Asbury launches Clicklane digital retailing tool, five-year plan

Public dealership group Asbury Automotive Group Inc. on Wednesday rolled out a new digital retailing platform called Clicklane that it says will help it more than double its revenue to $20 billion in 2025.

Asbury, the seventh-largest new-vehicle retailer as ranked by Automotive News, announced the growth goals Wednesday. It says it plans to expand from an estimated $8 billion in revenue in 2020 by adding $5 billion in incremental business through Clicklane over the next five years, plus another $5 billion through acquisitions and $2 billion in same-store revenue growth. Asbury posted revenue of $7.21 billion in 2019.

Clicklane replaces Asbury's previous digital retailing tool called Push Start. The change is the latest step in the dealership group's 4-year-old-plus omnichannel strategy, Asbury CEO David Hult said in a statement. Omnichannel retailing refers to offering a seamless buying experience to consumers whether they shop online, in-store or both.

Asbury shares gained 4.3 percent to close at $122.82 on Wednesday.

"With Clicklane, we have created one platform for the entire life cycle of vehicle ownership and found the solution to what has been a fragmented process," Hult said. "Others may have pioneered the online car-buying experience, but we believe that we have perfected it."

Asbury executives demonstrated the tool Wednesday, showing an end-to-end car-buying process that was completed in less than 15 minutes.

Features of the platform include:

• Generation of trade-in values and loan payoff amounts that are accurate to the penny.
• Real payment figures that are customized with local taxes and fees.
• A loan marketplace, which includes more than 30 lenders.
• VIN-specific finance and insurance products customized to the vehicle and consumer.
• The ability to sign documents online via DocuSign.
• A service and collision appointment scheduler.

Asbury partnered with Florida software company Gubagoo for its new platform. The dealership group said Clicklane will enhance the car-buying experience across its store network. The platform also will give Asbury a way to enter new markets selling only used vehicles "as a standalone Clicklane brand," the company's statement said.

An Asbury store in Florida piloted the technology, and it is now being used in several Asbury dealerships. The platform will be rolled out across the company by the end of March, the company said.

Asbury ranks No. 7 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 105,243 new vehicles in 2019.