Penske during the first week of May closed two of its small CarShop express locations in the U.K., Penske spokesman Anthony Pordon said last week. Express locations, which are included in the overall store counts, are city center outlets where customers can order and take delivery of vehicles.
The shuttered express sites had increased costs and hadn’t added incremental CarShop sales in the U.K., Pordon said.
Some locations under construction could have delayed openings. Penske has four full-fledged CarShop stores, which feature service departments and reconditioning centers, being built in the U.S. and U.K.
“We’re going to monitor the market before we open those up,” Penske said. “We’re going to open at the right time.”
CarShop sold 63,403 vehicles last year, up 19 percent from 2020. It generated $1.48 billion in annual revenue in 2021.
The business continued to grow in the first quarter of 2022, as revenue more than doubled to $515.8 million on sales of 19,523 vehicles, up 71 percent from the first quarter of 2021. CarShop’s average transaction price rose 23 percent to $21,700, while its average gross profit per vehicle sold dropped 2 percent to $2,155.
The CarShop business is running at a sales rate that would produce sales of 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles in 2022, Penske said.