Ken Ganley Automotive Group expanded again in 2025 with the purchase of two Lexus dealerships in northeast Ohio, an acquisition the group’s CEO described as one of its most significant yet.
The private dealership group on Aug. 25 purchased Metro Lexus in Cleveland and Lexus of Akron-Canton in Akron, Ohio. They were sold by Friedkin Group, of Houston, Ken Ganley Automotive CEO Ken Ganley told Automotive News.
Ganley said the acquisition is its most expensive to date, though he declined to provide the transaction amount.
Owning a Lexus dealership was a longtime goal for Ganley, who has been a Toyota dealer since 1995.
“When you’re a Toyota dealer that long, you always sort of dream of being a Lexus dealer,” Ganley said. “It’s a brand that I have always wanted and for it to be in our backyard makes it even more special.”
Metro Lexus will be renamed Lexus of Cleveland. Lexus of Akron-Canton will keep its name, he said.
Proximity was a major factor in the deal, Ganley said. The Lexus stores are close to his group’s headquarters in Broadview Heights, Ohio, and some of the group’s existing dealerships are within 10 miles of new luxury stores.
“We were approached and we knew that there was a lot of interest nationwide, but I think we were the right buyer for the stores … because of [them] being in our hometown and again, I’ve wanted them for a very long time,” Ganley said.
The deal for the Lexus dealership follows Ganley’s purchases of several other dealerships this year. Most recently, Ganley on July 2 purchased Sarchione Chevrolet of Randolph and Sarchione Chevrolet of Garrettsville, also in Ohio. The stores were the final part of a three-legged deal.
Ken Ganley Automotive ranks No. 18 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 38,936 new vehicles in 2024. The retailer owns about 60 dealerships in multiple states.
Kerrigan Advisors, a dealership sell-side firm in Incline Village, Nev., represented the sellers in the deal.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of more than 300 dealerships generating more than $9.5 billion in client proceeds, including two of the largest transactions in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group and Leith Automotive to Holman. The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, Kerrigan Advisors is the only firm in auto retail exclusively dedicated to sell-side advisory, providing its clients the assurance of a conflict-free approach.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, the industry authority on dealership buy/sell market trends and valuations and includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases The Kerrigan Index™ comprised of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2025 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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