A longtime dealership employee just acquired his first dealership, and an introduction to his partner made the transaction possible.
Ahmed Fayed and Robert Palmese are now owners of Liberty Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. It’s the first of many the two hope to acquire by leveraging their complementary skill sets.
“I had to figure out what I actually needed to become a dealer principal,” Fayed told WardsAuto on a Zoom call.
He realized money and experience were the two important ingredients. “I had to figure out the money part,” Fayed said. “The experience, I had.”
Fayed is now managing partner and general manager of the Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store, which he and Palmese acquired from the Greenblatt family on May 5. The dealership’s former name was Matt Blatt Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Palmese is the dealer principal and president of PalmEasy Motors.
Persistence pays off
Fayed previously worked at various dealerships for a decade, rising from sales to general manager. “You get to the top and you’re like, what’s next?” he said. He didn’t see a path to ownership at his dealership, so Fayed began to reach out to brokers but had no luck.
Before connecting with Matt Wilkins of Performance Brokerage Services, “none of the other places would really talk” with Fayed, he said. With Wilkins, he struck gold, however. Wilkins was new to Performance, and “I’m one of the only people that actually wants to talk to him,” Fayed said.
That was five years ago. It was the start of a long search and the birth of a friendship. Fayed was “sort of a superstar GM for different groups in the area,” Wilkins told WardsAuto on a Zoom call. “It was just a matter of finding him the right partner.”
Wilkins and Jacob Stoehr, the Northeast Partners of Performance Brokerage Services, were the exclusive sell-side advisors on the deal.
Fayed was persistent. He and Wilkins talked weekly and, finally, about two years ago, the right partner emerged when Robert Palmese contacted Performance about buying an auto dealership.
Palmese had money — he is president of Indra Energy — but no retail auto experience. However, Palmese “loved the car industry,” Wilkins said. Like Fayed, Palmese was persistent. “We talk to a lot of people that say they want to get into the car business,” Wilkins said, “and they do nothing about it. But Rob did all the right things.”
That included staying in touch with Performance and immersing himself in learning about the retail auto industry. But Palmese still lacked a key element: actual experience operating a dealership.
Many elements had to come together for the deal to get done, Wilkins said, including the right location, the right size and the right operator who would get along with Palmese.
Plus, the Greenblatt family, who were selling the CDJR store, had to agree to sell to a first-time buyer. It’s not a seller’s “number one choice to sell to a first-time buyer, generally,” Wilkins said.
That’s because getting manufacturers’ approval and financing for first-time buyers can be tricky, he said. “We’ve had deals where we’ve had pre-approval for banks and, the day before closing, they pull out all their funding.”
For Fayed and Palmese, however, the stars aligned. Performance introduced the two before Greenblatt CDJR entered the equation. “We had a feeling the personalities would mesh,” Wilkins said. They did. They met for dinner a few times, Fayed said, and their ideas on how to run a dealership aligned.
“His goals were the same goals I had,” Fayed said. “He wanted to make it a frictionless buying experience.”
Palmese was also able to fund some of the acquisition with his own money, Fayed said. “What he knows, I don’t know and that is the best part about it,” he said. “To me, it is the perfect team.”
A good time to become a CDJR owner
Stellantis stores are often a good option for first-time buyers, Wilkins said. CDJR stores have struggled in recent years and “the price tag, just in general at a high level, is generally going to be lower than it would be for a Honda or Toyota” store, he said.
Indeed, in Kerrigan Advisors’ 2025 Dealer Survey, half of respondents believed the value of CDJR franchises would decrease over the next 12 months. But Stellantis dealerships are looking a bit sexier than in the past. CDJR sales increased 4.8% in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Haig Report for Q1 2026.
The Haig Report said Stellantis – which owns the brands -- was “one of the better performances among the brands we track. That is a welcome change for a franchise that has been under pressure for several years.”
Stellantis “may have turned the corner and begun its comeback,” the Haig Report said.
Buyers are “more willing to look at CDJR stores” now, Wilkins said. And the location of Greenblatt CDJR, in the metro Philadelphia area, “was very appealing,” he said.
PalmEasy Motors is born
Palmese plays an active role in Liberty CDJR’s operations. “Robert sits next to me,” Fayed said. They have created a new automotive group named PalmEasy Motors.
Within the next three years, the partners plan to build an entire new facility for Liberty CDJR, including tripling the number of service bays to some 35, Fayed said.
In the immediate future, however, they are on the hunt for more stores to acquire. Six months from now, Fayed envisions Liberty CDJR being profitable. He and Palmese will be “paying back our loans and looking to buying another store,” Fayed said.
Like most dealers, he would like to own a Toyota or Honda store, but that may come later. For now, “I want any and all underperforming stores in my region,” Fayed said. “Give me every broken store.”
