After five decades, Valley Motors agrees to a sale

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A family-owned car dealership that’s been a Cockeysville staple for more than 50 years is being sold to the country’s top publicly traded auto dealer.

AutoNation announced Tuesday that it’s purchasing three stores from Valley Motors Auto Group that make up the bulk of the company, which has been in business since 1961.

AutoNation will acquire Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru and Volkswagen from Valley Motors Auto Group. The dealership sold approximately 2,900 new and used vehicles in 2014, a record high. The company is on track this year to sell more cars than ever, said Charles Fenwick Jr., owner and president of Valley Motors Auto Group on Tuesday.

Fenwick said he has known the people at AutoNation for a long time.

“I think it’s a perfect fit for us and all of our associates who are with us,” he said, adding that he will not stay after AutoNation takes over. He stressed that it will be a seamless transition and business will continue as usual.

The Valley Motors Auto Group includes Mercedes-Benz of Hunt Valley, Audi Hunt Valley, Valley Motors Volkswagen of Hunt Valley, and Valley Motors Subaru of Hunt Valley at its Cockeysville location.

The business began as a Volkswagen dealership by Charles Fenwick, Sr., in central Towson as Towson Valley Volkswagen. It later expanded to include Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ford, Oldsmobile, and Subaru along with a pre-owned and certified pre-owned program. After Mercedes-Benz was added in the late 1960’s, Towson Valley Volkswagen expanded to a second campus at 801 N. York Road and later to its current site at 9800 York Road, where the Valley Motors brand was established, according to the company’s LinkedIn page.

The acquisition of two luxury brands is a big deal, according to one official.

“For one location, especially one with Mercedes-Benz and Audi, it’s a big acquisition,” said Peter Kitzmiller, president of the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association, in a phone interview Tuesday.

“If you look at the landscape right now, the strongest franchises tend to be luxury franchises,” he said. “It’s not often Mercedes and Audi dealerships are for sale.”

While large, publicly-traded auto dealers are common in southern states, Kitzmiller said, Maryland still has a lot of locally owned dealerships. The largest dealer is Towson-based MileOne Automotive, which has dealerships across the state.

“We have not had as much public ownership of dealerships in Maryland,” he said, adding that consolidation of new car dealerships is becoming more of trend.

“You’re going to continue to see more consolidation across the nation.”

Even though Valley Motors is doing well, Fenwick said, there’s a case to be made for consolidation.

“Larger outfits have economies of scale working in their favor,” he said.

Other publicly-traded auto dealers include Penske Automotive Group, Group 1 Automotive and CarMax.

The purchase, which also includes 13 stores in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, will bring AutoNation, Inc. an additional $600 million a year in revenue, the company said.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to add 13 stores in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee and 3 stores in the Baltimore, MD / Washington, D.C. market and bring AutoNation’s store count to 253 from Coast to Coast,” said Mike Jackson, AutoNation’s chairman, CEO and president, in a news release.

AutoNation also owns dealerships in Laurel, Baltimore and Timonium.