Sonic Automotive plans to sacrifice some margin on car sales in the second half of 2026 and make it up on volume, especially in the used-car segment, as customers seek affordable cars and trucks. The company is also relaunching its EchoPark used-only channel and aiming to boost used-car unit sales at its franchised new-car dealerships by an average of about 25%, or an additional 20 cars per month each. [1] Truck sales remain a core focus in this strategy.
Targeting a Lower Price Point
“You’re going to see used really, really grow,” said Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive, during an earnings conference call on July 30. He noted that used-car prices are approaching a sweet spot where, on average, used vehicles are half the price of new ones. “That’s when the used business really fires,” Dyke added.
Efforts to lower prices at EchoPark include sourcing more used cars outside of expensive wholesale auctions. Danny Wieland, Sonic’s vice president of investor relations, said that in the first quarter, 32% of sales were non-auction sourced. This figure rose to 42% in the second quarter.
The company’s inventory in Q2 included some sought-after higher-mileage, more affordable vehicles and some used electric vehicles. Earlier this year, Sonic also started making some dealer trades from the franchised, new-car side available to EchoPark locations for the first time. The EchoPark segment accounted for 19,601 retail used units in the quarter, up 17% versus a year ago.
While retail used-vehicle gross profit was down 9% for EchoPark to $6.4 million, total gross profit including F&I and wholesale vehicle sales was up 3% to $64.5 million. The company uses “same market” as a reporting basis for comparing year-over-year results instead of “same store.”
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Strategic Hub Expansion
The background on this strategy involves Sonic cutting the number of EchoPark locations in 2023 and 2024. The chain shrank from 52 locations at the end of 2022 to 18 locations at the end of 2025. These cutbacks were in response to a shortage of late-model used cars.
Essentially, the locations EchoPark closed were smaller satellite locations for bigger “hubs,” but the hubs stayed open. Dyke has said in earlier earnings calls that the hub locations saw their business take off when EchoPark didn’t have to keep so many locations stocked. This arrangement makes same-store comparisons less meaningful than comparing how the markets performed over time.
Dyke expects the company to add at least one more location to the current 18 in the fourth quarter of 2026. He said it would be relatively easy and economical to add more EchoPark locations, but the company is staying conservative for now. “It is just turn a little lever here and there, or pull a lever here and there, and we can push our volume up drastically. So that is going to happen,” Dyke said.
In addition to EchoPark, Sonic is pushing for more used-car sales at its franchised dealerships. Sonic, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported it has 107 franchised dealerships, 18 EchoPark locations and 20 powersports locations. The company has a goal of selling an average of at least 100 used cars per month at its franchised new-car dealerships. This would be an increase of about 25% from the current level.
