George Karolis: Building Auto Retail's $22 Billion Playbook

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He's advised on over 315 dealership transactions worth more than $22 billion. He's watched Park Place, one of the largest deals in industry history, fall apart at the height of COVID and come back together within weeks. And right now, he's telling us this could be the most active M&A year the auto industry has ever seen.

George Karolis, President of Presidio Group, doesn't just track the deals. He's the guy dealers call before they make one.

In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on numbers most dealers never see:

  • Why nearly two-thirds of dealer owners say they're still hunting for acquisitions, and why that leaves as many as 4,000 buyers chasing just 400 deals a year.

  • The exact brand shakeup from Presidio's newest sentiment survey, including which OEM just dropped three spots and why it isn't a surprise, and the sleeper brand insiders think is dramatically underpriced.

  • Why blue sky multiples haven't actually moved in over a decade, and the real reason valuations swing so wildly anyway.

  • What happened when a Carvana-owned Stellantis store ran with a fraction of the staff and none of the floor plan debt everyone assumed they carried, and why Karolis says it's a preview of where every dealership is headed.

  • The inside story behind Presidio's invite-only retailer conference, the one that opened with Nick Saban and closed with Carl Sewell, then followed it up with Jay Leno and Rick Hendrick, and how a dealer group actually gets in the room.

This is the conversation happening in boardrooms at the top 150 dealer groups right now. If you're trying to buy, sell, or just understand where the next eighteen months are heading, you cannot afford to be behind on this one.

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Matt Leone: How DriveCentric Is Changing the Way Dealers Win Customers (Part 2)