Asbury Automotive Group Inc. has sold one of two Lexus dealerships it told Automotive News it would need to divest after 2021 acquisitions pushed its store count for the luxury brand beyond framework limits.
Gurley Leep Automotive Family, of Mishawaka, Ind., on Feb. 14 bought Plaza Lexus in Creve Coeur, Mo., west of St. Louis, the group said in a statement.
The group renamed the dealership Spirit Lexus.
“We are excited to add our second Lexus franchise to the Gurley Leep Family,” Mike Leep Jr., president of Gurley Leep Automotive, said in a statement. “We plan on bringing our family values of world class service and community philanthropy to greater St. Louis.”
Asbury had owned the Lexus dealership since the late 1990s. It continues to own and operate several stores in Creve Coeur including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar-Land Rover, BMW and Infiniti dealerships.
“St. Louis is an important market for Asbury and we have a strong connection to the community,” Asbury CEO David Hult said in the statement.
In December, Hult told Automotive News that the group would need to sell two Lexus stores because of its acquisitions that month of Stevinson Automotive and Larry H. Miller Dealerships, which combined had five Lexus dealerships. With those acquisitions, Asbury grew to 10 Lexus dealerships; high-performing dealership groups are allowed up to eight Lexus stores nationally under framework agreements, Hult said.
An Asbury spokeswoman on Wednesday declined to comment on the status of the other planned Lexus dealership sale.
Gurley Leep said it now has 21 dealerships in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Illinois.
In June, it bought Dave Wright Honda in Marshalltown, Iowa. That store is planned to relocate about an hour’s drive southwest to Altoona, Iowa, where Gurley Leep will build a 30,000-square-foot dealership and name it Honda of Altoona. The store’s inventory and parts have been temporarily moved to the group’s Smart Honda store in Des Moines, Iowa.
Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., ranks No. 6 on Automotive News‘ most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 95,165 new vehicles in 2020. Asbury has estimated that incorporating Larry H. Miller and its other 2021 dealership acquisitions would make it the fourth-largest new-vehicle retailer when measured by pro forma annualized revenue.