Matick Automotive Group in Redford Township has announced the acquisition of Art Moran Buick GMC in Southfield. The latter operation has been rebranded as Matick Buick GMC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Art Moran dealership, located along Telegraph Road, south of 12 Mile Road, was owned and operated by Tom Moran, the youngest of Art Moran’s seven children. Last year, Moran decided to retire and he sold the business to the Matick Automotive Group.
All employees of the former Art Moran Buick GMC are expected to receive offers to continue in the same or similar roles.
A longtime member of the Matick Auto leadership team, Mary “Molly” Williams will be the dealer operator and responsible for day-to-day operations at the Buick GMC franchise. Williams is currently vice president of Matick Automotive Group, and most recently was executive manager of Matick Toyota in Macomb Township.
Williams and Matick’s other vice president, Paul Zimmermann, each will own a significant percentage of the new venture, along with Matick Automotive Group majority owner and CEO Karl Zimmermann.
The Matick Automotive Group owns George Matick Chevrolet, Matick Body Shop, Matick Auto Wash, and Integrated Fleet Solutions, all located near Telegraph Road and I-96 in Redford Township, and Matick Toyota on Hall Road/M-59 in Macomb Township.
With the addition of Matick Buick GMC, the Matick Automotive Group now operates dealerships and related auto-care facilities in three metro Detroit counties: Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb.
GM Financial and Horizon Bank provided financing for the transaction.
“For a variety of reasons, the Art Moran dealership was our No. 1 strategic acquisition target. The Buick and GMC franchises are a perfect fit with our existing vehicle brands and geographic footprint,” says Zimmermann.
“When Moran announced the sale to his employees, he described the benefits of them now becoming part of a unique ownership group that’s not only a values-driven, family-run organization but is also a steadily growing, multi-dealership operation such as ours,” Williams adds. “It took nine days from the time we became aware of Tom’s decision to sell (when) both parties had signed a purchase agreement.”
Art Moran became a Pontiac dealer in 1956 while working at Clohecy Pontiac with his partner, Tom Clohecy. In 1972, Art broke ground for his own Pontiac dealership, which opened on the current Southfield site in 1973.
He added the GMC lineup in 1975 and the Buick brand in 2007, when Tom Moran became the dealer. Art Moran, a World War II Navy veteran and a dealer for several other brands during an automotive career that lasted more than half a century, died in 2015.
The dealership property encompasses six-plus acres and more than 60,000 square feet of indoor space within two buildings. One of those buildings was a former Mitsubishi dealership, and the other includes a certified body repair and paint shop facility.
Moran says General Motors has certified not only the building’s compliance with its brand image programs, but it also meets all the infrastructure upgrade requirements for the brands’ committed transition to electrification. The first two all-electric Hummers in the nation were delivered from the Southfield dealership.
Art Moran Buick GMC’s charitable focus, meanwhile, has included the Gift of Life Foundation of Michigan, its support of organizations dedicated to funding cancer research, and its promotion of youth hockey.
“Tom Moran has been a board member and very involved with the Gift of Life, which is a nonprofit organization that’s also very near and dear to my heart. He was committed to the local community and we look forward to continuing support of local charities,” Williams says.
She adds prospective Matick Buick GMC customers will benefit by having a larger selection of vehicles to choose from. This buyer advantage is due to GM’s inventory allocation program that prioritizes providing additional new vehicle merchandise to support the launch of new dealerships within markets that have a much higher sales potential than recently demonstrated.
For more information, visit matickauto.com.
