 to 2020.”

The Toyota acquisition marks the hottest in dealership invest in-sells for Team 1. Final month, it sold Honda and Toyota dealerships in Massachusetts.

The sale of Charles Maund Toyota arrives about three months immediately after federal prosecutors reported a Maund Automotive Team husband or wife, Erik Charles Maund, was indicted on fees of conspiracy to dedicate kidnapping, kidnapping ensuing in death, and carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm “for the duration of and in relation to a crime of violence.”

Maund is alleged to have paid out 3 guys to survey, kidnap and eliminate a Nashville woman and her spouse, according to an indictment unsealed in December. The couple was killed in March 2020, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Workplace for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Last week, Erik Maund pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to federal courtroom documents.

The Austin-American Statesman reported that Erik Maund is a grandson of Charles Maund.

Group 1 ranks No. 4 on Automotive Information‘ most recent list of the top rated 150 dealership teams dependent in the U.S., retailing 140,221 new vehicles in 2020.