Sonic Automotive is announcing more details today of its pre-owned strategy, which will include a national chain of used-car only stores. The initiative’s name will be EchoPark and will be launched in Denver in October. Ultimately, Sonic plans to be in approximately 50 markets, employing a hub-type model, each with a main store that will…
California Superstores have sold two more dealerships in the last month in what appears to be a dismantling of the dealer group. The group, which began in late 2010, once owned as many as 11 dealerships but is down to four. The two most recent sales include Courtesy Chevrolet-Cadillac in San Jose and the Folsom Chrysler…
DealerTrack reported strong second quarter earnings yesterday evening beating estimates on revenue by more than $11 million and earning-per-share by $0.04 giving its stock price a small bump during after-hours trading. Revenue for the quarter came in at $224.8 million — 85% higher than second quarter 2013. DealerTrack executives revised year-end revenue projections from $814.0…
The dealership buy-sell market remained hot in July with 27 confirmed acquisition bringing the total for 2014 to 151 rooftops and 225 brands changing hands. In 2013, 110 dealerships changed owners through July. To download an Excel file of this year’s acquisitions click TBR_July_Buy_Sell_Excel. Chevrolet held onto its lead for the year with 16 acquisitions.…
August 21, 2014 — UPDATED: Cox Enterprises announces Cox Automotive — as TBR predicted more than a week ago. Additionally, Manheim announced an acquisition in Brazil, adding to its global footprint. August 9, 2014 — Recently, there have been some intriguing developments in Atlanta at AutoTrader headquarters. Executive Leadership Earlier this week, AutoTrader.com announced it…
UPDATED — Maus calls off deal to join Peacock and First Team. In the last few months, at least three intriguing dealer groups that are potential big players in the buy/sell market have been created. First Team – Peacock & Maus As fast as we publish, sometimes the news changes — David Maus decided not to join…
August 8, 2014 — TrueCar held its first quarterly earnings call as a public company with analysts yesterday and the results they reported were fairly strong — strong enough to push the stock price to over $15 a share (now down to $14.66 a share), which is significantly up from the $9 a share it…
Confirming rumors that have persisted since April, Gannett Co. announced this morning that it is paying $1.8 billion to its four partners to acquire the portion of Cars.com it does not already own. Cars.com is owned by Classified Ventures, which is a joint venture between Gannett, A.H Belo Corp., Graham Holdings Co., Tribune Media and McClatchy. Gannett…
A report in the Orlando Business Journal late yesterday (July 30) seems to confirm what we’ve been hearing the last couple of weeks about David Maus selling his stake in four dealerships back to his majority partners Van Tuyl. The price is rumored to be about $20 million. The Orlando-area stores include David Maus Chevrolet, David Maus Toyota… Continue Reading
OVERVIEW Through the first six months of 2014, 125 dealerships changed ownership, up from 89 through the same period in 2013 according to data compiled by The Banks Report. Eighty-three different buyers accounted for the 125 acquisitions. Note: The 125 does not include the 27 stores Lithia Motors will gain when it closes on its…