CARY, N.C. -

Sonic Automotive reported record first-quarter pre-owned unit sales and its EchoPark standalone used-car outlets moved more than 900 vehicles.

Sonic, one of three publicly traded dealer groups to release quarterly results Tuesday, said it retailed 29,333 used cars during the quarter, a 4.3-percent year-over-year improvement.

The EchoPark stores sold 941 cars.

In a news release, Sonic executive vice president of operations Jeff Dyke said: “The used-vehicle market continues to demonstrate its resiliency despite the compression related to new vehicles. Our EchoPark stores continue to grow and mature.

“The expansion in Denver is on schedule and we anticipate opening two additional stores in the second quarter of 2016 and another by the end of the year.  We are also happy to announce we will be introducing the EchoPark brand to the Texas and Carolinas markets in 2017 where we have been actively accumulating property,” he added.

Over at Asbury Automotive Group, the company said it sold 19,376 used retail units in Q1, down from 20,467 a year earlier.

Discussing overall results, Asbury president and chief executive officer Craig Monaghan said in a news release: “Despite continued margin pressure and flat unit sales, our strong parts and service performance and share repurchases enabled us to deliver 5-percent EPS growth.”

Asbury chief operating officer David Hult said: "Even with soft March sales, we were able to grow our front end yield, which is up approximately $100 per vehicle from the low in the second quarter of 2015. This was a direct result of our team's strong performance increasing used vehicle margins and continuing gains in F&I. Likewise, we were able to deliver strong performance in our parts and service business, led by 11-percent growth in our customer pay business.”

Meanwhile, Penske Automotive Group, also announcing earnings on Tuesday, retailed 52,741 used vehicles in Q1, a figure that includes U.S. and international operations. That compares to 48,102 used cars retailed a year ago.