Florida company buys three southwest Illinois car dealerships
The Weir car dealerships in Red Bud and New Athens have been purchased by a Florida-based chain of dealerships.
The Ed Morse Automotive Group of Delray Beach, Florida, announced Friday that it has purchased Weir Chevrolet Buick GMC in Red Bud,Weir Ford in Red Bud, and Weir Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in New Athens. The purchase also includes the Weir Parts Center in Red Bud.
All four of the businesses will transition from the Weir nameplate to Ed Morse.
The Ed Morse Automotive Group bought the four sites from the Norman Ray Automotive Group for an undisclosed amount.
Teddy Morse, chairman and CEO of the Ed Morse Automotive Group, said all of the nearly 300 employees at the Red Bud and New Athens locations will keep their jobs.
“We are keeping every single one of them,” Morse said. “We need every one of them, absolutely.”
Morse has been buying dealerships for the past three years, he said. He refuses most of the offers, however. He said he decides whether to buy a dealership based on his impression of the employees at the business.
He described the Red Bud and New Athens employees as “incredibly talented people.”
“When we buy a dealership or a parts center, the No. 1 asset that we’re purchasing, it’s not the building, it’s not the land, not the parts, not the cars, it’s the people,” he said. “People is what make the store run. Otherwise it’s just a building on some dirt. That is without question the most important thing.”
Morse is the grandson of Ed Morse, who founded Morse Motors in 1946. He’s been in his family’s car business for his entire career.
“I worked just about every job in a dealership,” Morse said.
His first job required him to sweep up a dealership and take out the trash. He said his other positions included work in sales and as a parts driver.
Morse praised the Weir dealerships for their longevity and he hopes the Morse family can keep the dealerships growing into the future.
Morse said one of his goals is to expand the customer base throughout the metro area.
“Our success can help with the success with all businesses in Red Bud and New Athens and surrounding areas,” Morse said.
With the purchase of the Red Bud and New Athens dealerships, the Ed Morse Automotive Group now has 27 dealerships in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma. The group sells 14 automotive brands and has over 1,400 employees.
For more information, go to www.edmorse.com.
Ed Morse’s purchase of the Weir dealerships is the second such transaction this year involving longtime metro-east car dealerships. In February, a Chicago area company paid $6.9 million for the Oliver C. Joseph Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram site on Illinois 15 in Belleville and renamed it David Taylor Belleville Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.
