Penske Automotive predicts double-digit growth in 2013
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DETROIT -- Penske Automotive Group expects to boost total revenue by at least 10 percent in 2013 as a result of growth in same-store retail sales plus acquisitions, CEO Roger Penske says.
The company will report its fourth-quarter and 2012 results on Feb. 6.
"We would hope to grow our business by a double-digit percentage this year," said Penske in an interview.
Penske said he sees a lot of opportunity for mergers and acquisitions, especially around dealerships that sell premium luxury brands. Some manufacturers of those vehicles expect dealers to make costly store improvements, and many dealers prefer to sell their stores rather than invest millions, he said.
Penske Automotive Group ranks second on Automotive News' list of the top 125 dealership groups in the United States with retail sales of 154,829 new vehicles in 2011.
Worldwide, the group sold more than 330,000 new and used vehicles in 2012, on an annualized basis, Penske said.
"One of our primary missions is to get to a 1-to-1 used-to-new ratio for the company," Penske said.
For 2012, he says, the group sold about 0.84 used cars for each new vehicle sold, up from about 0.50 for each new vehicle a few years ago.
"We have really focused on used cars," Penske said. "The Internet has really helped us draw a customer for a used car from a wider radius."
Penske prefers to sell used cars at retail rather than wholesale, he said.
"There has been a preponderance of premium luxury cars, so dealers have wholesaled cars that are not of the premium make they represent," Penske said.
"We're taking just the opposite approach. We're selling everything we trade."
You can reach Jamie LaReau at jlareau@crain.com. -- Follow Jamie on 
