AutoNation Inc (AN) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for joining AutoNation's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Harry, and I will be your operator today. (Operator Instructions).

早安，感謝您參加 AutoNation 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。我叫哈利，今天我將擔任您的接線生。（操作員指令）。

I would now like to hand the conference over to Derek Fiebig, VP of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may proceed.

現在，我想將會議移交給投資者關係副總裁 Derek Fiebig。謝謝。您可以繼續。

Thank you, Harry, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to AutoNation's fourth quarter 2024 conference call. Being here on our call today will be Mike Manley, our Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Szlosek, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their remarks, we will open up the call to questions.

謝謝你，哈利，大家早安。歡迎參加 AutoNation 2024 年第四季電話會議。今天出席電話會議的有我們的執行長 Mike Manley；以及我們的財務長 Tom Szlosek。在他們發言之後，我們將開始提問。

Before beginning, I'd like to remind you that certain statements and information on this call, including any statements regarding our anticipated financial results and objectives constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from such forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議中的某些聲明和信息，包括有關我們預期的財務結果和目標的任何聲明，均構成《1995 年聯邦私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性聲明。此類前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險，可能導致我們的實際結果或績效與此類前瞻性陳述有重大差異。

Additional discussions of factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are contained in our press release issued today and in our filings with the SEC. Certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules will be discussed on this call. Reconciliations are provided in our materials and on our website located at investors.autonation.com.

有關可能導致我們的實際結果大不相同的因素的更多討論包含在我們今天發布的新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。本次電話會議將討論美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 規則定義的某些非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的資料和網站 investors.autonation.com 上提供了對帳資訊。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給麥克。

Yes. Thanks, Derek, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm going to dive in on the third slide. So we're almost halfway through the first quarter of 2025, and it feels a little bit strange talking about the previous year.

是的。謝謝，德里克，大家早安，謝謝您今天加入我們。我將深入討論第三張投影片。因此，我們已經快要度過 2025 年第一季的一半了，談論去年感覺有點奇怪。

But that said, 2024 was a good year for AutoNation, highlighted by what I think was a super fourth quarter. At the into the year, there were several uncertainties that were difficult to plan for, and these obviously included the US election, the debate and deduction about new vehicle pricing normalization and how would that play out just to name a few. But adding to that uncertainty was the early summer business interruption from the CDK outage, which, as you know, had a significant impact on both quarter two and quarter three.

但話雖如此，2024 年對 AutoNation 來說仍然是豐收的一年，我認為其中亮點是第四季度的出色表現。進入今年以來，存在一些難以預測的不確定因素，其中顯然包括美國大選、有關新車定價正常化的辯論和推論以及其結果將如何等等。但初夏因 CDK 中斷而導致的業務中斷進一步加劇了這種不確定性，如您所知，這對第二季和第三季都產生了重大影響。

Now we'll get into the fourth quarter details in a moment, but for me, we highlighted the quarter was the delivery of 12% same-store new unit volume growth. New vehicle sales is the front end of our profit cycle and volume growth in this area bodes well for the future of our Aftersales and Financial services business, which provide approximately 75% of our gross profit.

現在讓我們來討論第四季的細節，但對我來說，我們強調本季同店新單位銷售成長了 12%。新車銷售是我們利潤週期的前端，該領域的銷售成長預示著我們售後和金融服務業務的未來前景良好，這兩項業務為我們提供了約 75% 的毛利。

Speaking of the sales, the second highlight was achieving year-over-year 5% same-store gross profit growth and improving our gross margin by 110 basis points. Importantly, the growth was principally driven by external customer channels, warranty and customer pay, delivering improvements in gross per repair order and growth in a number of repair orders.

說到銷售，第二個亮點是同店毛利年增5%，毛利率提高110個基點。重要的是，成長主要由外部客戶管道、保固和客戶支付推動，從而帶來了每個維修訂單的毛收入提高和維修訂單數量的增長。

The third highlight was the performance of AN Finance which was introduced in late 2022. Now you will notice in our annual report, which we expect to file later this week that we're giving more prominence to it. So I'd like to say a little bit more time discussing this business than I normally would. Tom will also go into more detail in a few minutes.

第三個亮點是2022年底推出的AN Finance的表現。您將在我們的年度報告中註意到，我們預計將在本週晚些時候提交該報告，我們將更加重視這一點。因此我想比平常多花一點時間來討論這個業務。湯姆還將在幾分鐘內進行更詳細的介紹。

AN Finance had an outstanding 2024, growing its originations by 3 times over 2023 and building a portfolio that now stands north of $1.1 billion. Notwithstanding the significant growth, which came solid from originations from our retail stores, AutoNation Finance only had a 12% penetration of our franchise store finance volume and approximately a 30% penetration of our AN USA Finance volume.

AN Finance 在 2024 年表現出色，其發行量比 2023 年增長了 3 倍，並建立了目前已超過 11 億美元的投資組合。儘管由於我們零售店的穩健成長，AutoNation Finance 仍僅佔據我們特許經營店融資金額的 12%，佔我們 AN USA Finance 金額的 30% 左右。

So there is plenty of headroom for further growth. But as you know, it's not just about origination and volume growth, the quality of the portfolio is critical. And in this area, our performance is encouraging. Throughout the year, we meaningfully improved the average credit rating and quality of our portfolio significantly derisking the business.

因此還有足夠的空間實現進一步的成長。但正如您所知，這不僅僅關乎發起和數量增長，投資組合的品質也至關重要。在這方面我們的表現令人鼓舞。全年我們顯著提高了投資組合的平均信用評級和質量，大大降低了業務風險。

As a result of disciplined origination growth, highly focused portfolio servicing a planned well-executed sale as the majority of the legacy subprime book, which was inherited when we acquired the business, our year-end delinquencies are less than 3%.

由於嚴格的發起成長、高度集中的投資組合服務、有計劃的、執行良好的銷售，以及我們收購該業務時繼承的大部分遺留次級抵押貸款賬簿，我們的年終拖欠率不到 3%。

Now AN Finance continues to gain scale. We were able to reduce our operating expenses from 2023 to 2024, while driving a 40% increase in interest income. This is helping us to rapidly march towards profitability in AN Finance, which we expect to achieve on a run rate basis by the end of 2025.

如今AN Finance的規模不斷擴大。我們能夠將 2023 年至 2024 年的營運費用降低，同時推動利息收入增加 40%。這有助於我們快速邁向 AN Finance 的獲利，我們預計到 2025 年底將實現盈利。

Now on previous calls, you've heard Tom referring to impacts on our CFS profitability because of AN Finance growth. When CFS finances a deal with a third-party lender, the land typically provides an upfront payment or a reserve fee. When AN Finance pays a similar upfront incentive to AutoNation at the onset of each deal, but that incentive is eliminated for accounting purposes as the transaction is all within automation. We have confidence, however, that the incremental net interest income over the life of each loan far outweighs this foregone fee.

