Sonic Automotive’s EchoPark brand continues to grow despite industry setbacks – Jeff Dyke

Sonic Automotive opened its newest preowned EchoPark brand store in Houston, Texas on Sept. 8, 2020, making it the eleventh retail store for the brand since launching in 2014. On today’s show, we are talking to Jeff Dyke, President of Sonic Automotive, about this latest expansion and what it means for Sonic Automotive as a whole.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, Sonic Automotive hasn’t slowed down a bit. The brand new eleventh EchoPark location in Southwest Houston is already on pace to sell 200 cars this month. The industry powerhouse also opened up an EchoPark delivery center in Greenville, South Carolina just a few weeks ago. Dyke expects to push 75 to 100 cars this month in this new market. EchoPark intends to open 140 of these locations by 2025. Using Sonic’s big distribution network, these delivery centers bring the EchoPark brand closer to consumers while keeping costs low.

Sonic Automotive’s new-vehicle retail stores have been improving every month as well. Dyke expects stores to come close to reaching the same volume of sales as last year. In fact, he sees higher margins and better throughput due to the current supply and demand conditions.

Sonic is also hot on the acquisition trail. Its liquidity and balance sheets are better than they have ever been. Over the next few quarters, Dyke expects some serious M&A activity.

Prior to being elected President of Sonic Automotive back in 2018, Jeff Dyke held several positions in the company including EVP of Operations and Division COO for the Southeast. He first joined Sonic in 2005 as the Vice President of retail strategy, after spending nine years with AutoNation.