text: Sales Reports | Page 15 | AuSM- ausm.info
  AutoNation Q2 used-vehicle retail sales up 9%
  Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2015, 03:56 PM
  AutoNation hosted its second quarterly conference call of the year on Wednesday, outlining its gains in several metrics.
  The dealer group's retail used-vehicle unit sales increased by 9 percent overall in the second quarter, jumping from 52,656 units in Q2 2014 to 57,370 units in Q2 2015.
  Judging the same metric for the first half of the year, AutoNation has retailed 115,994 used-vehicle units overall in the first six months of 2015, a 10.7 percent jump from last year's figure of 104,792.
  Overall used-vehicle retail revenue for this year's Q2 came in at roughly $1.1 billion, a 12.1 percent increase over last year's second quarter overall result of roughly $989.1 million.
  Overall gross profit was also up slightly for used units retailed by AutoNation in the second quarter, up 3 percent year-over-year and coming in at a total of $91.4 million for Q2 2015.
  Mike Jackson, AutoNation's chairman, chief executive officer and president, highlighted other details of the company's achievements, including its 19th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth in earnings per share as well as its continued belief that over 17 million new vehicles will be retailed in the United States this year.
  "We are pleased with how the AutoNation brand has been embraced, as well as the continued rollout of AutoNation Express and the progress of all our digital initiatives," Jackson said. "Over 20 percent of our sales were generated through AutoNation websites for the first half of the year. The first phase of AutoNation Express, where a consumer can identify a vehicle, reserve that vehicle and put a deposit on that vehicle, was completed six months ahead of schedule. AutoNation is committed to providing transparency and delivering a peerless customer experience through initiatives such as AutoNation Express."
  For a complete view of AutoNation's second quarter results, click .
  Jackson addresses TrueCar matter
  During the conference call, Jackson also provided his own explanation for why AutoNation and TrueCar went their separate ways, mentioning that TrueCar previously generated 3 percent of the dealer group's leads.
  "We were operating under a contract that had acceptable terms," Jackson said. "That contract expired at the end of February, beginning of March. TrueCar had demanded in the new contract that we give them all our customer information. In (the) old contract, we gave TrueCar no customer information. This is an unprecedented demand.
  "I don't know what company gives 100 percent of their customer information," Jackson continued. "I think it also, if we said yes, definitely would have created privacy issues that would have been cumbersome for us to implement."
  Jackson went on to say that he believes his company's brand is strong enough to push forward without the leads generated by TrueCar.
  "We think our brand is strong enough, our digital capabilities are strong enough that we will be fine," Jackson said. "And TrueCar is now in our rearview mirror."
  Read more about AutoNation Q2 used-vehicle retail sales up 9%
  Sonic averages 100 used sales per store in Q2
  Monday, Jul. 20, 2015, 03:47 PM
  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 back 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 AuSM Today.
  Read more about Sonic averages 100 used sales per store in Q2
  18.6 million used sales in first half of 2015
  Thursday, Jul. 09, 2015, 04:09 PM
  Pushed by growing pre-owned demand and a couple of market conditions making it ripe for consumers to go shopping, used-car sales in the first half of 2015 climbed above 18 million units and beat the year-ago pace by 1.3 percent.
  That's according to a recap released Thursday by the National Automobile Dealers Association, which said there were nearly 4.4 million used sales in June. That compares to 4.3 million used sales in the same month of 2014. Through June, there have been close to 18.6 million used sales, against 18.4 million in the first half of 2014.
  "Used-car sales have risen this year because of increased consumer demand. More car shoppers are looking to trade-in and trade up their vehicles," said NADA chief economist Steven Szakaly. "In addition, trade-in values have held up surprisingly well, and there is currently no sign of weakness in either the new- or used-car market."
  NADA's sales totals includes figures from franchised and independent dealers, as well as those from private-party transactions.
  Year-to-date, franchised dealers are showing the most progress, as their used sales have climbed 2.6 percent. Independents are up 1.9 percent, while private-party sales are down 1.0 percent.
  In June, however, independents showed the most growth year-over-year (up 3.6 percent), while franchised dealers were up 2.5 percent and private-party sales climbed 1.1 percent.
  Industry-wide, used sales for June were up 2.4 percent.
  Read more about 18.6 million used sales in first half of 2015
  June CPO sales top 212K, set new quarterly record
  Thursday, Jul. 02, 2015, 04:25 PM
  Sales of certified pre-owned vehicles in June surged 17.6 percent higher year-over-year, pushing the industry to another record-setting quarter.
