Nielsen Automotive adds two stores in N.J.
Nielsen Automotive Group, of East Hanover, N.J., led by owner and dealer principal Eric Nielsen, added its ninth and 10th new-car dealerships with the August purchase of two stores in Morristown, N.J., west of Newark.
The additions, purchased Aug. 15, are Beyer Ford and Beyer Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, sold by Beyer Family Automotive Group.
The dealerships were renamed Nielsen Ford of Morristown and Nielsen Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Morristown, according to broker Stuart Lasser of Lasser Advisory Services in Morristown. Lasser said he represented the seller in the transaction but worked closely with both parties.
As part of the transaction, Nielsen Automotive also purchased a commercial truck operation in East Hanover, N.J. The fleet business specializes in vehicle sales to state and local governments, such as police cars and trucks for public works departments.
For Eric Nielsen, the Morristown market is familiar territory. All of his group’s dealerships are in New Jersey.
“The dealerships are in my operating area — in my backyard, basically,” Nielsen said in a phone interview. “I have both brands already, in other dealerships. They are very familiar, and I like the Stellantis brands and the Ford brand.”
Those include a Ford dealership in Sussex and Stellantis stores in Rockaway, Sussex and East Hanover. Other franchises in the group include Chevrolet, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Nissan. The group also owns a used-vehicle store in Wharton and a service center in Dover.
Nielsen said he’s looking forward to growing the fleet business.
“It’s a very good business, and we’ve got people who have been doing it for 15 or 20 years, some of them,” he said of the staff he inherited with the fleet operation. “They’ve really got it figured out. For example, they do service at night because the trucks are in such demand during the workday.”
The Beyer group continues to operate a GMC dealership in Fairview, N.J., according to its website.
McDonald buys Chevrolet-Buick dealership in Michigan
Bill McDonald of McDonald Auto Group in early August purchased Dave Hall Inc., a Chevrolet-Buick dealership in Marlette, Mich., from Mike Hall.
McDonald renamed the store McDonald Chevrolet-Buick. Marlette is north of Detroit in Michigan’s Thumb region. The Sanilac County News reported the sale.
McDonald has other dealerships in Michigan: McDonald Chevrolet in Millington, McDonald Cadillac-GMC and McDonald Kia in Saginaw, and McDonald Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Clare.
Bill’s father, Tom, founded the group in 1980, according to the Sanilac County News, while the Dave Hall store, named for Mike’s father and which sold General Motors vehicles, opened in 1972. The newspaper said Mike Hall bought the business from his father in 2014.