Sonic started the first two months of the year strong with same-store revenue growing 17 percent. But March results, amid stay-at-home orders across the country, fell sharply. Same-store new-vehicle volumes fell by a third and same-store used-vehicle sales tumbled 26 percent.
Sonic said all stores remain open for service and are offering “various levels” of vehicle sales depending on state and local orders.
April new-vehicle sales fell about 40 percent and used-vehicle sales at franchise stores and standalone EchoPark stores are down about 30 percent, Dyke said. Fixed operations gross profit in April also dropped about 40 percent.
But Sonic has seen improvement as the weeks in April ticked by and expects to see used-vehicle sales at franchised and EchoPark stores return to pre-coronavirus levels in July, followed by new-vehicle sales in August and fixed operations in August or September.
Smith said Sonic’s forecast doesn’t include any government stimulus that could come to help vehicle sales such as a Cash for Clunkers 2.0 program.
“If something like that were to come out, which we hope that it does, then we might have some revisions to our projections,” he said. “We sure would love to see that.”
