Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Luxury dealer gets new driver
Hammersley Group, which has 11 dealerships in the region, is selling its assets to a North Carolina-based company.
ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times
Hammersley Group operates several dealerships in the Roanoke Valley, including a Mercedes-Benz and Volvo location on U.S. 220. The franchise is being sold to Crossroads Automotive Group in Raleigh, N.C.
Land Rover is among the luxury brands sold by Hammersley Group, which was founded in the 1930s and purchased by its current owner in 1988. A deal to sell the business will be final by the end of the month.
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A regional luxury auto dealership founded in the 1930s is selling out.
Hammersley Group, a Lynchburg business that owns 11 luxury auto dealerships in central Virginia and the Roanoke Valley, is selling its assets to Crossroads Automotive Group in Raleigh, N.C.
The transaction will be final by the end of the month, said Jim Walker, who has owned the Hammersley Group since 1988.
The auto company's Roanoke Valley dealerships sell Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volvo vehicles. It was founded by Kenneth Hammersley.
By Oct. 1, the name of the former Hammersley dealerships will change to reflect the Crossroads purchase, Walker said.
Last November, Crossroads officials approached Walker about purchasing Hammersley's franchise company. Crossroads operates numerous dealerships in North Carolina and Virginia, selling Ford, Nissan, Infiniti, Chrysler, Lincoln, Mercury, GMC and other vehicles, according to its Web site.
A Crossroads executive was unavailable Tuesday to comment on the pending sale.
Because Hammersley is a franchise company, the Crossroads sale has taken almost a year to complete, Walker said. It's complicated because each auto company whose vehicles it sells must approve the transaction.
Walker, who would not disclose the terms of the deal, said the sale is consistent with his long-term goals for his company.
He's planning to retire.
"You take an opportunity when an opportunity comes," he said.
Despite a poor economy, Walker said he did not decide to sell the company because its auto sales were faltering. Sales for most of his company's luxury vehicles are up or flat this year.
"The luxury car business has been somewhat resistant to the downturn," Walker said. "The people who are driving those cars aren't getting foreclosures."
Through August, year-to-date sales for Honda and Mercedes-Benz rose slightly, while other automakers saw sales decline. Those include Ford, Toyota, Volvo, BMW and Land Rover. Jaguar sales were essentially flat.
Total sales of all new vehicle dealerships in the United States were $693.3 billion in 2007, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. Average sales per dealership were $33.4 million, according to the association.
As for Hammersley employees, many may remain at the dealerships after the sale, depending on Crossroads' staffing decisions, Walker said.
