Vancouver-based Kuni Automotive, a seller of mostly luxury cars with 14 dealerships in five states, has been purchased by a New Jersey auto dealership group that will now become one of the nation’s largest private dealership chains.
Terms of the deal, expected to close this summer, were not disclosed. The Kuni brand name will remain on its dealerships and its management office will remain in Vancouver.
The sale of the company will provide new funding for the Wayne D. Kuni and Joan E. Kuni Foundation, the largest shareholder in Kuni Automotive and one of Southwest Washington’s largest private charitable foundations. Greg Goodwin, Kuni Automotive’s CEO, said the new money will put the foundation among the 10 largest foundations in the state with perhaps a “multiple of 10” funding increase.
“The foundation board is beginning to consider what our options are,” said Goodwin, who is traveling to all 14 of his company’s dealerships this week to meet with employees about the sale of Kuni Automotive. “We want to expand our philanthropic mission.”