  Autodata Corp. reported late on Thursday that June CPO sales came in at 212,957 units. That figure propelled the second-quarter amount to 660,384 vehicles.
  The quarterly total represented a 13.5-percent gain year-over-year as well as a 7.4-percent jump compared to the opening quarter of 2015.
  Year-to-date, Autodata indicated the industry has turned 1,275,473 CPO vehicles; that's up 12.5 percent over the midway point of 2014.
  Editor's note: Look for more details about the more recent CPO sales performance coming from AuSM after the Fourth of July holiday.
  Read more about June CPO sales top 212K, set new quarterly record
  AutoNation Q2 new-car sales up 7 percent
  Thursday, Jul. 02, 2015, 12:58 PM
  AutoNation provided an early glimpse into its second-quarter results on Thursday, revealing that the retailer sold 86,794 new vehicles in Q2, a 7-percent increase compared to last year.
  Looking at the month of June, AutoNation saw a 9-percent increase year-over-year with a total of 27,862 new vehicles sold.
  On a same-store basis, the group's new-vehicle retail sales were up 7 percent for the month of June; for the quarter, same-store new-vehicle retail sales grew 4 percent year-over-year.
  Here's a breakdown of the sales numbers by vehicle segment, provided by AutoNation:
  Second quarter total 2015 new-vehicle retail unit sales mix:
  26,826 for domestic, up 8 percent versus second quarter of 2014,
  41,018 for import, up 1 percent versus second quarter of 2014, and
  18,950 for premium luxury, up 17 percent versus second quarter of 2014.
  June 2015 total new-vehicle retail unit sales mix:
  8,282 for domestic, up 9 percent versus June 2014,
  13,110 for import, up 8 percent versus June 2014, and
  6,470 for premium luxury, up 14 percent versus June 2014.
  Read more about AutoNation Q2 new-car sales up 7 percent
  6 Import Brands Achieve All-Time CPO Highs
  Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2015, 10:51 AM
  All-time record certified pre-owned sales were reached for six import brands last month, according to Autodata Corp., which also highlighted nice gains overall for European- and Asian-brand programs in May.
  In its latest recap of CPO sales, Autodata said these import brands had best-ever CPO results: Infiniti, Lexus, Mini, Nissan, Porsche and Subaru.
  Plus, Autodata said, Volvo sales were at a recent high.
  Overall, Asian-brand dealers sold 107,870 CPO units for the month (up 8.3 percent), with year-to-date sales hitting 482,578. That beats the year-ago pace by 6.7 percent.
  European brands reported 43,286 certified sales in May, beating May 2014 figures by 11.9 percent. Five-month figures stood at 185,813 units, an 11.6-percent increase.
  Read more about 6 Import Brands Achieve All-Time CPO Highs
  Big 3 CPO Sales Approach 400,000
  Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2015, 10:34 AM
  Two of the Big 3 automakers posted best-ever certified pre-owned sales figures last month, and collectively, domestic brands have moved nearly 400,000 CPO units this year.
  That's the latest from Autodata Corp., which has released its monthly recap of industry-wide certified sales.
  The industry as a whole had its best CPO month ever. As for the Big 3, they combined to sell 81,686 CPO units in May, which beat year-ago figures by nearly 18 percent, according to Autodata.
  Through five months, they moved 394,449 certified vehicles for an 18.2-percent increase.
  Breaking all-time CPO records, Autodata said, were Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
  The brands at Ford combined to move 26,097 certified vehicles in May, which marked an 11.7-percent year-over-year increase.
  Through five months, they've sold 119,528 CPO vehicles for a 9.5-percent upswing.
  Excluding Fiat results, the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands at FCA moved 16,579 certified units in May (up 29 percent) and have sold 74,646 CPO vehicles in five months (up 26.3 percent).
  With Fiat sales included, FCA moved 16,661 CPO units for the month, a 29.2-percent increase. The five-month total is at 75,000 units, up 26.6 percent from last year's pace.
  (The aforementioned Big 3 total does not include Fiat figures).
  At General Motors, there were 36,916 CPO sales of Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac and Saturn vehicles in May, which beat year-ago figures by 18.2 percent. Year-to-date sales are at 189,515 units (up 20.8 percent).
