BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -

The key initiatives chairman Roger Penske discussed most when he outlined Penske Automotive Group’s objectives for 2013 revolved around growing revenue by more than 10 percent as well as how the company plans to revamp its store websites and more.

In order to reach that targeted revenue growth, Penske thinks it will come through a combination of same-store performance as well as acquisitions “that complement our brand mix and geographic strategies as we look to build scale in our areas of concentration.”

That comment piqued the interest of Wall Street analysts who joined Penske for a conference call Wednesday as the company released its fourth-quarter and full-year financial statements. Among its most recent activity, Penske acquired Toyota and Lexus stores in Madison, Wisc., in December as well as BMW and Mini dealerships in Ontario, Calif., last October.

Along with same-store revenue rises, Penske told analysts that the company needs to make more acquisitions to hit its revenue objectives.

“We would expect to have some, but we’re not ready to announce right now,” Penske said. “I think there are a number of opportunities out there both domestically and internationally that we’re looking at.”

Later in the call, Penske was asked whether the market is more ripe for acquisitions than it was a year or two ago.

“I would say there are probably more people out there today that are looking at potentially selling their business,” Penske responded. “Remember the one data point that I think the market has to understand is that only 10 percent of the market is owned by the public retailers.

“The good news is I think the general perception about an automotive retailer that’s public is much better than it was in the past. I think AutoNation broke the glass and started this route with us about 12, 13, 14 years ago,” Penske continued.

Penske explained that favorable perception and potential for acquisition is enhanced because of management quality and the amount of money Penske, AutoNation and other companies are spending for capital expenditures.

“We spent over $2 billion. AutoNation spent over $3.5 billion. I know Group 1 and the rest are spending a lot of money, too,” Penske said. “I think it’s exactly what the brands need in this time period. That’s a big factor as we go forward.”

So when might Penske be ready to make more acquisitions?

“I think all the phones are ringing,” Penske said. “You just have to decide strategically do you want to be international do you want to be domestic. All of us want to move on stores where you already have scale with centralized offices.”

Enhancements of Store Websites and More

Along with all of the acquisition discussion, Penske also elaborated how what he wants the company to do to store websites as well as the corporate site, PenskeCars.com, a platform he said already generates about 1 million visits monthly.

Penske explained the company will be “rolling out website enhancements aimed at improving overall design, performance and effectiveness of all of our websites, brand by brand.”

He is also looking for “improved navigation and system functionality including inventory images, pricing and descriptions. This will drive online performance.”

Penske added, “We will also improve our customer relationships management programs through enhanced communications and data warehouses to drive consistency in our customer communication processes.”

The chairman acknowledged the challenge of enhancing online offerings can be tricky since Penske is so heavily entrenched with luxury brands, especially BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Activity connected to those three brands represented 49 percent of the company’s total revenue for 2012.

Penske said, “The most important things when you look at the Internet — are we able to dissect the traffic? Are we able to understand what gets us the clicks?”

To get a handle on those questions, Penske indicated the company has looked at strategy used by other publicly traded dealer groups, OEM websites and as well as some of the best performing non-automotive sites.

“We’ve got good group working on it. People in the field have bought into it,” Penske said.

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.