在之前的電話會議中，您已經聽到湯姆提到 AN Finance 的成長對我們的 CFS 獲利能力的影響。當 CFS 與第三方貸款人達成交易時，土地通常會提供預付款或底費。在每筆交易開始時，AN Finance 都會向 AutoNation 支付類似的前期獎勵，但由於交易全都在自動化範圍內進行，因此該獎勵在會計方面被取消。然而，我們有信心，每筆貸款期間的增量淨利息收入遠遠超過這筆放棄的費用。

One final point, the relative capital required for this portfolio continues to decline. The portfolio is currently funded 75% of nonrecourse financing which rate we expect to continue increasing. As a result, we expect that return on equity will become highly accretive to AutoNation's ROE as the portfolio matures.

最後一點，該投資組合所需的相對資本持續下降。該投資組合目前由 75% 的無追索權融資提供資金，我們預計這一比例將繼續上升。因此，我們預計，隨著投資組合的成熟，股本回報率將大大增加 AutoNation 的 ROE。

Now moving on AN Finance. We also took important action with our invested capital, signing off eight stores that did not fit into our model, and we're delivering substandard returns. We sold these businesses in extremely attractive valuations. We were then able to deploy this capital into further share repurchases, which I will touch on later.

現在轉向 AN Finance。我們也對所投入的資本採取了重要行動，關閉了八家不符合我們模式的商店，並且我們正在提供低於標準的回報。我們以極具吸引力的估值出售了這些業務。然後，我們能夠將這些資金用於進一步的股票回購，稍後我將談到這一點。

Lastly, we once again recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the World's Most Admired Companies with the highest ranking among automotive retailers. This marks the fifth year in a row that AutoNation has been America's most admired automotive retail, a strong testament to our relentless focus our customers, associates and the communities we live in and serve. And again, I'd like to thank the AutoNation team and congratulate them for that achievement. So all of the guys and girls that are listening to us. Thank you so much.

最後，我們再次被《財星》雜誌評為全球最受尊敬的公司之一，在汽車零售商中排名最高。這標誌著 AutoNation 連續第五年成為美國最受尊敬的汽車零售商，有力地證明了我們對客戶、員工以及我們所居住和服務的社區的不懈關注。我再次感謝 AutoNation 團隊並祝賀他們的成就。所以所有正在聽我們講話的男孩和女孩們。太感謝了。

Turning to our fourth quarter overview on slide 4. Last quarter, I mentioned some trends that we found encouraging, including the reduction in interest rates helping to improve affordability and lift demand for both new and used vehicles and actions we were seeing from a number of our OEM partners balanced demand and production, either through initiatives to make vehicles more affordable or adjusting inventory levels by modulating production. These were well received. And both trends played out and contributed to our fourth quarter results.

請看投影片 4 上的第四季概述。上個季度，我提到了一些我們認為令人鼓舞的趨勢，包括降低利率有助於提高負擔能力並提升新車和二手車的需求，以及我們看到許多 OEM 合作夥伴採取行動平衡需求和生產，無論是通過舉措使汽車更實惠，還是通過調節生產來調整庫存水平。這些都受到了熱烈歡迎。這兩種趨勢都發揮了作用，並對我們的第四季度業績做出了貢獻。

Fourth quarter new vehicle sales were strong. As I mentioned, we grew unit sales by 12% on a same-store basis and like the third quarter gained share in our markets. Sales for the quarter were particularly strong hybrid vehicles and battery electric vehicles and Tom is going to take you through that in greater detail.

第四季新車銷售強勁。正如我所提到的，我們的同店銷售額成長了 12%，並且像第三季一樣，我們的市佔率也有所增加。本季混合動力車和電池電動車的銷售尤其強勁，湯姆將向您詳細介紹這一點。

Domestic segment new vehicle unit sales increased 17%. Import segment sales increased 5% and our premium luxury segment achieved beyond its typically strong seasonal performance, growing units out by 12% from a year ago, with particular strong performance in some of the upper-end vehicle trends.

國內新車銷量成長17%。進口汽車板塊銷售額成長了 5%，我們的高端豪華汽車板塊取得了超越往年強勁的季節性表現，銷量較去年同期成長了 12%，尤其是在一些高端汽車領域表現強勁。

Premium Luxury was a key driver in our overall new vehicle unit profitability, which improved on a sequential basis from Q3 for the first time since fourth quarter 2021. Our Used Vehicle gross profit increased 14% from the fourth quarter a year ago as our actions to manage inventory and vehicle turn rates resulted in higher profitability and we delivered unit sales volume performance in line with the overall used retail industry.

豪華車是我們整體新車部門獲利能力的關鍵驅動因素，該部門獲利能力自 2021 年第四季以來首次較第三季環比提高。我們的二手車毛利潤較去年同期第四季度增長了 14%，因為我們採取的管理庫存和車輛週轉率措施提高了盈利能力，並且我們的單位銷售量表現與整體二手零售行業保持一致。

For CFS, we retained our leading position in the industry as unit profitability increased both year-over-year and sequentially. More than 70% of our CFS income comes from product attachment. For the full quarter, we attached more than two products per contract on average, a nice improvement from the preceding two quarters, which were adversely impacted by the CDK outage.

對於 CFS 而言，我們保持了行業領先地位，因為單位盈利能力同比和環比都有所增加。我們的CFS收入70%以上來自於產品配件。就整個季度而言，我們平均每個合約附加了兩種以上的產品，與前兩個季度相比有了很大的改善，前兩個季度受到了 CDK 中斷的不利影響。

I've already covered my thoughts on AN Finance, which is now exclusively focused on our AutoNation franchise and AN USA customers. Our After-Sales teams continued to deliver strong growth, with same-store gross profit up more than 5% from a year ago and achieved AutoNation's total store records for gross profit for both the fourth quarter and the full year. Total store results included fourth quarter margin expansion of 110 basis points from a year ago and 70 basis points expansion for the full year.

我已經表達了我對 AN Finance 的看法，該公司目前專注於我們的 AutoNation 特許經營權和 AN USA 客戶。我們的售後團隊持續強勁成長，同店毛利較去年同期成長 5% 以上，並創下了 AutoNation 第四季和全年總店毛利記錄。總門市業績包括第四季利潤率較去年同期擴大 110 個基點，全年利潤率擴大 70 個基點。

Now looking back to 2019, we've grown after sales annual gross profit by nearly $600 million and expanded margin by nearly 250 basis points. This more recurring revenue portion of our business is a key part of our customer retention efforts. We remain focused on the development and retention of our technicians and continue to actively hire.

回顧 2019 年，我們的銷售後年毛利成長了近 6 億美元，利潤率提高了近 250 個基點。我們業務中這更具經常性的收入部分是我們保留客戶工作的關鍵部分。我們將繼續專注於技術人員的發展和保留，並繼續積極招募。

Finally, as you saw in our press release, we repurchased approximately $100 million of shares during the fourth quarter at an average price of $166 per share bringing our full year share repurchases to $460 million or nearly 2.9 million shares. This represented a 7% reduction in shares during the year. The $460 million returned to our shareholders during 2024 represented 58% of our capital deployment, and this compared to 56% in 2023.

