DULUTH, Ga. -

Asbury Automotive Group made a new appointment to its board of directors last week, adding executive vice president and chief operating officer Michael Kearney.

With Kearney’s appointment, Asbury’s board of directors now consists of nine members.

“I am pleased to welcome Michael as a member of our Board,” Asbury chairman Thomas DeLoach Jr. said. "Michael has over 30 years of automotive retail experience, 22 of which are with this company, and has cultivated numerous deep relationships throughout the industry. He is an outstanding addition to our board.”

President and chief executive officer Craig Monaghan added, “Michael’s demonstrated leadership abilities and extensive knowledge of the automotive retail business have proven invaluable in rebuilding our company and positioning us well with a strong operational foundation for the future.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with Michael, and I look forward to serving on the board with him,” Monaghan went on to say.

In 1990, Kearney joined Asbury’s Crown Automotive Group as chief financial officer. In 2000, he assumed the role of president and CEO of Crown Automotive Group, and then president of Asbury’s former Eastern Region (which included North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida) in 2008.

Crown, which grew from eight to 18 dealerships throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia, merged with Asbury in 1998.

The company also highlighted Kearney played a key role in Asbury’s public offering in 2002.

“I am honored to become a member of our board of directors,” Kearney said. “I look forward to serving in this new capacity and continuing my work with our dealership operations.”

The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter performance on Tuesday.

That rundown will be coming off Asbury’s second-quarter accomplishments in which the company pulled up used retail sales by 6 percent and increased overall used revenue by 7 percent.

The second quarter was part of a period when Asbury hit its best-ever quarter earnings per share from continuing operations ($0.69), while increasing net income from $14.2 million to $21.1 million on a year-over-year basis.

During that quarter, the dealer group moved 14,897 used vehicles, compared to 14,036 used sales in the second quarter of 2011.

On the used-vehicle side, total revenue (including retail and wholesale) came in at $339.1 million, compared to $316.7 million in the year-ago period. Used retail revenues climbed from $269.1 million to $287.0 million, while wholesale revenues jumped from $47.6 million to $52.1 million.

That said, the company found that retail margins — including those on the used-car side — were “under pressure,” similar to what the rest of the business has experienced.

Specifically, used retail gross margins for Asbury slid from 10.5 percent in the second quarter of 2011 to 9.1 percent in the more recent period, and new-vehicle gross margins fell from 7.2 percent to 6.5 percent.