Quick-growing Umansky Automotive Group of Memphis, Tenn., has entered California with the acquisition of 5 dealerships representing six manufacturers within the San Francisco Bay space.

Umansky Automotive purchased Porsche Livermore, Jaguar-Land Rover Livermore, Audi Livermore, Livermore Honda and Livermore Subaru, all in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday from Qvale Automotive Group. Livermore is southeast of San Francisco.

“This strategic acquisition of robust manufacturers and important quantity is the perfect method for us to enter the California market,” Dan Umansky, proprietor of Umansky Automotive Group, stated in a press release.

Umansky Automotive was based in 2013 with one dealership, Acura of Memphis. The group shortly expanded to Mississippi, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia. It now has 1,300 workers at 25 areas.

Its shops additionally characterize the Alfa Romeo, BMW, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Genesis manufacturers.

“We develop our expertise from inside,” Umansky instructed Automotive Information. “Now we have lots of people on our bench. We’re positively within the enlargement mode.”

The group has lengthy sought dealerships in California, Umansky stated. The state stays a spot of curiosity for future acquisitions, he stated, whereas additionally noting that Umansky Automotive will look anyplace within the nation for enlargement.

“We’re searching for premier manufacturers, simply form of like this acquisition,” Umansky stated.

Whereas Umansky Automotive has simply entered California, Qvale Automotive has exited the Golden State.

“This transaction, whereas bittersweet, marks the sale of our household’s remaining dealerships in California as we consolidate and focus our efforts on our Florida dealerships,” stated Bruce Qvale, president of Qvale Automotive, in a press release.

In March, Qvale Automotive sold Jaguar-Land Rover Stevens Creek in San Jose, Calif., to US Auto Belief, a personal dealership group owned by Edward Glazer of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Final yr, Qvale offered three California dealerships to Swickard Auto Group.

Qvale now has 4 dealerships in Florida: Audi Coral Springs, Audi Fort Lauderdale, Audi Lakeland and Volkswagen Brandon.

The Qvale household has an extended and distinctive historical past within the automotive business because of household patriarch Kjell Qvale.

Qvale, who died in 2013, began importing the MG-TC roadster from England, serving to to launch the U.S. import auto enterprise that turned British Motor Automotive Distributors Ltd. in 1947. He turned the Volkswagen importer for Northern California in 1953 and helped set up Porsche, Audi, Jaguar and Land Rover within the U.S.

Qvale additionally constructed automobiles: the Lotus-powered Jensen-Healey roadster within the Seventies and the Qvale Mangusta sports activities automobile within the late Nineteen Nineties.

Presidio Group, an funding banking and dealership advisory firm, represented Qvale within the Livermore transaction. Umansky Automotive didn’t use a dealer.