最後，正如您在我們的新聞稿中看到的，我們在第四季度以每股 166 美元的平均價格回購了價值約 1 億美元的股票，使我們全年的股票回購額達到 4.6 億美元或近 290 萬股。這意味著今年股價減少了 7%。2024 年我們向股東返還的 4.6 億美元占我們資本配置的 58%，而 2023 年這一比例為 56%。

So with that now, Tom, I'm going to turn the call over to you to take us through the results in more detail.

所以現在，湯姆，我將把電話交給你，向我們更詳細地介紹結果。

Thanks, Mike. I'm turning to slide 5 to discuss our fourth quarter P&L. Our total revenue for the quarter was $7.2 billion, an increase of 7% from a year ago, that's 8% on a same-store basis. This was driven by a 12% increase in new vehicle revenue, a 13% same-store as we increased new unit volumes across all three segments, as Mike mentioned.

謝謝，麥克。我現在翻到第 5 張投影片來討論我們的第四季損益表。本季我們的總營收為 72 億美元，比去年同期成長 7%，同店營收成長 8%。正如 Mike 所提到的，這是由於新車收入成長了 12%，同店銷售額成長了 13%，因為我們增加了三個部門的新車銷售。

Gross profit of $1.24 billion increased by 5% on a sequential basis and 3% from a year ago on a same-store basis. The year-over-year growth was driven by used vehicles, which was up 14%; CFS, which was up 6% and after sales, which was up 5% on a same-store basis.

毛利為 12.4 億美元，較上季成長 5%，同店成長 3%。年成長主要得益於二手車，成長了 14%； CFS 銷售額成長 6%，售後服務銷售額同店成長 5%。

The gross profit margin of 17.2% of revenue was down slightly from a year ago, reflecting the moderation in new vehicle unit profitability, partially offset by improvements in after sales, which was up 110 basis points and used vehicles retail, which was up 40 basis points.

毛利率為17.2%，較去年同期略有下降，反映出新車部門獲利能力的放緩，但售後服務的改善（上漲110個基點）和二手車零售（上漲40個基點）部分抵消了這一影響。

Adjusted SG&A was 66.3% of gross profit, down more than 100 basis points from the third quarter. Adjusted operating income increased sequentially to just over 5% of revenue. Now below the operating line, our fourth quarter results were impacted by higher interest expense from floor plan debt, which is a reflection of recovering new vehicle inventory levels. The fourth quarter floor plan interest expense of $55 million was up $9 million from a year ago but down from the $61 million in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting lower short-term funding rates and inventory levels.

調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用佔毛利的 66.3%，較第三季下降超過 100 個基點。調整後的營業收入較上季成長至略高於營收的 5%。目前，我們的第四季業績低於營業線，受到樓層平面圖債務利息支出增加的影響，這反映了新車庫存水準的恢復。第四季的樓面利息支出為 5,500 萬美元，較去年同期增加了 900 萬美元，但低於 2024 年第三季的 6,100 萬美元，反映出短期融資利率和庫存水準下降。

Now as a reminder, we reflect floor plan systems received from OEMs in gross margins. This assistance totaled $35 million, which was up $2 million from a year ago. So net of these OEM incentives net new vehicle floor plan expense totaled $18 million, which was up nearly $9 million from year ago. Going forward, we'll continue to focus on maintaining optimal levels of new and used inventory to balance the opportunity to drive future sales growth with design to keep net financing costs in check all in. This resulted in adjusted net income of $199 million as compared to $216 million a year ago.

現在提醒一下，我們在毛利率中反映了從 OEM 獲得的平面圖系統。此項援助總額為 3,500 萬美元，比一年前增加了 200 萬美元。因此，扣除這些 OEM 激勵措施後，新車平面圖淨支出總計 1,800 萬美元，比去年同期增加了近 900 萬美元。展望未來，我們將繼續致力於維持新舊庫存的最佳水平，以平衡推動未來銷售成長的機會與控制淨融資成本的設計。調整後的淨收入為 1.99 億美元，去年同期為 2.16 億美元。

As Mike mentioned, total shares repurchased over the 12 months decreased our weighted average shares outstanding by 7% to 40.1 million shares in the fourth quarter. This was a benefit for our adjusted EPS, which was $4.97 for the quarter, $0.05 below the fourth quarter of 2023.

正如麥克所提到的，12 個月內回購的股票總數導致我們第四季的加權平均流通股數減少了 7%，至 4,010 萬股。這對我們的調整後每股收益有利，本季調整後每股收益為 4.97 美元，比 2023 年第四季低 0.05 美元。

Let me go deeper on some of these results. Slide 6 provides some more color for our new vehicle performance. New vehicle unit volumes were a strong point for the quarter, increasing more than 10% from a year ago on a total store basis and nearly 12% on a same-store basis. Total store unit sales were up across our three segments with import units up 5%, pre-luxury up 12% and domestic up 17%, with results reflecting stronger supply, better incentives and good performance by our commercial teams.

讓我更深入地了解其中一些結果。幻燈片 6 為我們的新車性能提供了更多色彩。新車銷量是本季的一大亮點，以全店計算，新車銷量較去年同期成長 10% 以上，以同店計算，新車銷量成長近 12%。我們三個部門的門市總銷售額均有所成長，其中進口門市成長 5%，奢侈品前期銷售成長 12%，國內銷售成長 17%，這一結果反映了我們商業團隊的供應更充足、激勵措施更完善以及表現良好。

By powertrain, hybrid vehicles unit sales were up approximately 50% from the fourth quarter of a year ago and represented nearly 20% of our unit sales and 10% of our inventory. Battery electric vehicle sales were up more than 25% from a year ago and represented about 8% of our sales for the quarter and 8% of ending inventory. OEM actions and uncertainty regarding the longevity of government incentives for [BEV] likely contribute to stronger Fed sales from traditional OEMs during the quarter. Internal combustion engine unit sales were up about 3% in the quarter.

按動力系統劃分，混合動力車的銷量較去年同期第四季成長約 50%，占我們銷量的近 20% 和庫存的 10%。電池電動車銷量較去年同期成長了 25% 以上，約佔本季銷售額的 8% 和期末庫存的 8%。OEM 的行動以及政府對 [BEV] 激勵措施持續時間的不確定性，可能會導致本季度傳統 OEM 的聯邦銷售增加。本季內燃機銷量成長約 3%。

Our new vehicle unit profitability averaged $2,969 for the quarter, up $165 in the third quarter led by the performance of our premium luxury vehicles and marked the first sequential increase since the fourth quarter of 2021, as Mike noted earlier.

正如 Mike 先前指出的，本季我們新車部門的獲利能力平均為 2,969 美元，較第三季上漲 165 美元，主要得益於我們高端豪華車的出色表現，也是自 2021 年第四季以來的首次連續成長。

On average, new vehicle unit revenue increased 2% from a year ago, while our cost per vehicle retail increased 3%, resulting in a year-over-year moderation in our new vehicle unit profitability. On the balance sheet, our 39 days’ supply of new vehicle inventory at year-end was down 25% or 13 days from the third quarter.

