In the fourth quarter of 2022, Sonic Automotive began to see improvement in new-vehicle production, and that helped the company gain higher new-vehicle retail sales volume at its franchise dealerships. That sales volume outperformed the volume change for the overall industry, quarter over quarter and year over year, said Sonic chairman and CEO David Smith.

Used-vehicle performance also shined. Sonic’s diversified business model helped its used-vehicle business outperform the change in industry volume.

That strong used-vehicle performance took place despite ...