Jim Shorkey Auto Group closed this week on the acquisition of Carriage Kia, Nissan, Mitsubishi and the Carriage Collision Center in Gainesville.
The acquisition comes several months after Jim Shorkey acquired Atlanta Automotive Group's Cadillac and Mazda dealerships on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville.
Mike Engle, executive manager and operating partner for southern operations at Jim Shorkey Auto Group, said the acquisition cost over $25 million. He said these recent acquisitions bring Jim Shorkey's total store count up to 17. Before the acquisitions in Gainesville, the company was primarily based out of western Pennsylvania.
Jim Shorkey's rapid southern expansion is all a part of the company's plan to be the fastest-growing auto group in Georgia, according to Engle.
"We think we have a good plan," Engle said. "We have a company mission statement that says we love our customers, we love our team. And we keep it very, very humble. The way that we love our team is by continuing to grow because all that does is give people more and more opportunities ... it opens up additional managerial roles, administrative roles."
Engle said the company has a specific goal of reaching 25 stores by 2025, and they do plan to continue expanding in Georgia.
"Our next goal is to see if we can try to get some domestic stores," Engle said. "We're very successful with Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram in western Pennsylvania ... we are not done with our expansion project."
The focus on Gainesville came about after research from the company on several southern states.
"So we did a lot of research and looked at a lot of different cities, and just felt like North Georgia had the total package," Engle said.
The company retained over 90% of the employees who previously worked at the Carriage facilities. Engle said customers should not expect any major changes when compared to the previous operations. However, they plan to streamline and improve the operations of the dealerships.
"You'll see the same team members, and hopefully we can just enhance the experience and make everything faster," Engle said.
Jim Shorkey's newly acquired dealerships are located on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville. More information can be found here.