平均而言，新車單位營收比去年同期成長了 2%，而每輛車的零售成本卻成長了 3%，導致新車單位獲利能力較去年同期有所放緩。從資產負債表上看，我們年底的新車庫存供應量為 39 天，較第三季下降了 25%，也就是 13 天。

The new vehicle inventory ended the year below 43,000 units, which was up from 35,000 units a year ago, but down from the 46,000 units at the end of September. The strong new vehicle sales contributed in part to these reductions but also our operating teams have been more selective in the OEM allocation products. Looking ahead, in the first quarter, we expect normal seasonal shift back to import vehicles, which have lower selling prices and gross profit per vehicle in the premium luxury brands.

年底新車庫存不到 43,000 輛，高於去年同期的 35,000 輛，但低於 9 月底的 46,000 輛。強勁的新車銷售是造成這些減少的原因之一，但我們的營運團隊在 OEM 分配產品方面也更加挑剔。展望未來，我們預計第一季將出現正常的季節性轉變，進口車的售價和豪華品牌的每輛車的毛利較低。

Turning to slide 7. Our used unit sales were flat year-over-year, tracking in line with the overall market. Sequentially, we were down 2% from the third quarter, while the market was down 11% on the same base. Supply availability has continued to be a challenge, particularly for the mid- and higher-priced tiers consistent with the past few quarters, driven by lower new vehicle production during COVID.

翻到幻燈片 7。我們的二手車銷售量與去年同期持平，與整體市場保持一致。與第三季相比，我們的銷售額下降了 2%，而同期市場銷售額下降了 11%。供應保障一直是一大挑戰，特別是對於中高價位車型而言，與過去幾季的情況一致，因為新冠疫情期間新車產量下降。

We continue to source more than 90% of our vehicles internally with our We'll Buy Your Car program helping to offset the headwinds we are experiencing in supply from lower East returns. Used vehicle inventory levels were approximately 34,000 units at year-end, up from 32,000 units at the end of September.

我們繼續透過「我們將購買您的汽車」計畫內部採購 90% 以上的汽車，以幫助抵消東部地區回報率較低給我們帶來的供應阻力。年底二手車庫存水準約 34,000 輛，高於 9 月底的 32,000 輛。

This represents 37 days sales, roughly the same as at the end of September. Used vehicle sales and profitability continue to be a big area of focus for us as we emphasize effective sourcing, pricing and speed while optimizing customer satisfaction.

這意味著 37 天的銷售額，大致與 9 月底的銷售額相同。二手車銷售和獲利能力仍然是我們關注的重點領域，因為我們強調有效的採購、定價和速度，同時優化客戶滿意度。

Looking ahead, we expect the normal seasonal swing to use vehicles for the spring selling season to occur and that used vehicle unit sales will perform accordingly.

展望未來，我們預期春季銷售季節將出現正常的季節性車輛波動，二手車銷售也將有相應的表現。

In November, we opened our 24 AN USA store in Chandler, Arizona. This was the fifth store opened during 2024 in addition to one in Las Vegas and three in North Florida, with auto store additions, adding density to our existing markets. And in January, we opened two additional AN USA stores in Texas.

11 月，我們在亞利桑那州錢德勒開設了 24 AN USA 商店。這是 2024 年開設的第五家店，另外一家在拉斯維加斯，三家在北佛羅裡達，另外還增加了汽車商店，增加了我們現有市場的密度。一月份，我們在德克薩斯州又開設了兩家 AN USA 商店。

I'm now on slide 8, Customer Financial Services. On the last call, we described the momentum our CFS operations had in August and September. That performance continued during the fourth quarter. Our product attachment rate was strong, ended up being above two products per vehicle. Also, our finance penetration for the fourth quarter increased more than 200 basis points for new vehicles and 70 basis points from used vehicles from the period a year ago.

我現在講的是第 8 張投影片，顧客金融服務。在上次電話會議中，我們描述了 CFS 營運在八月和九月的發展勢頭。這種表現在第四季持續延續。我們的產品附著率很高，每輛車的附著率超過兩件。此外，與去年同期相比，我們第四季的新車金融滲透率增加了 200 多個基點，二手車金融滲透率增加了 70 個基點。

Our CFS PVR, $2,686 was up about $100 sequentially from the third quarter and also increased from the fourth quarter last year. We continue to grow our AN Finance business, which provides superior long-term value but create the short-term CFS PVR headwind, as Mike explained earlier. The year-over impact from this head was approximately $120 per unit in the fourth quarter.

我們的 CFS PVR 為 2,686 美元，比第三季環比上漲約 100 美元，也比去年第四季有所上漲。我們將繼續發展我們的 AN Finance 業務，正如 Mike 之前所解釋的那樣，它提供了卓越的長期價值，但也帶來了短期 CFS PVR 逆風。第四季該業務的年比影響約為每單位 120 美元。

Now slide 9 is a new one for us. You will see in our Form 10-K, which we expect to file on Friday that we've enhanced the disclosures for AN Finance, given its growth and its status as a separate reportable segment in the company.

第 9 張投影片對我們來說是一張新的。您將在我們預計將於週五提交的 10-K 表中看到，考慮到 AN Finance 的增長及其作為公司單獨報告部門的地位，我們已加強了對 AN Finance 的披露。

AN Finance originated $1.1 billion of loans during 2024, including $360 million in the fourth quarter. The quality of the portfolio also continues to improve. Our credit and performance metrics are improving with average FICO scores on originations of $678 for the year compared to $623 in 2023. This includes FICO scores in the fourth quarter of 684 compared to the sub 650 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

AN Finance 在 2024 年發放了 11 億美元的貸款，其中第四季發放了 3.6 億美元。投資組合的品質也持續改善。我們的信用和績效指標正在改善，今年發放貸款的平均 FICO 分數為 678 美元，而 2023 年為 623 美元。其中包括第四季的 FICO 分數為 684，而 2023 年第四季的 FICO 分數低於 650。

Delinquency rates at 2.6% are solid, reflecting our proprietary underwriting standards and fourth quarter sale of the substantive remainder of the legacy subprime portfolio inherited the CIG acquisition. This sale resulted in a $7.4 million pretax gain during the quarter. From a funding perspective, 75% of our portfolio balance is funded with nonrecourse debt as of year-end. This is from 57% a year ago and obviously frees up capital for us to deploy elsewhere.

2.6% 的拖欠率較為穩定，反映了我們專有的承保標準以及第四季度出售了 CIG 收購後繼承的大量次級抵押貸款投資組合的剩餘部分。此次出售為本季帶來了 740 萬美元的稅前收益。從資金角度來看，截至年底，我們投資組合餘額的 75% 是由無追索權債務資助的。這一比例高於一年前 57% 的比例，顯然為我們釋放了資本，可用於其他地方部署。

We're getting great support from our warehouse lenders. And as we begin to establish a regular ABS funding cadence, we expect the 75% funding level to continue increasing. We anticipate our inaugural ABS offering in the second quarter.

