The Cadillac franchise owned by Martin Automotive Group has changed hands, with the dealership selling it to Bill Leachman, owner of Leachman Buick-GMC.

With the sale, Martin Automotive Group officially stopped selling and servicing Cadillacs on Friday, and Leachman will house the franchise in the same facility as its Buick and GMC lines.

Chad Martin, president of Martin Automotive Group, said the sale came about after General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection.

While restructuring the company, GM decided to align is four core brands, focusing its resources on Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Chevrolet.

Martin Automotive Group based its sale in part on GM’s actions and on the Bowling Green dealer’s decision to focus more on its other cars, particularly its Kia line.

“It became clear to us that GM preferred to not have stand-alone Cadillac facilities,” Martin said.

In addition to being associated with local car franchises, the Martins and Leachmans have been longtime friends, so when Martin approached Leachman about the Cadillac line, the two quickly came to an agreement enabling Leachman to purchase the franchise.

Martin will continue to sell and service the Kia, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Mitsubishi lines.

The former Cadillac facility will undergo a refurbishing and reopen later this month as a used car superstore that will carry Nissans, Toyotas and several other makes of automobiles, Martin said.

“We will carry a mix between everything you would think you would find in a used car lot,” Martin said. “We will have a full range of used vehicles, a much larger selection than we previously carried.”