Ganley Automotive Group — the biggest car dealership in Ohio — has struck a deal to buy a Toyota dealership in Pleasant Hills owned by Monroeville-based Day Automotive Group.
CEO Ken Ganley said he expects to close on the transaction soon, declining to disclose the price. Tentative plans are to open under the Ken Ganley Toyota banner on Feb. 26, he said.
“I’ve been a Toyota dealer since 1995, and I love Toyota,” Mr. Ganley said Wednesday. “When the opportunity presented itself, for me it was a no-brainer.”
Day Automotive also has locations in Monroeville, Moon, Uniontown and on West Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh that carry several brands besides Toyota.
The Toyota location, on Clairton Boulevard, was the only one offered for sale, Mr. Ganley said.
Day Automotive Group owner Debbie Campbell could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
The acquisition of Day Toyota is Mr. Ganley’s first entry into Pennsylvania. His company, based in Brecksville in suburban Cleveland and founded by his father in 1968, has about 1,800 employees at 33 locations in northern Ohio and one in Florida.
“I’ve been in the business my whole life,” Mr. Ganley, 43, said. “As a kid, I couldn’t get enough of it. When I had days off from school I would make my dad take me to the dealership.”
He said he would be open to other acquisitions in the Pittsburgh region, which he called a “tremendous market” based on sales and demographics.
“There are a lot of car dealers in the Pittsburgh market that have done very well for a long time,” he said. “It’s not slanted heavily domestic or imported. Overall it’s a very good market to be in.”
Mr. Ganley said no cuts are planned among Day Toyota’s roughly 50 employees.
“We plan to grow and hire more,” he said. “Maybe over the first year [we plan] to add considerably to the staff.”
Ganley is the 27th largest automotive group in the country with sales of $1.5 billion, according to the 2017 rankings by Automotive News. Day ranks No. 128 with sales of $401.4 million.
The Day acquisition comes on the heels of two other notable deals in the Pittsburgh automotive market last year, including Lithia Motors’ purchase of Baierl Automotive and the acquisition of a majority ownership stake in Kenny Ross Automotive by New York-based private equity firm GPB Capital.
Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@;post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.
First Published: February 14, 2018, 9:43 p.m.
