Sonic Automotive Inc.,  one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers, reported improved consumer demand, new and used sales volumes along with foxed op revenues.

Sonic earlier provided an updated outlook on anticipated vehicle sales volume and parts and service gross profit for the remainder of 2020. Based on the performance described above and current market conditions, Sonic expects to report GAAP earnings per diluted share from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2020 in the range of $0.23 - $0.33. Additionally, the company reaffirmed it expects to achieve permanent SG&A expense reductions of approximately $7.0 million per month on a go-forward basis, as compared to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“We continue to see improving operating conditions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including steadily increasing automotive retail consumer demand,” said David Smith, Sonic’s and EchoPark’s chief executive officer. “Both new and used vehicle unit sales volumes, as well as fixed operations revenues, continue to meet or exceed our forecast at the outset of the pandemic, with used vehicle sales actually higher than last year in both the franchise and EchoPark locations in June.

“More importantly, we have continued to be disciplined in controlling expenses, allowing our franchised dealerships and EchoPark stores to generate greater than expected profitability in May and June month to date, driving our updated outlook for second quarter earnings.”