我們得到了倉庫貸款人的大力支持。隨著我們開始建立定期的 ABS 融資節奏，我們預計 75% 的融資水準將繼續增加。我們預計將在第二季推出首次 ABS。

As we continue to grow the AN Finance portfolio, the accounting impact on the upfront life of loan credit provisioning, which is a non-cash item, will be a continued headwind to the P&L of AN Finance, but this will begin to balance out as the portfolio reaches scale. It's our expectation that AN Finance become profitable by the end of 2025.

隨著我們繼續擴大 AN Finance 投資組合，對貸款信貸準備金前期（非現金項目）的會計影響將繼續對 AN Finance 的損益表造成不利影響，但隨著投資組合達到規模，這種影響將開始平衡。我們預計 AN Finance 將在 2025 年底實現獲利。

Moving to slide 10, after sales, representing nearly one half of our gross profits continued its revenue and margin momentum. Same-store gross profit increased by more than 5% from a year ago led by Warranty and Customer Pay. Growth was driven equally by volume, mix and pricing. Mike mentioned that our aftersales gross profit margin has increased nearly 250 basis points since 2019.

轉到第 10 頁，銷售額占我們毛利的近一半，繼續保持其收入和利潤率的勢頭。在保固和客戶支付的推動下，同店毛利比去年同期成長了 5% 以上。成長主要受到產量、產品組合和價格的推動。Mike提到，自2019年以來，我們的售後毛利率增加了近250個基點。

For the fourth quarter, our margin rate was 48.4%, up 110 basis points from a year ago, reflecting improved parts and labor rates, higher tech efficiency, leverage and higher value repair orders. We continue to develop and promote our technician workforce, which has led year-to-date increases in our master and certified technician headcount and our overall technician headcount increased nearly 2% on a same-store basis. So looking ahead, we expect after sales business will grow roughly mid-single digits each year.

第四季度，我們的利潤率為 48.4%，比去年同期上升了 110 個基點，這反映了零件和勞動力成本的提高、技術效率的提高、槓桿率的提高以及維修訂單價值的提高。我們持續發展和提拔我們的技術人員隊伍，這使得今年迄今為止我們的高級和認證技術人員數量有所增加，並且我們的總體技術人員數量在同店基礎上增長了近 2％。因此展望未來，我們預期售後業務每年將以大約中等個位數的速度成長。

On to slide 11. We continue to generate a consistent and attractive conversion of income into cash. Adjusted free cash flow for 2024 was $750 million compared to $969 million a year ago. While the quantum of free cash flow normalized in line with new vehicle unit profitability, the efficiency of our cash generated as measured by the conversion of net income into free cash flow improved to 105% from 94% in 2023, which part attributable to our focus on measuring and reducing our transactional cycle times, particularly in customer deal billing and financing as well as in optimizing inventory levels. We are focused on sustaining this operational performance as well as on the prudent allocation of capital to CapEx.

轉到第 11 張投影片。我們繼續實現穩定且有吸引力的收入轉化為現金的轉換。2024 年調整後的自由現金流為 7.5 億美元，去年同期為 9.69 億美元。雖然自由現金流的量與新車單位盈利能力保持一致，但以淨收入轉化為自由現金流來衡量的現金產生效率從 2023 年的 94% 提高到 105%，部分歸因於我們專注於衡量和縮短交易週期，特別是在客戶交易計費和融資以及優化庫存水平方面。我們專注於維持此營運績效以及審慎分配資本支出。

Let me wrap up with the capital allocation slide 12 before turning it over back to Mike. We consider capital allocation in two categories: one, reinvesting in the business in the form of CapEx or M&A; or two, returning capital to our shareholders via share repurchase.

在將投影片 12 中的資本配置內容交還給 Mike 之前，請容許我先做總結。我們將資本配置分為兩類：一、以資本支出或併購的形式再投資業務；或者二是透過股票回購向股東返還資本。

CapEx is mostly maintenance-related, compulsory spending totaled $329 million for 2024 and was 20% lower than 2023. Spending is expected to settle in this range. We continue to actively explore M&A opportunity, many on the franchise store side. We are competitive buyers when -- and we're confident in achieving year three turns greater than our weighted average cost of capital for core franchise acquisition opportunities.

資本支出主要與維護有關，2024 年強制支出總額為 3.29 億美元，比 2023 年低 20%。預計支出將穩定在這個範圍內。我們繼續積極探索併購機會，其中許多是在特許經營店方面。當我們是具有競爭力的買家時，我們有信心實現第三年的營業額高於核心特許經營收購機會的加權平均資本成本。

This hurdle rate is a bit higher for non-franchise. It's difficult to predict the timing of M&A opportunities, as you know, during the second half of 2024, the landscape was improving, and we are starting to see a more regular flow of potential opportunities.

對於非特許經營來說，這個門檻率要高一些。很難預測併購機會的時機，如您所知，在 2024 年下半年，情況正在改善，我們開始看到更規律的潛在機會流動。

Share repurchases have been and will continue to be an important part of our playbook during the fourth quarter, we purchased more than $100 million worth of shares at an average price of $166 per share. This brought our full year share repurchases $460 million, nearly 2.9 million shares above or about 7% of our shares outstanding at the start of the year.

股票回購一直是並將繼續是我們第四季策略的重要組成部分，我們以平均每股 166 美元的價格回購了價值超過 1 億美元的股票。這使得我們全年的股票回購額達到 4.6 億美元，比年初流通股增加近 290 萬股，約佔 7%。

In our capital allocation decisioning we also continue to consider our investment-grade balance sheet and associated leverage levels. At quarter end, our leverage was 2.45 times EBITDA, which modestly improved from Q3 and was in line with our 2 times to 3 times EBITDA long-term target. During the year, we reduced our non-vehicle debt by $268 million and received more than $150 million in store sale proceeds.

在我們的資本配置決策中，我們也繼續考慮我們的投資等級資產負債表和相關的槓桿水準。截至季末，我們的槓桿率為 EBITDA 的 2.45 倍，較第三季略有改善，符合我們 2 倍至 3 倍 EBITDA 的長期目標。本財年，我們減少了 2.68 億美元的非汽車債務，並獲得了超過 1.5 億美元的商店銷售收益。

Now let me turn the call back to Mike before we address your questions.

在回答您的問題之前，現在讓我把電話轉回給麥克。

Yes. Thanks, Tom. Just before going over to questions, I want to talk a little bit about some of the thoughts for 2025. Obviously, there are multiple unknowns regarding the economy and geopolitical factors and obviously depending on how they play out, may have an impact on our business. However, when I think about new vehicles, I believe there is pent-up demand still. And as a result, I think if the economic environment continues on its recent trend, we're going to see moderate unit growth from 2024, also in the first half, less so in the second half.

