Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, is south of Birmingham.
Jerry Mullinax said the group’s most recent acquisition was in 2019, but the group had been actively looking.
He said the strategy for the group, which mostly consists of Ford dealerships, has been to focus on that brand, as well as Hyundai.
“But then I saw the Buick, GMC and Cadillac store and I thought that looked like an opportunity,” Mullinax told Automotive News. “In most of those franchises, you’ve got to drive 50 minutes to get to the closest competitor.”
In addition, Hyundai Motor Co. has a vehicle production plant in Montgomery, which was attractive for Mullinax.
“You’ve got a lot of people that work for the factory that would have a higher tendency to buy the product,” he said.
Mullinax Automotive was founded by the late Ed Mullinax, Jerry Mullinax’s father. In 1996, the Mullinax group sold its dealerships to Republic Industries Inc., which later became AutoNation Inc.
Mullinax Automotive ranks No. 81 on Automotive News‘ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 11,110 new vehicles in 2022. Sonic, of Charlotte, N.C., ranks No. 6 on that list with sales of 101,168 new vehicles in 2022.