After Strong 2012, This Year Likely ‘Even Bigger’ for Sonic’s Used Operations

In what was a strong year for the retailer’s pre-owned department, Sonic Automotive increased its used-vehicle retail sales by more than 6 percent for both full-year 2012 and the final quarter of the year.

Specifically, Sonic moved 23,943 used retail units in the fourth quarter, compared to 22,520 in the final period of 2011. For the entire year, it sold 102,556 used vehicles, up from 96,355 the prior year.

Used related retail gross for the fourth quarter came in at $73 million, compared to $70 million in the same period of 2011.

Used retail revenue was $489.06 million in the fourth quarter, versus $465.39 million in the same period of 2011. Full-year used retail revenue was at $2.05 billion, compared to $1.93 billion in 2011.

“Congrats to our pre-owned team for setting an all-time volume in pre-owned record and also pre-owned-related gross record for the company in 2012,” said Jeff Dyke. “And we expect 2013 to be even bigger.”

Sonic also shared some wholesale data.

The retailer generated $44.82 million in the final period of last year, down from $45.95 million a year earlier. For all of 2012, it pulled in $183.33 million in wholesale revenues, versus $167.08 million in 2011.

Sonic improved its fourth-quarter wholesale unit sales from 6,879 to 7,452, while increasing full-year wholesale unit sales from 25,180 to 31,188.
 

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.