是的。謝謝，湯姆。在回答問題之前，我想先簡單談談我對 2025 年的一些想法。顯然，經濟和地緣政治因素存在多個未知數，而且顯然取決於它們如何發揮作用，可能會對我們的業務產生影響。然而，當我想到新車時，我相信仍然存在著被壓抑的需求。因此，我認為，如果經濟環境繼續保持近期趨勢，從 2024 年開始我們將看到適度的單位成長，上半年也是如此，但下半年成長較少。

But I think I anticipate moderation in unit profitability to support that growth. During such circumstance, our optimism that gross profit per unit, however, will eventually stabilize above historical levels. I think our efforts to manage used vehicle costs, pricing and inventory levels will result in continued stabilization and unit profitability in what I think will be a stable used car market, and we expect our CFS volumes unit profitability to remain resilient and we continue to offer valuable products to customers to aid in their overall cost of vehicle ownership.

但我認為，我預計單位盈利能力會有所緩和，以支持這一增長。在這種情況下，我們樂觀地認為，單位毛利最終將穩定在歷史水準之上。我認為，我們為管理二手車成本、定價和庫存水平所做的努力將使二手車市場持續穩定並提高單位盈利能力，我們預計 CFS 銷售和單位盈利能力將保持彈性，我們將繼續向客戶提供有價值的產品，以幫助他們降低車輛擁有的總體成本。

And as part of our CFS performance, we'll continue to grow our AN Finance business, I previously mentioned, the penetration opportunities and the associated benefits from scale that we should expect to progressively unlock throughout the year.

作為 CFS 業績的一部分，我們將繼續發展我們的 AN Finance 業務，正如我之前提到的，我們應該期望在全年逐步釋放滲透機會和相關的規模效益。

For After-Sales, obviously, it's a big focus for us, and we're going to remain very focused on that. Particularly around technician recruitment, retention and development of our technicians. And this, as you know, remains a highly competitive market with limited labor resource, and I don't expect that to change at all as we get into deeper into this year. Our efforts to drive a strong cash conversion of our profits, the cash will continue, as Tom mentioned, and 100% conversion on our adjusted net income, I think, is a good starting point.

對於售後，顯然這是我們關注的重點，而且我們將繼續高度關注這一點。特別是圍繞著技術人員的招募、保留和發展。如你所知，這仍然是一個競爭激烈的市場，勞動力資源有限，我預計隨著今年的深入，這種情況不會發生任何改變。正如湯姆所提到的，我們致力於推動利潤的強勁現金轉換，現金將繼續進行，我認為，調整後淨收入的 100％ 轉換是一個很好的起點。

In summary, I think with the strength and diversification of our business AutoNation has proven its ability to deliver strong results, profits and cash flow during a broad range of economic backdrops, which is our expectation for the coming year. Our capital allocation activities are most focused on opportunities that drive the highest returns for our shareholders on invested capital, and that will not change.

總而言之，我認為，憑藉我們業務的實力和多樣化，AutoNation 已經證明了其能夠在廣泛的經濟背景下實現強勁的業績、利潤和現金流，這是我們對來年的期望。我們的資本配置活動最關注的是為股東帶來最高投資回報的機會，這一點不會改變。

Now with that, I'm going to open the lines to your questions.

現在，我將開始回答大家的問題。

Harry, if you could please remind participants how to get in queue for the question and answer, please.

哈利，請你提醒參加者如何排隊進行問答。

(Operator Instructions). John Murphy, Bank of America.

（操作員指令）。美國銀行的約翰‧墨菲。

Mike, I just wanted to ask a first question, and this is for lack of a better term, sort of the Trump bump we've seen post-election. It seems like there's kind of a benefit on the Lux side as consumer sentiment or at least, I mean, whether it be measured or not improve dramatically, but also EVs and Hybrids for fear of the cancellation of the $7,500 IRA incent. So it seems like it's kind of helped in both directions.

麥克，我只想問第一個問題，由於缺乏更好的術語，這有點像我們在選舉後看到的川普衝擊。似乎 Lux 方面有某種好處，因為消費者情緒或至少無論是否經過衡量都大幅改善，但電動車和混合動力汽車也因擔心取消 7,500 美元的 IRA 激勵措施而受益。因此看起來這兩方面都有幫助。

I'm just curious if you're seeing that extend into early 2025? And also, are the automakers realistic about what happened or what's happening with EVs here, and they're not stuffing more back into the channel and everybody is using this an opportunity to maybe clear the decks and get those inventories in balance. So will that be a Trump bump be extended and what's happened on the EV side?

我只是好奇，您是否認為這種情況會延續到 2025 年初？此外，汽車製造商是否對美國電動車市場發生的事情有現實認識，他們不會向渠道​​中塞入更多庫存，而每個人都在利用這個機會清理庫存，平衡庫存。那麼川普的衝擊會延續嗎？

Yes. Thanks, John. Well, if I think about the patent that -- let's focus on new vehicle sales. If you think about the patent on new vehicle sales, the industry obviously was running something around 16 million pre-election and then you saw progressively improvements in the org industry with what I think is a very strong exit rate. And that ultimately is just two things.

是的。謝謝，約翰。好吧，如果我考慮一下專利——讓我們專注於新車銷售。如果你考慮一下新車銷售專利，那麼這個行業在選舉前的銷量顯然在 1600 萬左右，然後你會看到組織行業逐漸改善，我認為退出率非常高。而這最終只是兩件事。

I think, firstly, the uncertainty of the election and the confidence in terms of the target for the economic environment obviously helped people, I think, make the decision to make the decision to purchase. And then secondly, as I've mentioned before, we are seeing improved affordability on a monthly payment basis, I think, for consumers.

我認為，首先，選舉的不確定性和對經濟環境目標的信心顯然有助於人們做出購買決定。其次，正如我之前提到的，我認為，我們看到消費者每月付款的承受能力有所提高。

So the question is, will that industry level can you, so to use a different term, what's the underlying run rate rather than is it a bump. I think we already saw in January where, from memory, the retail sale was something north of 13.3, 13.4, something like that, which was significantly above prior year. I think that if I think that, that has the entity to continue through Q1, less so in Q2 on a year-over-year comp. And then you'll see a flattening as we get into Q3 and into Q4. So I'm optimistic on, as I said, the year-over-year comps in Q1, and I think the industry -- the industry is in good shape.

所以問題是，該行業水準能否達到，換句話說，潛在的運行率是多少，而不是一個高峰。我想我們已經在 1 月看到過，根據記憶，零售額大約在 13.3、13.4 左右，明顯高於去年同期。我認為，如果我這麼認為的話，這種趨勢將持續到第一季度，但與去年同期相比，第二季度的趨勢將會減弱。然後，當我們進入第三季和第四季時，你會看到趨於平穩。因此，正如我所說，我對第一季的同比表現感到樂觀，而且我認為該行業狀況良好。

What was the second question, John? Sorry.

第二個問題是什麼，約翰？對不起。

Just -- I mean you've also gotten a spot on EV sales. I mean is everybody kind of buying into this and thinking this is the new world order? Or are they using this as an opportunity to hopefully clear the decks on some of that inventory and not restock?

