AutoNation, Inc. is an American automotive retailer based in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, which provides new and pre-owned vehicles and associated services in the United States. The company was founded by Wayne Huizenga in 1996, starting with twelve AutoNation locations, and now has more than 300 retail outlets.Bradsher, Keith
"Huizenga Wants to Dominate the Market"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', pp. D1, March 6, 1997. AutoNation continued growing by acquiring other companies in the car rental business such as National Car Rental, Spirit Rent-A-Car, Value Rent-A-Car, Snappy Car Rental and more. In 2011, AutoNation was the first auto retailer in the United States to sell a total of 8 million vehicles.

History

1996–2008

Before its acquisition by Republic Industries in 1997, but under the early division brand name "AutoNation", the company was a growing network of used automobile superstores. In 1995, H. Wayne Huizenga of Republic Industries became chairman of the board of directors and through Republic's ownership of AutoNation, sought to expand its business into used auto sales throughout the United States. Republic's sales for 1995 were $5.2 billion. In 1996, Republic Industries began purchasing new car dealerships and offering long-term contracts to owners who joined the newly created automotive division of Republic Industries, which led to the company operating twelve retail locations under the "AutoNation" brand. Later that year, Alamo Rent A Car was purchased by Republic Industries for $625 million, and a 2-for-1 stock split in Republic stock was also completed. In 1997, Republic continued its acquisitions in the car rental business with the purchase of

National Car Rental National Car Rental is a private American rental car agency based in Clayton, Missouri, United States. National is owned by Enterprise Holdings, along with other agencies including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Alamo Rent a Car. National typically c ...

, Spirit Rent-A-Car, Value Rent-A-Car, Snappy Car Rental, and EuroDollar Rent A Car. Huizenga had Republic start consolidating operations between new and used cars and its rental companies into one operation. Acquiring six

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

dealerships in Arizona and Florida, Republic sold the dealerships to Saturn in 1997 because they did not generate enough sales, despite being a successful brand. In 1997, the company acquired Maroone Automotive Group of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

for $200 million in Republic stock. In an attempt to expand the company's electronic security division, the company offered to purchase ADT. The acquisition failed, and in October 1997, Republic sold its electronic security division. Republic Industries offered in July 1998 an initial public offering of its original core waste disposal business as

Republic Services Republic Services, Inc. is a North American waste disposal company whose services include non-hazardous solid waste collection, waste transfer, waste disposal, recycling, and energy services. It is the second largest provider of waste disposal in ...

and it was from this sale of 36% of Republic Services stock, the company netted $1.4 billion to be used to fund the new company being formed. As a result of this sale, the company changed its name to AutoNation to highlight its focus on the automobile industry. In 1998, CarMax brought a lawsuit against Republic for copyright and trademark infringement. CarMax received a $50 million jury award in its lawsuit, but it was overturned on appeal in 1998. In April 1998, competitor Drivers' Mart was purchased for $40 million. The remaining 64% of Republic Services was divested to Republic Industries shareholders in 1999. The company's first chief executive officer (CEO), Steve Berrard, eventually resigned from the company in July 1999. Mike Jackson, the new CEO, previously of Mercedes Benz USA, moved to spin off the car rental business as "ANC Rental" and close all newly built "AutoNation USA" used car megastores, due to losses of $25 million per quarter. Plans to brand all automotive retail stores as "AutoNation stores" were cancelled. A rebranding of a more recognizable 'regional brand' focus was instituted. In January 2003, Jackson was named chairman of the board, replacing Huizenga. On October 24, 2005, the AutoNation building in downtown Fort Lauderdale suffered significant damage due to

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin and the second-most intense tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere, both based on barometric pressure, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Wilma's rapid intensifi ...

. The company has since transferred to another nearby building. In 2006, Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation announced that his company would be reducing orders from the three major vehicle manufacturers as

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, Ford and

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

in 2007 and altered the company's purchase pattern to include purchasing more imported vehicles as

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, Mercedes and

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

, due to anticipated view of further market share losses by US automakers. resulting in high dealer

2009–present

In 2009, during the

great recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, AutoNation announced a newly formed AutoNation Payment Protection program, promising that the dealership will buy back any car at market value, should the owner lose their job. By 2011, AutoNation was the first auto retailer in the U.S. to sell a total of 8 million vehicles. In January 2013, AutoNation announced that it would replace localized brand names of its car retail operations with its own name. This re-branding across the US was supported and approved by the major automotive manufacturers, including GM, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, VW and Hyundai. It involved a total of 210 franchises operating under previously assigned local group names. In May 2013, AutoNation partnered with Indy Car Series Champion Ryan-Hunter Reay to support his "Racing for Cancer" charity. This charity served as a key component of the AutoNation cancer charity program which was founded as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. In August 2013, AutoNation announced the sale of its 9 millionth vehicle which was a record achievement for the industry. On April 11, 2017, ''USA Today'' wrote that AutoNation's CEO Mike Jackson questioned the market value of Tesla, the maker of electric cars, by saying that Tesla is "either one of the great

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

s of all time or it’s gonna work out." The previous day, Tesla passed General Motors as the most valuable American automotive manufacturer, measured by its market capitalization. Jackson also said, "Clearly General Motors is undervalued and Tesla is overvalued. Anybody can see that." In June 2017, AutoNation sold a total of 11 million vehicles. On November 2, 2017, AutoNation announced that

Waymo Waymo LLC, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Google's parent company (Alphabet Inc., Alphabet Inc). T ...

, a developer of self-driving technology, enlisted AutoNation to maintain and repair their driverless vehicles fleet. During the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, AutoNation faced criticism after reports in

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

revealed that the company applied for at least $266 Million in SBA

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and ...

loan under the CARES Act in order to allow at least 7,000 employees who had been furloughed to return to work and received up to $95 Million in funds for its over 300 dealerships located throughout the United States. SBA Paycheck Protection Program loans were originated by commercial banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions; according to AutoNation's Form 8-K filed with the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

on March 26, the company's "administrative agent" and lender as of the filing date was JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. On April 24, AutoNation announced that it would be returning $77 Million to J.P Morgan.

Cheryl Miller Cheryl Deann Miller (born January 3, 1964) is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA on TNT, NBA games on Turner Sports, TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked ...

resigned her position as CEO for AutoNation in July 2020. She was replaced by Mike Jackson, who was to fill the role until April 2022. In November 2021, Mike Jackson retired from his 20 years service to AutoNation and was replaced by Mike Manley, previously Head of Americas at Stellantis N.V. and former CEO of

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA), now part of Stellantis, was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of Car, automobiles, commercial vehicles, List of auto parts, auto parts and production systems. ...

. On April 9, 2021, it was officially announced that AutoNation had reached a

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

agreement for the stadium of Fort Lauderdale-based

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (), commonly referred to as Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (M ...

. The team's stadium became branded as

DRV PNK Stadium Chase Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. Built on the site of the former Lockhart Stadium, the 21,550-seat stadium is the home pitch of Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer (MLS) and its MLS Next ...

, a tie-in with AutoNation's

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

awareness campaign. In 2022, AutoNation sold its 14 millionth vehicle in the United States since its founding. In January 2023, AutoNation acquired RepairSmith, a full-service mobile solution for automotive repair and maintenance, for $190 million.

Revenue by product category

References

External links