Sister and brother Casey Frames and David Ellis in February acquired their first franchises. The franchises, in Greenville, South Carolina, are the foundation of their newly formed dealership group.
“The is the start of creating what we wanted to create, RBM Automotive Group,” Ellis told WardsAuto on a Zoom call.
In a deal that closed Feb. 23, Frames and Ellis acquired Porsche of Greenville, Land Rover Greenville and Crown Nissan of Greenville from Asbury Automotive Group — becoming dealer principal of the three stores.
The acquisition will involve a significant real estate investment for RBM. One of the manufacturers’ stipulations for the acquisition of the Porsche and Land Rover franchises was that RBM build standalone facilities for each brand, which are currently on one piece of property, Ellis said.
“That was part of the deal,” he said, “is to buy two parcels of land, and to build the new generation Porsche building as well as Land Rover, which we have already started working on.”
They are in the permitting process right now, Ellis said, with construction to begin “hopefully this summer.”
The Nissan dealership will also need to be made compliant with the current image program, Ellis said, but that work doesn’t have to begin immediately.
“Nissan is expecting a new building in 2028,” he said, “but we currently have a building with Nissan that I think we could remodel instead of having to build a whole new facility.”
An untapped market
They will keep all the staff in the dealerships, Frames confirmed to WardsAuto on the same Zoom call. “I think that, eventually, sooner than later, they will have to add more employees all around due to the growth opportunity here.”
Greenville is a rapidly growing area in a rapidly growing state. South Carolina led the nation in economic growth for the first few quarters of 2025, the most recent numbers available. BMW, Michelin and GE Aerospace are all major employers in the Greenville area.
“I think there is plenty of opportunity and lots of growth opportunity for both luxury and domestic (brands),” Frames said, “especially here in Greenville.
“Even Porsche has agreed with us that there’s plenty of opportunity for growth,” she added. “It’s an untapped market, as they stated.”
That means plenty of potential to grow the dealerships’ fixed operations business, Ellis said. They brought on a new service manager for the Nissan store, which has 14 service bays “with the potential to add bays,” he said.
Meanwhile, when the new Porsche and Land Rover facilities are completed each will feature 22 service bays, doubling the current capacity, Ellis said.
Meeting all the criteria
Though the South Carolina stores are the first Frames and Ellis have themselves acquired, they already owned two Mercedes-Benz franchises, two Infiniti franchises and a Subaru franchise, all in the Metro Atlanta area. As third-generation auto dealers, they had taken over all except the newly acquired Greenville stores from their father.
They considered other expansion options before acquiring the South Carolina stores from Asbury, but the other opportunities “just weren’t the right vibe,” Ellis said.
The Asbury acquisition came about after George Karolis, a friend and president of The Presidio Group, an investment bank engaged in dealership transactions, presented the opportunity to them, Ellis said. The Presidio Group represented Asbury Automotive in the transaction.
Because he and his sister are young and new dealer principals, “we didn’t think it would come to fruition,” Ellis said, however, “we were very aggressive with our offer.”
It was a competitive process, Karolis told WardsAuto on a Zoom call. But Frames and Ellis “did all the right things,” he said. “They were responsive and aggressive and very fair to work with and, you know, folks don’t make a buyers list without having been vetted and have the financial wherewithal, and they met all those criteria.”
Luxury brands wanted
A website for RBM Automotive Group is under construction and will market used vehicles from all the RBM stores.
As for their next acquisitions, “I wouldn’t mind a few more of what we already have,” Frames said. They’re also interested in other highline brands such as BMW and Audi, she said.
Geographically, “I’m open to anywhere,” Frames said, before adding a caveat: “Maybe not California.”
