Sonic Automotive Inc., fresh off a two-store acquisition in Colorado in July, has expanded again in the state with the purchase of an Audi-Volkswagen dealership.
Sonic bought Audi Glenwood Springs/Glenwood Springs Volkswagen on Monday from Boardwalk Auto Group, of Plano, Texas. Terms were not disclosed, but Sonic is keeping the dealership names.
The Audi-VW store is Sonic's second dealership in Glenwood Springs, which is about an hour's drive northwest of Aspen. Sonic has owned Land Rover of Roaring Fork there since 2014.
With the acquisition, Sonic has seven Audi franchises and four Volkswagen franchises in its portfolio. The public group now has 87 new-vehicle dealerships, according to a Sonic spokesman.
In July, Sonic made its first franchised dealership acquisition in nearly seven years when it bought Grand Junction Subaru and Grand Junction Volkswagen in Colorado from Ron Bubar.
Late that month, Sonic President Jeff Dyke told Automotive News that the group would be acquiring more dealerships by the end of the year.
"We've just never been in a position in years to buy franchised stores from a financial perspective, and now we've really shored up our balance sheet," Dyke said at the time. "We're in great shape from a liquidity perspective [and] have plenty of access to capital. There are a lot of stores for sale."
Fellow public auto retailer Asbury Automotive Group Inc. also expanded in Colorado in August with the acquisition of Greeley Subaru.
With the Audi-VW purchase, Sonic now has seven dealerships in Colorado spread across Denver, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction.
Sonic also has three EchoPark used vehicle-only stores in Colorado.
Sonic, of Charlotte, N.C., ranks No. 7 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 93,281 new vehicles in 2020.
