BY CHRIS OFFICER ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Alr eady one of the largest automotive retailers in the U. S., Sonic Automotive is making an aggressive push into the two-wheel market, and with 20 dealerships across the U. S., it is also poised on becoming one of the country’ s largest powersports retailers.

Sonic’ s latest positioning within the powersports segment came in April, after the company acquired five Harley-Davidson dealerships across key U. S. markets as part of its ongoing growth strategy.

The newly acquired stores— located in California, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina— expand Sonic’ s reach in some of the country’ s most active and all-season riding regions and deepen its presence within the Harley-Davidson dealer network.

“ It’ s a very exciting time for us,” said Sonic Automotive President and Director Jeff Dyke when he joined PSB during a Power Hour podcast.“ These acquisitions will help balance out some of the stores in northern states that we own, which kind of shut down during the wintertime.”

These latest acquisitions increase Sonic’ s powersports presence in the Southern half of the U. S., which consisted of a collection of stores in Texas, North Carolina, and Florida. Dyke says it’ s a big boost when dealerships, particularly those in the Southern and Western U. S., can sell year-round.

“ When we’ re really selling 24−7 in those environments versus when it’ s snowing and icy outside, and we’ re just not selling a lot of motorcycles … It makes all the difference in the world.”

Sonic’ s extension into powersports was a natural fit, and acquiring independently owned dealerships across the country was something the company had plenty of experience

doing. Sonic essentially just plugged its business model of snapping up auto dealerships into powersports. But acquiring dealerships across the U. S. is just one element of Sonic’ s growth. Developing and implementing operating procedures is also key, and a process that takes time. How much time?

“ Four or five months of good solid work for our team just to get in there and get into the environment and the culture the way that we want,” Dyke says.“ We expect the guest experience in our stores to be exceptional. Sonic Automotive is really known for that.” But putting Sonic’ s own specific imprint on all its acquisitions isn’ t

a universal recipe. Location, brands, technology … they all hold relevance. However, one area of a dealership that Sonic doesn’ t change is the name.

“ There’ s a lot of equity in the names,” Dyke says.“ We’ re going to let the original names ride. There’ s just too much value in them.”

THE HARLEY BRAND Harley-Davidson is another example of Sonic respecting the built-in capital. Harley dealerships represent a little more than half of Sonic’ s powersports portfolio, and Dyke says the company isn’ t in the business of going in and switching everything

In addition to selling more than 1,100 bikes during the 2025 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Sonic sold a motorcycle in downtown Sturgis for the first time in its 85-year history. Sonic Automotive President and Director Jeff Dyke, bottom left, says he believes the five South Dakota dealerships have the chance to sell five times the amount it did during the 2025 rally.

around, as there’ s too much brand equity in the Harley name.

What Sonic does do is take proven methods it’ s developed in the auto industry and apply them to powersports, such as updating facilities and implementing new technologies.

Advertising is another element Sonic taps into. As Dyke explains, some dealership acquisitions didn’ t allocate significant resources to marketing, and that’ s something Dyke says Sonic can really leave a strong signature.“ These stores really haven’ t ever spent any money from an advertising perspective,” Dyke says.“ We’ re bringing a lot of that to the table, and not just traditional-type advertising,