Bohn brothers sell four Louisiana dealerships and exit car business for a second time

The Bohn family, who have been in the car business in New Orleans since the Model T Ford was America’s best-selling vehicle, have sold their remaining dealerships in Louisiana and are exiting the business for the second time.

Over the past two weeks Donny Jr., Scott and Van Bohn, have sold their four car dealerships, which included Audi and Hyundai/Genesis dealerships in Metairie, an Audi dealership in Lafayette and a Toyota store in Slidell, according to industry sources.

Second bite

A sale price was not disclosed and the Bohns didn’t respond to a request for comment. Industry sources said the total price for all four dealerships, which did not include any substantial real estate assets, was about $70 million.

Donny Jr., who is 73, and his brothers, who are in their late 60s, originally entered the car business when they bought the Bohn Motor Company from their father, Donald Bohn Sr., after he retired in 1988. The business had been started by George Bohn Sr. in 1924 as a Ford dealership on South Broad Street, near Washington Avenue, and then expanded over the years to Gretna and Harvey.

The third generation Bohns expanded beyond Fords to add Toyota, Audi, Hyundai, Buick, Pontiac and GMC truck dealerships. They sold the enlarged company in 2000 to Group 1 Automotive of Houston for approximately $66 million.

A decade later, the car business pulled the brothers back in, starting with Bohn Brothers Toyota dealership in Harvey.

The Bohns hired Virginia-based Kerrigan Advisors earlier this year to handle their latest exit from the business.

Right of refusal

Last week, Kerrigan said it had sold Bohn’s Audi Lafayette dealership to Community Auto Group, a Houston-based company owned by Roger Elswick. In a prepared statement, Donny Jr. described Elswick as “the ideal buyer” for the dealership, which claims to be the top selling luxury car brand in Lafayette, outperforming both BMW and Mercedes in new unit sales.

Late Thursday, Sonic Automotive, a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said it bought Bohn’s Audi dealership located at 3400 Causeway Boulevard. Sonic, which is a $2.3 billion New York Stock Exchange-listed company operating 114 dealerships in 14 states, said the Audi purchase was its first in Louisiana.

Also in Metairie, Matt Bowers’ dealership group confirmed that it had acquired Bohn’s Hyundai/Genesis dealership, adding to his dozen or so regional car operations, including the Ford, Chevrolet and Infiniti dealerships in Metairie, as well as Hyundai stores in Slidell and Gulfport, Mississippi.

The Bohns had originally contracted with Tennessee car dealer Grover “Clay” Carlock, Jr. to buy all four of the dealerships, though he ended up with just the Toyota in Slidell, according to car industry sources.

As was the case earlier this year with the sale of the dealership network owned by the late Ray Brandt, several of the carmakers exercised their “right of first refusal” to replace Carlock with their own preferred buyers for three of the four Bohn-owned dealership, according to the sources.

The carmakers declined to comment on their reasons for exercising the right but it is a common, especially in states like Louisiana where the law favors car companies over dealership owners when it comes to exercising that right. Some states, including California and Florida, have recently changed the law to make it more difficult for carmakers to intervene in the sale of dealerships carrying their brand names.

Car manufacturers exercise their right of first refusal for a variety of reasons, including to ensure a high-performance dealer is put in place, to reward loyalty or to ensure that a new owner invests in improvements in the property.