Dave Cantin Group Advises Lithia & Driveway on Complex Sale of Downtown Los Angeles Audi and Volkswagen Dealerships

NEW YORK, Oct. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dave Cantin Group (DCG) advised Lithia & Driveway on the sale of Audi Downtown LA and Volkswagen of Downtown LA to Grace Motorcars, LLC, in a deal that closed Sept. 28.

DCG Managing Director Anthony Holbrook provided exclusive sell-side advisory services to the transaction, drawing on his previous 20 years with Audi and his relationships with luxury dealership owners and operators across the Western United States.

The sale reflects a broader trend in dealership M&A: sellers are reassessing their portfolios while buyers have more options. The Downtown Los Angeles property required an Audi growth candidate prepared to manage a complex but compelling urban location.

“Dealers need an advisor who has a deep understanding of the client’s business strategy, and who has extensive knowledge of, and relationships with, the right buyers across the country,” Dave Cantin Group partner and President Brian Gordon said. “Our history with Lithia means we know what they needed from this sale, while Anthony’s market intelligence, years of executive experience at Audi, and his strong dealer relationships helped them find the best way forward.”

Holbrook previously served as Audi’s national franchise manager and area director in the Pacific Southwest. This is his second recent Audi transaction with DCG, following Audi West Covina in 2025. His other luxury dealership transactions in the Western United States have included Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz franchises.

Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche previously shared the Downtown Los Angeles property. Porsche moved to a new facility across the street earlier this year, leaving a vacant showroom and a property built for three franchises for a buyer of two to manage. Holbrook worked with seller and buyer on a structure that addressed the property’s demands and met the seller’s objectives.

“We drew on years of dealer relationships and current market insights to identify an operator who wanted to grow with Audi and could see the value of two high-volume dealerships,” Holbrook said. “Having seen Grace Motorcars’ early success at West Covina, we knew CEO Victor Oh wanted to expand the brand in a nearby market. Our job was to find a structure that worked for Grace Motorcars and met the seller’s goals.”

DCG has worked with Lithia & Driveway on acquisitions and divestitures since 2019, including the sale of its Morgantown, West Virginia, dealerships and its two California Lexus stores, as well as acquisitions of Curry Honda Atlanta, Henderson Hyundai Superstore/Genesis and three West Palm Beach dealerships.

About Dave Cantin Group

Dave Cantin Group is a leading automotive M&A advisory firm specializing in acquisitions, divestitures, platform management, business evaluations, and other corporate development services. The new retail reality requires automotive dealers to seek DCG’s collective best thinking, deep experience and extensive industry relationships to effectively leverage M&A as a core business strategy. Clients choose DCG because the firm is a trusted advisor focusing on long-term relationships, investing in data and research, and engaging its entire team on every client project. Clients benefit from DCG’s industry-leading market intelligence – its Market Outlook Report – and JumpIQ, DCG’s proprietary AI-enabled platform delivering unprecedented visibility into automotive retail. The firm’s nonprofit initiative, DCG Giving, funds child and adolescent cancer research and treatment across the United States and supports other charitable causes important to the automotive retail community. To learn more, visit davecantingroup.com.

Media Contact:

Katie Merx
Dave Cantin Group
katie@merxpr.com
+1 313.510.5090

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b86ba444-1780-4dba-9adf-c1c24b4bc37c