CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

Sonic Automotive executive vice president of operations Jeff Dyke continues to gush about what the company’s inventory management is doing for the group, going so far as to say this week that July is shaping up to be Sonic’s best month ever for used-vehicle sales performance.

Dyke declared that the Sonic Inventory Management System (SIMS) “right now is running as good as it’s ever run. Our Trade Center is running great. Our trade ratio at this company went from the high 30-percent range to now over 55 percent, as high as 58 percent."

Dyke explained that SIMS “centralizes 100 percent of our pre-owned inventory management, from appraisals to pricing to buying and, shortly, even selling at auctions.”

Dyke described Sonic’s used inventory during the second quarter as “light,” since the group had on average about 7,500 units listed for sale. The company increased that figure by about 1,100 vehicles to begin the third quarter. And it appears Sonic’s decision at the start of July is working out nicely.

“Right now, we’re tracking to have the best used-car month in our company’s history,” Dyke told Wall Street analysts during the company’s quarterly conference call this week.

During the second quarter, Sonic’s used-unit retail volume came in at 26,599 vehicles. Year to date, Sonic has turned 53,068 used vehicles.

Dyke continued to reiterate that monthly per-store used unit sales can eclipse 100, eventually beating the 150 mark, because of Sonic’s centralized inventory management tool.

“SIMS and our Retail Trade Center are well ahead of where I thought they would be at this time. We’re very pleased with where we’re at,” Dyke said.

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.