Big Island Toyota is being sold.
The De Luz family is selling its dealership to Oahu automotive retailer Servco, ending a more than 60-year-old legacy of selling cars on Hawaii island.
“We don’t know a life without Big Island Toyota,” said Jan De Luz at a Friday meeting of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. “But we’re not spring chickens. And we don’t have successors — that’s our biggest issue.”
De Luz said the sale to Servco will include Toyota locations in Hilo and Kailua-Kona for a total purchase price of $42.5 million, not counting vehicle inventory and other assets.
The Hilo dealership is situated on a trio of parcels leased from the state, with a combined tax-assessed value of about $5.7 million. Because the leases of those parcels have between 2-1/2 and 11 years remaining on their terms, the BLNR needed to approve the transfer of the leases to Servco before the transaction could be completed.
De Luz said the deal should be finished by the end of July, at which point Servco will continue managing the dealership as a Toyota franchise and will retain its employees, many of whom have been with the dealership for decades.
According to the Big Island Toyota website, the company has about 70 employees.
“Big Island Toyota’s a very successful, very good business, and it’s built on their people,” said Servco Executive Vice President Peter Hirano at the meeting. “And we intend to keep those people.”
Hirano also said Servco’s short- to midterm plans will expand the dealership’s capabilities — for example, it will be able to service Lexus vehicles on-island, he said.
The BLNR approved the lease transition Friday.
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Hawaii Tribune-Herald