只是——我的意思是你在電動車銷售方面也佔有一席之地。我的意思是，是不是每個人都相信這一點，並認為這就是新的世界秩序？或者他們利用這個機會清理部分庫存而不是補貨？

I think the OEMs are taking an incredible -- I think the OEMs are all over this topic, frankly. They must have had multiple, multiple meetings in terms of their product capacity and what they're going to do to balance because I think everybody is clear that the next four years is going to be different to their anticipation should the different outlook happen. And they are already, I think, pivoting in terms of their products in terms of their powertrains, in terms of how they think the market will play out.

我認為 OEM 廠商正在採取令人難以置信的行動——坦白說，我認為 OEM 廠商對這個主題非常關注。他們肯定就產品產能以及如何實現平衡召開過多次會議，因為我認為每個人都清楚，如果前景不同，未來四年將與他們的預期不同。我認為，他們已經針對其產品、動力系統以及市場發展前景做出了調整。

So yes, there was an element of clearing the decks and urgency around Q4 in [bevs] and hybrids. But remember, we've seen hybrid -- we have seen [bevs] kind of settle in at 6% to 8% of the marketplace. Hybrids had a very strong year last year as people recognize the benefits of both combustion and battery power.

所以是的，在第四季度，飲料和混合飲料領域確實存在一些清理障礙和緊迫感的因素。但請記住，我們已經看到混合飲料——我們已經看到飲料市場佔據了 6% 到 8% 的份額。由於人們認識到內燃機和電池動力的優勢，混合動力汽車去年表現非常強勁。

But there was -- and I look at this in a positive fashion, there was a degree of clearing the deck, particularly with inventory. And we ended the year, I think, in a really good balance with what I think is going to be probably an underlying -- given our state and our distribution geographically and underlying battery electric market. We are short on hybrids because the demand significantly above. Unfortunately, the pipeline has been able to keep up with a very high turn rate.

但是 - 我從積極的角度看待這個問題，有一定程度的清理工作，特別是庫存。我認為，考慮到我們的州和地理分佈以及潛在的電池電力市場，我們在年底時達到了非常好的平衡。由於需求量大幅增加，我們缺乏混合動力汽車。不幸的是，管道已經能夠承受非常高的周轉率。

So I think from a balance perspective, we ended the year in a better shape than I had anticipated mid-year. And that, I think, was driven by expectations that the environment is going to change in terms of subsidies and targets.

因此我認為從平衡的角度來看，我們以比我年中預期的更好的狀態結束了這一年。我認為這是由人們對補貼和目標方面的環境將改變的預期所驅動。

And then just a second quick follow-up on the gross. I mean you mentioned a fade and it sounds like more on a new GPU side. But front-end gross is kind of how a deal has traditionally, I think, worked in the dealership. If you look at that, I think it was [49 -- 74] in the fourth quarter, 4,700, 4,800 first three quarters year-over-year.

然後對總數進行第二次快速跟進。我的意思是你提到了淡出，這聽起來更像是在新的 GPU 方面。但我認為，前端總收入是經銷店傳統的交易運作方式。如果你看一下，我認為第四季的數字是 [49 -- 74]，前三個季度的數字是 4,700，去年同期的數字是 4,800。

I mean what is the opportunity that a salesperson or a GM has to work that front-end gross to maybe offset some of that pressure on new. And that pressure on new has really not been that great. But I mean, are there ways that through the used transaction and the F&I, they might be able to help offset that and stay closer to the high 4,000s as opposed to dipping down to where we were before?

我的意思是，銷售人員或總經理有沒有機會利用前端總收入來抵銷一些新產品的壓力？而新手面臨的壓力其實並沒有那麼大。但我的意思是，有沒有辦法透過二手交易和 F&I，來幫助抵消這一影響，並保持接近 4,000 多美元的水平，而不是下降到之前的水平？

I think the reality of pricing in the marketplace is one of those areas that there's so much transparency, your ability in terms of being able to influence that dramatically as a dealer is relatively small. And I think the way that I've talked about this before and the way that I think about this is that there are many elements that go into putting together a transaction with a customer that meets what they need.

我認為，市場定價的現實情況是非常透明的領域之一，作為經銷商，你能夠極大地影響定價的能力相對較小。我認為我之前談論過這個問題以及我對此的看法是，與客戶達成交易以滿足他們的需求需要考慮很多因素。

In 90% of the cases, when I've been involved in it, it is around monthly payments to make sure that you give the customer what they are looking for, not just in their vehicle, but also in products that manage their cost of ownership during that period of time. And our teams are focused on trying to come up with the best plan for that individual customer.

在我參與的 90% 的案例中，都是按月付款，以確保您能向客戶提供他們想要的東西，不僅僅是車輛，還有管理那段時期的擁有成本的產品。我們的團隊致力於為每位客戶制定最佳計劃。

You may expect me as the CEO of automotive retail group to put it in that fashion. But genuinely, that is the best way, not just to sell a car, but also to keep customers happy. And if you look at some of the things that we've been able to do that's how it is done.

您可能希望我作為汽車零售集團的執行長這樣說。但實際上，這是最好的方式，不僅可以賣出汽車，還可以讓客戶滿意。如果你看我們已經在做的一些事情，你會發現這就是我們所做的。

And at the end of the day, obviously, our team are focused on trying to maintain profitability of transactions, but they really do understand the value of continuing to grow our customer base and continuing to make sure our customers come back in our service and parts departments to look after their vehicles. So I don't think it's necessarily as controllable, as your question suggests, I think they genuinely try and put together a package that meets what the customer is looking for, and then we can sell a car.

最終，顯然，我們的團隊專注於努力保持交易的盈利能力，但他們確實了解繼續擴大客戶群以及繼續確保客戶回到我們的服務和零件部門來照顧他們的車輛的價值。因此，我認為它不一定像你的問題所暗示的那樣可控，我認為他們真誠地嘗試組合一個滿足客戶需求的方案，然後我們就可以賣出一輛車。

Rajat Gupta, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的拉賈特古普塔 (Rajat Gupta)。

I had one question on AutoNation Finance. Based on your expectations for loan originations in 2025 and the fact that your equity funding is reducing. I mean, the combination of that, would you be able to size how much funding would you need for and finance this year? And I have a quick follow-up on parts and services.

我對 AutoNation Finance 有一個疑問。根據您對 2025 年貸款發放的預期以及股權融資減少的事實。我的意思是，結合這些，你能估算今年需要多少資金嗎？我對零件和服務進行了快速跟進。

Rajat, you're talking about the absolute level of non-recourse financing for the portfolio? So that was -- .

拉賈特，您談論的是投資組合無追索權融資的絕對水準嗎？就是這樣--。

Yes, and just like the equity funding, how much of your own balance sheet will be using to fund that?

是的，就像股權融資一樣，你們的資產負債表中將有多少資金用於融資？

Right. And as we talked about, we went from roughly 60% funding non-recourses funding at the end of 2023 to around 75% in 2024, as that portfolio continues to mature, we work with just the warehouse lenders in increasing that 20%. So we'll get some benefit there.

