MEDFORD, Ore. -

Lithia Motors has expanded its East Coast operations, announcing Tuesday that it acquired the nine-store Carbone Auto Group that operates in New York and Vermont.

Carbone generates an estimated $600 million in annual revenues through an exclusive market strategy, Lithia said, noting in the news release that Carbone gives the group a foundation to expand the exclusive market strategy throughout the Northeast.

“Combined with DCH Auto Group's metropolitan market strategy, this further expands our growth potential across the United States,” the retailer said in a news release.

Lithia plans to optimize the current franchise and operations of Carbone into 13 stores. There will be two stores each of Honda, Subaru and Ford franchises and one store each of Toyota, Chevrolet, GMC/Buick/Cadillac, Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge/Ram, Nissan, Hyundai and BMW.

For 2017, Lithia is looking for Carbone to bring in $0.20 to $0.25 in earnings per share.

Bryan DeBoer, Lithia’s president and chief executive officer, said in the release: “We’re excited to welcome Enessa and Alex Carbone and the entire Carbone team to our family and look forward to sharing best practices to inspire continuous improvement.

“For over 85 years, Carbone has served their local communities in upstate New York. Their reputation and teams they have developed position them well for future growth,” he said. “This adds to our growing pool of entrepreneurial and dynamic store leaders that accelerates our ability to find strong and stable businesses at a pace and return that is typically reserved for green-fielding."

This move follows the grand opening of a Volkswagen franchise in Freehold, N.J., earlier this month. Operating as DCH Volkswagen of Freehold, that store is expected to add $35 million in annual revenues.

In August, Lithia announced the purchase of Kemp Ford in Thousand Oaks, Calif.