MEDFORD, Ore. -

Lithia & Driveway nearly doubled its used-vehicle revenue in the second quarter, part of an all-around strong first half for the dealer group’s pre-owned operations.

Starting with those revenue figures, Lithia pulled in $1.80 billion in used retail revenue during Q2, a 95.7% year-over-year increase. In the first half of the year, Lithia’s used retail revenue was up 75.7% at $3.16 billion.

The gains in wholesale used-vehicle revenue were even more pronounced.

For Q2, Lithia’s wholesale revenue more than quadrupled, climbing 323.8% from $51.3 million to $217.4 million.

In the first half, Lithia’s wholesale revenue was at $352.6 million, a 198.8% spike.

Lithia sold 70,254 used retail units in Q2, a 61.5% uptick. For the first half, it moved 129,281 used retail vehicles for a 50.1% lift.

Gross margins on used retail sales came in at 12.9% for the second quarter, compared to 10.7% a year ago. First-half gross margins on used retail sales came in at 11.7%, compared to 10.5% in the first half of 2020.

Lithia generated $3,311 average gross profit per used retail unit for the quarter, up 46.6% year-over-year. For the first six months of the year, it came in at $2,852, a 30.5% uptick.

Offering some overall commentary on the results, Lithia & Driveway president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer said: "Our team's high performance, alongside the robust, demand-driven retail environment in the second quarter, resulted in same-store revenue growth of 20% for new vehicles, 49% for used vehicles, 39% for F&I and 3% for service, body and parts compared to 2019.

"We achieved our initial Driveway monthly volume milestone in the final month of the quarter and are on pace to reach our target of 15,000 Driveway transactions this year. Combined with our outpaced growth in our core business and network development, we are considerably ahead of our year one goals laid out in our 5-Year Plan announced in July 2020," DeBoer said.