Content area
The nation's top ten dealership groups were the same in 2000 as they were in 1999, but aggressive acquisitions shuffled eight of the rankings. Sonic Automotive Inc of Charlotte NC made the biggest move, jumping from the No.5 position to No.2 last year.
The nation's top 10 dealership groups were the same in 2000 as they were in 1999, but aggressive acquisitions shuffled eight of the rankings.
Sonic Automotive Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., made the biggest move. It jumped from the No. 5 position in 1999 to No. 2 last year.
The publicly held dealership company acquired 72 dealerships in 1999 and 11 in 2000. With a total of 112 dealerships, 168 franchises and 31 brands, Sonic sold 131,365 new vehicles and racked up $5.62 billion in revenue.
Sonic showed dramatic increases in sales and revenues in 2000 because sales and revenues of the dealerships acquired in 1999 reflected only a portion of that year's performance, said Sonic President Scott Smith
"We picked up First America Automotive in December 1999; we picked up $1.5 billion in revenues," Smith said. "We acquired close to $1 billion in additional revenues as well in 2000."
AutoNation Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the nation's largest dealership chain in 1999, remained at the top of Automotive News' list of top 100 dealership groups in 2000. AutoNation retailed 489,000 new vehicles in 2000.
The list ranks the groups by 2000 retail unit sales of new vehicles.
More going public
John Cunningham, a partner at Accenture, a management and technology consultant, said he expects large dealership groups to go public in the next two or three years.
Consolidation a trend
He also expects that consolidation to continue. He said the companies can realize economies of scale on products and services, and are large enough to institute the best practices and processes among employees.
Cunningham predicts publicly held dealer groups will control 15 percent of the retail automotive market within three years.
AutoNation, Sonic, UnitedAuto Group Inc. of Detroit, Group I Automotive Inc. of Houston and lithia Motors Inc. of Medford, Ore. - all publicly held - accounted for 4.9 percent of the new vehicles retailed in 2000. "If you look at these large auto retail groups, there are some levers they can pull to drive shareholder value," Cunningham said.
Sonic's Smith said his company has plans to acquire more stores this year. He said the company is particularly interested in the Southeast and Southwest, where it already has a presence. But the company is not opposed to looking at new markets, he said.
"There are a lot of dealerships out there for sale," he said.
Sales up, size down
While AutoNation's new-vehicle retail sales increased from 468,981 units in 1999 to 489,000 in 2000, the company got a bit smaller.
AutoNation went from 290 dealerships and 395 franchises in 1999 to 282 dealerships and 375 franchises in 2000. The company's revenues decreased from $20.9 billion in 1999 to $19.6 billion in 2000.
Sonic's move pushed Asbury Automotive Group of Stamford, Conn., from No. 2 in 1999 to No. 3 in 2000.
Also moving down a notch in 2000 was fourth place UnitedAuto and fifth place V.T. Inc. of Shawnee Mission, Kan.
Group 1, at No. 6, swapped places with Hendrick Automotive Group of Charlotte, N.C., at No. 7. Also swapping places in 2000 was No. 10 Planet Automotive of Coral Gables, Fla., and No. 9 Lithia Motors.
Aside from AutoNation, Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., of Columbus, Ga., at No. 8 was the only other top 10 group to keep its ranking from 1999 to 2000.
Seven new groups appeared in the top 100 list.
Back on the list
Making its first appearance on the list since 1996 was Staluppi Auto Group of Riviera Beach, Fla., coming in at No. 14.
John Staluppi, who owns the dealership company with his son John Jr., said he sold 10 dealerships to UnitedAuto in 1997. He bought two stores back from United Auto in 1999 and, through a series of acquisitions, now owns 14 stores.
The dealerships retailed 26,873 new vehicles in 2000.
Copyright Crain Communications, Incorporated Apr 23, 2001