54.7 F
Laguna Hills
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
-Advertisement-

Fletcher Claims No. 1 Spot on Ward’s List by Default

For the first time, Fletcher Jones Motorcars of Newport Beach tops Ward’s Dealer 500 list of the largest auto dealers. Well, sort of.

Fletcher, the list’s longtime No. 2, is No. 1 this year because of the omission of the nation’s top selling dealer, Longo Toyota in El Monte.

Longo’s parent company, El Monte-based Penske Motor Group, opted not to release the dealership’s 2007 sales, according to industry magazine Ward’s.

That made Mercedes dealer Fletcher Jones No. 1 by default with 2007 sales of $571 million, down $17 million from 2006.

It’s unlikely Fletcher actually overtook Longo last year. In 2006, Longo had sales of $703 million, or $114 million more than Fletcher at that time.

In 2007, Fletcher sold 6,223 new autos worth $391 million and 2,109 used autos at $92 million. Service revenue was $15 million. Body shop revenue was $35 million. Finance, insurance and parts and accessories brought in $36 million.

Last year was one of the worst on record for auto dealers. This year, auto dealers are forecasting an even bigger drop.

The story that goes along with Ward’s list is headlined “The Party’s Over.”

“For the first time, in recent memory, the Ward’s Dealer 500 is down,and it’s down in all categories,” the story reads.






Fletcher Jones: tops Ward’s Dealer 500 list

Revenue for the 500 dealerships was down $3.9 billion to $58.7 billion last year. Average revenue per dealership in 2007 was $117.5 million, down from $125.2 million in 2006.

Auto industry observers are predicting dealership closures, especially for domestic dealers, which tend to have too many unprofitable dealerships.

Toyota and Honda dealers are less likely to be affected, and not just because their sales aren’t as bad as sales of U.S. brands. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have tighter limits on the number of dealerships that can sell their autos.

Another trend from the list: Dealers are adding other brands to offset lower sales by poorer performing makes. One local example is Allen Cadillac GMC in Laguna Niguel, which added Hyundai to its mix.

With new auto sales down, dealerships will be leaning on service and parts and used car sales to help keep them profitable.

Dealers also are rolling out incentives, such as free gas and low financing.

Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim recently advertised a free lunch, zero money down and 0% financing on some models.

Newport Lexus, Fletcher’s neighbor and rival in swank appeal, was No. 67 on Ward’s list.

The dealership, which opened in 2006, had $165 million in sales in 2007.

Newport Lexus sold 2,945 new autos for $131 million and 535 used autos for $18 million. It had $5 million in revenue from finance and insurance, $6 million from service and $6 million from parts and accessories.

Crevier BMW in Santa Ana is No. 7 on the list with $287 million in revenue. It sold 4,217 new autos in 2007 for $196 million. Crevier, owned by Donald Crevier, sold 1,328 used autos for $42 million. Finance and insurance made up $9 million of sales, service was $16 million and parts and accessories were $22 million.

The next Orange County dealer on the list was David Wilson Automotive Group’s Toyota of Orange at No. 22. The county’s largest Toyota dealer had $207 million in sales, including $145 million in new auto sales and $33 million in used car sales. Finance and insurance brought in $14 million. Service was $8 million. Parts and accessories, $7 million.

At No. 57 is AutoNation Inc.’s House of Imports in Buena Park. The Mercedes dealer had total revenue of $175 million.

No. 60 Tustin Lexus, also part of David Wilson’s Automotive Group, had $173 million in sales and outpaced the company’s other Lexus dealer, Newport Lexus.

Other OC dealers on the list: No. 140 Toyota of Huntington Beach at $129 million in sales; No. 151 Power Toyota Irvine, $127 million; No. 157 South Coast Toyota, $125 million; No. 160 Elmore Toyota Westminster, $125 million; No. 166 Newport Auto Center, $124 million; No. 192 Honda World Westminster, $118 million; No. 338 Honda Santa Ana, $87 million; No. 497 Infiniti Tustin, $62 million.

The list doesn’t include some dealerships from the Business Journal’s annual list of auto dealers, such as Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel, with yearly sales of about $315 million, and Irvine BMW, with sales of $290 million.


Attendance=Aveo

Guaranty Chevy in Santa Ana gave away an Aveo compact car to Israel Mendoza, a student at Santa Ana’s Segerstrom High School who had a perfect attendance record.

This is the second year Bruce Hamlin’s Chevy dealership has offered a car for perfect attendance.

The winner is chosen from a pool of students from all nine high schools in the Santa Ana school district. There were 342 students with perfect attendance this year.


Store Openings

Bundles & Bumps, a store for new moms, is open at The Camp in Costa Mesa. Lululemon Athletica has opened at Irvine Spectrum Center. The store sells yoga clothing. Also opening at Spectrum this fall are Wet Seal and DC Shoes, and Forever 21 recently expanded its space there.

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-