  Read more about Big 3 CPO Sales Approach 400,000
  4 Million-Plus Used Cars Sold in May
  Friday, Jun. 05, 2015, 03:43 PM
  The National Automobile Dealers Association announced today that used-vehicle sales surpassed 4 million units across all retail channels for the month of May.
  Although this year's May sales of roughly 4.02 million units passed last year's May sales of an even 4 million, this brought the year's tally just past 14 million used cars and light trucks, putting 2015's pace thus far just slightly behind 2014's, where total used sales passed 14.1 million units by the end of May 2014.
  "Private-party sales of used vehicles have declined this year," said Steven Szakaly, NADA's chief economist. "The cold winter combined with a wetter than usual spring dampened sales by individuals. New-car dealers, on the other hand, clearly benefitted from the increase consumer traffic during Memorial Day sales events that brought new car buyers in to shop for both new and used vehicles."
  To put that in perspective, new-vehicle dealers sold 1.52 million used units in May, a 3.6 percent increase year-over-year, while used-car dealers and private-party sales each declined 1.6 percent, respectively, compared to 2014.
  Used-vehicle dealers sold 1.29 million vehicles in May; private parties sold 1.21 million units for the same month.
  Read more about 4 Million-Plus Used Cars Sold in May
  AutoNation Tallies 10 Millionth Vehicle Sale
  Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2015, 03:27 PM
  AutoNation on Wednesday announced its new-vehicle sales count for the month of May, which eclipsed year-over-year numbers from last May by 5 percent, bringing the final tally to 31,777 new units.
  This performance helped the nation's largest automotive retailer to reach the milestone of 10 million total units sold, a feat the company says no other group has reached previously.
  Perhaps the best takeaway, from a used-sales perspective to gauge buyer areas of interest, is the company's breakdown of the types of new units sold last month:
  9,878 domestic units, up 6 percent year-over-year
  15,297 import units, down 1 percent year-over-year
  6,602 premium luxury units, up 18 percent year-over-year
  In celebration of the sale of its 10 millionth vehicle, AutoNation also announced that it is giving away three vehicles, one each in Florida, Texas and California. In connection with the giveaway, the company is also hosting a sweepstakes where the grand prize winner will be given a 1 in 100 chance to win $10 million via a drawing. If the grand prize winner does not win the cash prize, they will receive a new Honda Accord.
  The grand prize winner, along with a select group of peer-nominated AutoNation associates, will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Sonoma, Calif. to participate in the 2015 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Entry into the sweepstakes is on the company's .
  In other AutoNation news, the group recently announced the launch of its own brand of vehicle service contract, titled the "AutoNation Vehicle Protection Plan," to be sold in all of its domestic and import stores.
  Mike Jackson, the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer, shared his thoughts on the new plan, which is offered in partnership with The Warranty Group.
  "Offering a private-label service contract is the next logical step in our 'Coast to Coast' branding initiative that we launched two years ago," Jackson said. "This marks the beginning of branding our customer protection products with the AutoNation name.
  "The AutoNation Vehicle Protection Plan provides best-in-class coverage for our customers," Jackson added. "When paired with the existing AutoNation pre-paid maintenance program, it adds another layer of trust and confidence in the AutoNation brand."
  Read more about AutoNation Tallies 10 Millionth Vehicle Sale
  4 Stats Showing Used-Car Market Strength
  Monday, Jun. 01, 2015, 02:26 PM
  If there's any doubt to how much the used-car market has grown post-recession, consider the following data from Edmunds.com that compares used sales data from the first quarters of 2010 and 2015, respectively.
  Sourced from Edmunds' , these four statistics give a clear indication of how strong the market has become:
  Nearly 10 Million Used Sales: In the first quarter of 2015, there were 9.81 million total used-vehicle sales, according to Edmunds. That represents a 3.25-percent increase over Q1 figures from 2010.
  Franchised Used Sales Up Over 36 percent: Franchised dealers sold 2.85 million used vehicles in Q1 of this year, which beats first-quarter numbers from 2010 by 36.70 percent.
  More than 66 percent Hike in CPO Sales: There were 614,400 certified pre-owned sales in the first quarter. That is 66.35 percent stronger than CPO sales in the same period of 2010 and represents the best-ever first quarter for the market.
  CPO Commands Greater Share of Franchised Used: Certified vehicles accounted for 17.7 percent of franchised dealers' used sales in the opening quarter of 2010; this past quarter, that share climbed to 21.6 percent.