Lithia on cusp of buying Jardine Motors, report says

Lithia Motors is on the cusp of buying Jardine Motors Group in the UK, according to a report from Sky News.

Sky News, citing a source, reported the price to be around £300 million to £400 million ($361.6 million to $482.1 million).

Lithia didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

In January, Sky News reported Lithia was "within weeks of finalizing a deal to buy" Jardine Motors for around $371.4 million.

Jardine Motors, part of conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings, is Europe's 23rd-largest dealership group by annual revenue, according to Automotive News Europe's 2022 Guide to Europe's Biggest Dealers.

It has 45 new-vehicle franchise points in the UK. Jardine Motors' portfolio of 14 vehicle brands ranges from Mini and BMW to Ferrari, according to its website.

Lithia entered its first international market, Canada, in August 2021.

But Western Europe has long been a Lithia target.

Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer told Automotive News in Dallas in January that the company had been looking for the right partner in the U.K. and in Western Europe for nearly half a decade.

"We hope to be there in the next few quarters or so," he told Automotive News at the time.

In August, Sky News named Lithia as the unidentified bidder in a failed deal to buy Pendragon, one of the largest auto retailers in the U.K.

Lithia would be the third publicly traded auto retailer with U.K. dealerships following rivals Penske Automotive Group and Group 1 Automotive.

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., outsold AutoNation in 2022 to become the largest auto retailer in the U.S., with sales of 271,596 new vehicles.