NEW YORK — Billionaire Warren Buffett said the “fun has just started” in the auto-sales business after his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Van Tuyl Group, the largest closely held U.S. car dealership group.
“This is the beginning of a journey that will have no end,” Buffett said Tuesday in a statement announcing the completion of the transaction. The deal gives Omaha-based Berkshire “the ideal platform with which to build an auto dealership business that will be thriving and growing 50 and 100 years from now.”
Berkshire announced an agreement in October to buy Van Tuyl, which consists of 81 dealerships in 10 states, including Texas, California and Florida. The business will be based in Dallas and renamed Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.
Buffett, the 84-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire, has said auto sales have rebounded faster than he expected from the financial crisis and that he intends to add more dealerships. Larry Van Tuyl will be chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, and Jeffrey Rachor, who previously was president of the business, will be CEO.
“The organization will continue to execute our simple strategy of operational excellence and sensible growth through acquisitions,” Rachor said in the statement.
