CHARLOTTE, N.C. -

Fueled in part by achieving the milestone of retailing 100 used units per store per month for the quarter on a same store basis as well as making strides with its Echo Park specialty dealerships, Sonic Automotive set a new record for used-vehicle sales during the second quarter.

The dealer group reported on Monday that its Q2 used sales came in at 30,301 units, which represented a year-over-year gain of 6.3 percent.

Sonic also highlighted that its Echo Park stores — which are part of a new used-sales strategy with rooftops near Denver — retailed 881 units in the second quarter. That’s up 221 units, or 33.5 percent, from the prior quarter.

The company also posted two other records. Officials reported record Q2 total gross profit of $355.6 million, up 2.5 percent over the prior year quarter

Sonic also enjoyed all-time record quarterly fixed operations gross profit of $170.2 million, up 6.5 percent over the prior year quarter.

All told, the dealer group reported adjusted net income from continuing operations for the second quarter of $23.4 million, or $0.46 per diluted share.  Included in these adjusted amounts are pre-tax expenses of $4.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, related to EchoPark operations.

Even with that bottom-line performance, it was the used department that got Sonic brass buzzing, including president Scott Smith.

“I’m proud of our operations team for achieving the lofty goal of retailing 100 pre-owned vehicles per store per month,” Smith said in a company statement made available with its Q2 report.

“We have had quarters in the past when we approached achieving this metric and several months where we surpassed this metric, but it had never been achieved on a quarterly basis,” Smith continued. “Generating this type of retail activity fuels our fixed operations and F&I areas where we are most profitable.”

Smith also touched the achievement in fixed operations.

“We also worked to build our fixed operations business in the quarter,” Smith said. “In addition to the benefits we experienced through the reconditioning work performed to achieve the sale of 100 pre-owned vehicles per store per month, we were able to grow overall same store fixed operations gross profit $13.1 million, or 8.5 percent, compared to the prior-year quarter.

“Fixed operations growth was achieved in our customer pay, warranty and internal categories,” Smith went on to say. “This type of internal growth strategy is central to our One Sonic-One Experience (OSOE) initiative which is intended to grow the top-line revenue categories, generate retail activity, and realize benefits over multiple gross profit streams."

Sonic executive vice president of operations Jeff Dyke used the company’s quarterly press release to give an update on other part of the dealer’s group’s business, insisting that “We had another very busy quarter at Sonic Automotive.”

Dyke continued with, “From a franchise store perspective, we executed our playbook and delivered another solid operating performance allowing our team to leverage this performance while we build on our OSOE strategy and our EchoPark business model.

“I am very excited about our pre-owned volume and the continued focus and execution from our team as they achieved 100 units per store per month for the quarter,” he went on to say. “Our focus on our fixed operations business, and in particular our customer pay business, is beginning to pay off and the result showed in the quarter. Warranty business was also robust.”

Turning back to what Sonic calls OSOE, Dyke indicated that company strategy continues to make progress.

“The associated technology's performance is working very well and as a result, we have decided to move ahead with the rollout of several of its technology applications that will benefit our guests and associates,” Dyke said.

“Our proprietary CRM, desking and appraisal tools will be added to our stores over the next year and a half in the first wave of three planned waves that will ultimately result in the complete rollout of OSOE,” he continued. “We will roll out our F&I and pricing tools as part of the OSOE strategy once we are comfortable with our performance in the Charlotte test market.”

Dyke closed his comments distributed by the company by sharing another update about EchoPark, which “made great strides again this quarter as we ramped up and executed our business plan.

Dyke emphasized, “We are meeting our goals and have started the acquisition of properties for our next market. We plan to begin construction in this next market before the end of this year.  We also plan on adding an additional five locations to our Denver market over the next 12 months.

“Our associates have created a culture in the stores, which allows them to offer our customers an easy, transparent shopping experience and, as a result, our guest feedback is overwhelmingly positive,” he went on to say. “We expect our initial neighborhood locations in Denver will become cash flow positive prior to the end of this year and we have developed a next generation neighborhood store that further improves our guest experience and operational efficiency.”

Editor’s note: For more reaction from Sonic executives about their latest quarterly performance, watch for a report in an upcoming edition of Auto Remarketing Today.