Along with unveiling plans to roll out a “One Sonic-One Experience” guest experience initiative next year, Sonic Automotive announced this morning that it plans to open stand-alone pre-owned specialty retail sales locations next year.

This pre-owned business will be run separately from Sonic’s existing new and used dealership sales operations, the company said. Sonic is planning to open its first pre-owned specialty retail store in the Denver market late next year, and intends on taking it national in coming years.

Scott Smith, Sonic president and co-founder, stated, “We have been preparing for this moment over the last several years and are excited to be in a position to share our plans. In particular, we are confident that our new model will not only enhance the value of the business for our stockholders and associates, but it will deliver an experience not yet seen in retail automotive.  

“It is an exciting time, and especially in the pre-owned market, which is roughly three times as big as the new retail market," Smith continued. "Approximately 41 million pre-owned sales occur in the United States annually compared to a current annual sales rate of 15.4 million for new units. We believe the buying experience we will be offering will differentiate us from others in the retail automotive space.”

Jeff Dyke, the company’s executive vice president of retail operations, added, “It’s no secret that the pre-owned opportunity in the United States is tremendous. As Scott commented, the secret is how to actually make the opportunity in the pre-owned industry payoff for investors, associates, and most importantly, our guests. Many companies have attempted to take advantage of this hugely fragmented industry, but only a handful of companies have achieved a measurable share of the market.  

“Our team at Sonic Automotive is one of the most experienced pre-owned teams in the industry.  We have more than doubled our store throughput over the last eight years and, as a team, have sold more than 1.1 million pre-owned vehicles since Sonic was founded,” Dyke added.

“Further, we have been developing our inventory management and technology capabilities for years," he went on to say. "These investments, coupled with our state of the art facilities, customer-centric selling processes and unparalleled training will reinvent the pre-owned buying, trading and servicing experience. Our goal is to provide a guest with an experience that will rival other retail service industries that make customer experience their most important priority.”

Dyke went on to note: “I think it is important for all interested parties to note that we have been preparing for this day for many years. Bringing an innovative change to this industry requires experience, investment and patience.  We have been tirelessly working to create a truly different and amazing experience for our guests. We are very excited for this time in our company’s history.”

As for the One-Sonic One-Experience initiative, officials said this will be rolled out in the middle of next year. In development since 2007, it will include several new proprietary technologies from inventory management and pricing tools to a fully developed “customer-centric CRM tool," the company said.

Smith stated, “We are very excited to deliver the One Sonic-One Experience initiative to our guests. We are confident that, once our guests experience the difference between how vehicles are sold and serviced today versus Sonic's new experience, One Sonic-One Experience will be a significant consideration in the consumer's selection process.  Our new guest experience puts the guest in charge. Our guests will find upgraded, Sonic Automotive sub-branded facilities that support our manufacturer partner brands.  

“They will find state-of-the-art technologies, paperless environments, and helpful associates that are paid to execute and deliver an experience unparalleled in the auto retail industry. Our technologies will allow our guest advocates to complete the buying transaction through one individual — gone will be the days of back and forth negotiations, and waiting lines for appraisals, F&I and deliveries,” he added.

“Our goal is to allow the guest to control the process and move at their pace so that once the vehicle has been selected our team can go to work using these processes and technologies to get our guest on the road in their new vehicle in less than 45 minutes. The level of investment, time and dedication that it took us to get to this point has been significant.  We have invested more than $45.0 million over the last 4 years preparing for these announcements and we are very excited to launch.  Our investment in these initiatives will not only benefit the new, pre-owned and F&I revenue streams, but will enhance our highly profitable fixed operations business.”

Dyke added, “I'm thrilled with the result of the effort to get to this point in our company's history.  While the technology, playbook processes and training took years to develop, the real heavy lifting came through a major change in the culture of this company.  I am very glad that we are finally on the other side of that journey.  I could not be more proud of the team that we have in place today.  This team is ready and will deliver a guest experience never seen before in our industry.”

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