Texas Ford dealership changes hands
Susanty Roberts has purchased Sabine River Ford in Orange, Texas, near the Louisiana border, from dealer Ross Smith.
The transaction closed on Dec. 9, Ford Motor Co. confirmed, and the dealership was renamed Roberts Ford.
Roberts, along with husband Craig Roberts and Mitchell Roberts, Craig Roberts’ son, most recently managed used-vehicle dealership Arriba Motors in Porter, Texas, according to a Dec. 21 article from the County Record newspaper. Porter is near Houston.
Smith had owned the dealership since 2011 and changed the name from David Self Ford to Sabine River Ford, according to a 2014 story in the County Record.
Oregon dealer adds Ford store
Sami Mohamed, aiming to diversify his brand representation, purchased long-standing Newberg Ford in Oregon this month from Jim Corliss and the estate of John Kerekanich.
It marks Mohamed’s first Ford store and is his second current dealership. He purchased Newberg Ford on Jan. 12, according to Brian Evans, principal of Ozog Consulting Group of Scottsdale, Ariz. The dealership buy-sell firm advised the seller in the transaction.
Mohamed, who is dealer principal of Newberg Ford, also owns AutoTown Buick-GMC in Gladstone, Ore., near Portland. He previously owned a Mazda dealership that he sold in 2013, Mohamed told Automotive News.
Corliss owns Landmark Ford-Lincoln in Tigard, Ore., and has been a Ford dealer for more than 40 years. He and his partner, Kerekanich, were looking to capitalize on the high dealership valuations and had agreed to the sale months before Kerekanich’s death, Evans and Corliss said.
Kerekanich’s date of death is unknown, but he died after a brief illness, according to Evans and Mohamed.
Newberg Ford will retain its name and all 34 employees, Mohamed said.
In 2021, Newberg Ford sold about 600 new vehicles and 300 used vehicles, Evans said.
North Carolina acquisition
Dealership owner Charles Jones sold Brock Motor Co., his Ford store in Trenton, N.C., to two buyers last month.
Christopher Thomas and Thomas Swigart purchased the store, marking their first franchised new-car dealership. The deal closed Dec. 13, and they renamed the dealership Ford of Jones County.
Thomas said that he, Swigart and three others operate used-vehicle-only Byrider stores in Raleigh and Durham, N.C. Trenton is about 100 miles east of Raleigh.
Thomas told Automotive News that he and Swigart saw acquiring the dealership as a more affordable way to step into the franchised dealership space.
“It’s in a part of the state that we think is growing,” Thomas said. “The town that it’s in, although it’s a very rural town, is situated in proximity to several other larger markets, so we think that there was some untapped potential here.”
Jones had concerns about the possibility of the dealership transitioning to someone who would “clean house” from a personnel standpoint, Thomas said.
“He wanted someone who would kind of grow the existing staff and store and stay in town,” Thomas said.
Thomas said he and Swigart plan to do just that. They also plan to brighten up the five-acre property.
“We’re not going to change its footprint, but we’re gonna replace furniture and the carpeting and repaint everything, interior and exterior,” Thomas said. “There are mechanical infrastructure updates that need to be made, newer lifts and things like that.”
Hal Feder of Murphy Business & Financial Corp. in Williamsburg, Va., represented the seller in the transaction.
