Northland Buick-Pontiac-GMC, a downtown Rockford fixture for 22 years, announced today their transaction with Fox Pontiac Buick GMC. David Petersen, the dealer principal, recently reached an agreement with Dan DeVos, owner of Fox Pontiac Buick GMC, under which Fox has agreed to purchase certain assets of Northland and to transition portions of Northland’s business operations to Fox Pontiac Buick GMC.

“This is a good thing for our thousands of customers, our employees and General Motors. Dan DeVos and his people have been great to work with. They are going out of their way to accommodate our Northland customers through their Fox facility, which is important to me. It is also a good thing that many of our fine employees have even been offered employment in their organization. Good people make the dealership!” Petersen says of the agreement.

As a result of the transaction, Fox’s dealership territory for the Pontiac, Buick and GMC lines will be increased significantly to include a majority of the former Northland area. “Fox Pontiac Buick GMC looks forward to continuing to provide the same level of high quality and first-rate service to Northland’s customers that Dave Petersen and his partners have provided for years,” said DeVos. “We have been talking to Dave and his group for quite a while and the time seemed right for both of us to work together to strengthen the Fox dealership and the GM dealer network in general.”

The consolidation of the Northland and Fox dealerships and the resulting allocation of the Northland territory to Fox will result in the closure of the Northland location, an outcome consistent with General Motors’ channel strategy of consolidating dealerships and market areas in an effort to strengthen its dealer network as a whole. This consolidation follows many others that have occurred at both the national and local levels.