Deery Brothers acquires Iowa City's Hartwig Motors

Hartwig Motors in Iowa City became Deery Brothers Tuesday, after the longtime family-owned dealership was acquired.

The dealership becomes the 10th dealership in the Waterloo-based Deery Brothers dealership family, and its fifth Chrysler location.

Hartwig Motors has operated the dealership on Riverside Drive since 1961. It relocated to Iowa City from Clutier, Iowa, where it was founded by Henry Hartwig in 1910.

Hartwig Motors was in the third generation of Hartwig family ownership.

Deery Brothers President Dan Deery said the company will lease the facility on Riverside Drive from the Hartwig family and add Chrysler to its Dodge and Jeep lines. He said the vehicle inventory will be expanding.

A.J. Perez, an employee of Chrysler for over 25 years, will take over as manager. He will be a minority stakeholder in the dealership, along with Patrick Eads, who is general manager and a stakeholder of Deery Brothers Ford Lincoln in Iowa City.

It is the second move into Iowa City in less than a year for the Deery brothers - Brad, Dan and John. They joined with Eads last year to acquire the former Chezik-Bell Ford dealership.

Dan Deery said the Hartwig family ran a "quality organization."

"They practice the same principles we practice," Deery said. "They wouldn't have lasted so long if they didn't."