正確的。正如我們所討論的，我們的無追索權融資比例從 2023 年底的約 60% 增加到 2024 年的 75% 左右，隨著該投資組合的不斷成熟，我們僅與倉庫貸款人合作，將這一比例提高到 20%。因此我們會從中得到一些好處。

I think the bigger benefit will come from on the ABS side, I think you can start with 90% and work your way up there depending on the way the agencies rate the portfolios, which as we've tried to emphasize, which were pretty strong. So we think we'll get good funding rates. And it just depends on the amount of and the quantum of the funding depends upon the growth of the portfolio.

我認為更大的好處將來自 ABS 方面，我認為你可以從 90% 開始，然後根據機構對投資組合的評級方式逐步提高，正如我們試圖強調的那樣，這些評級相當強勁。因此我們認為我們將獲得良好的融資利率。這取決於資金的數量，而資金量則取決於投資組合的成長。

The originations have continued to be very strong, they improved month-over-month throughout 2024 that is seen in the '25. So we'll -- at the current pace, we'll outpace originations from 2024, which will mean more funding on a quantum basis.

起源一直保持強勁，2024 年的起源逐月改善，這在 25 年有所體現。因此，以目前的速度，我們將從 2024 年開始超過發起額，這意味著在量子基礎上將有更多的資金。

But in terms of the coverage by non-recourse that will continue to grow from the 75%. I can't give you an exact number because the size of the ABS transaction will be meaningful. And the outcome on the advanced funding on that will be determinant in terms of what our overall funding is. But starting with 90% kind of assumption on what we do on the ABS side.

但就無追索權的覆蓋率而言，這一比例將繼續從 75% 成長。我無法給你一個確切的數字，因為 ABS 交易的規模將是有意義的。而預付資金的結果將決定我們的整體資金狀況。但是，對於我們在 ABS 所做的事情，我們首先要有 90% 的假設。

Understood. That's helpful color. And then just on parts and services, you mentioned, I think, in the prepared remarks that you expect mid-single-digit growth in the medium term. Presumably, the 2025 would be higher because you have some easy compares on CDK from 2Q and 3Q. Can you give us a little more color on what makes up the medium-term target and maybe a little more granularity on 2025? And what kind of technician headcount addition are you baking in within that framework?

明白了。這是很有幫助的顏色。然後就零件和服務而言，我想您在準備好的評論中提到，您預計中期將實現中等個位數成長。據推測，2025 年將會更高，因為您可以輕鬆地對第二季和第三季的 CDK 進行比較。您能否向我們詳細介紹中期目標以及 2025 年的具體目標？那麼，在這個框架內，您計劃增加哪些技術人員呢？

Yes. So this is Mike. Obviously, we were -- I think we tried to be as transparent as possible regarding the impact of CDK both over Q2 and Q3, and I think Tom did a good job in terms of isolating that out. And obviously, our expectation is that, that will not be a repeatable event this year. So you can just look back and look at some of the commentary we had in those quarters to see how it impacted our business in what area.

是的。這就是麥克。顯然，我認為我們試圖盡可能透明地說明 CDK 在第二季和第三季的影響，我認為 Tom 在隔離這一點方面做得很好。顯然，我們預計今年不會再發生這樣的事件。因此，您可以回顧我們在這些季度中的一些評論，看看它對我們在哪些領域的業務產生了怎樣的影響。

In terms of the way that we think about aftersales opportunity going forward, I talked a lot about our penetration in the vehicle parts that we have. It is still a great opportunity for us. And the teams are focused on breaking it out into addressable subsegment. So zero to three years, obviously, being the most addressable for us is a huge focus. But certainly three to seven years is an area where I think there's continued opportunity for us to grow.

關於我們對未來售後機會的看法，我談了很多關於我們在汽車零件領域的滲透率。對我們來說這仍然是一個很好的機會。團隊正致力於將其細分為可尋址的子領域。因此，顯然，零到三年是我們最可實現的目標，也是我們關注的重點。但我認為，三到七年內我們肯定還有繼續成長的機會。

And if you look at a couple of things, our underlying productivity in our business is good. I think with training and I think with the way that we approach loading our workshop, there's opportunity to grow that a little bit more. We certainly have about utilization where we can increase the productivity of our assets. That's not in question at all.

如果你看這些事情，你會發現我們業務的基本生產力是好的。我認為透過培訓以及我們處理車間裝載的方式，有機會進一步發展。我們當然可以利用資產的利用率來提高其生產力。這根本就是毫無疑問的。

And fundamentally, unlocking this will be two things. One will be encouraging customers to return back to a franchise environment. So that's all conquest business, that's not easy to do. We will not try and do that through price. What we will try and do that is through added service and value. So price for me will be a driver of that, but it will come with some impact on growth because the added service and value to me, is important to encourage customers to come back.

從根本上來說，解決這個問題需要兩件事。一是鼓勵顧客重返特許經營環境。所以這都是征服的事情，這並不容易做到。我們不會嘗試透過價格來做到這一點。我們將嘗試透過增加服務和價值來實現這一目標。所以對我來說，價格是推動因素之一，但它也會對成長產生一定影響，因為對我來說，增加的服務和價值對於鼓勵顧客回頭非常重要。

But to your point, the constraint as I see it, will be technician count and technician numbers. We had moderate growth protection in 2024. We in-house all of our recruitment during 2024 with Lisa and her team, and I think they've done a really strong job and thank you, Lisa, for that. But I think she -- if she was on this call, she would tell you it's a big focus for her to drive up those recruitment numbers.

但就您的觀點而言，我認為限制因素是技術人員的數量和技術人員的人數。2024 年我們將獲得適度的成長保護。2024 年，我們所有的招募工作都是由 Lisa 和她的團隊在公司內部進行的，我認為他們做得非常出色，為此，感謝 Lisa。但我認為，如果她參加了這次電話會議，她會告訴你，提高招募人數是她的一個重點。

I think from memory and Derek, you need to circle back because I don't want to give wrong information. From memory, I think our total technician growth was somewhere in the order of 2% to 3%, something like that for the year. When I look at that, I would say my expectation and what I want the teams to do is to try and grow that at a higher rate. It is going to be difficult. I mean, you all saw the national campaign from Carmax, I'm sure, in terms of their recruitment on technicians and national recruitment month and everything else. It is a limited resource out there in a competitive marketplace. And when you get those situations, Obviously, that can come with some additional costs. So a long answer to a very, I think, straightforward question, which I apologize for. I'd like to see our take and I'll try and summarize.

我認為從記憶中和德里克來看，你需要回過頭來，因為我不想給出錯誤的訊息。根據記憶，我認為我們全年的技術人員總數成長率大約在 2% 到 3% 之間。當我看到這一點時，我會說我的期望以及我希望團隊做的是嘗試以更高的速度發展這一點。這將會很困難。我的意思是，我相信大家都看到了 Carmax 的全國性活動，包括他們在技術人員方面的招聘、全國招聘月以及其他所有方面。在競爭激烈的市場中，它是一種有限的資源。當遇到這些情況時，顯然會產生一些額外的費用。因此，對於這個我認為非常直接的問題，我需要花很長的時間來回答，對此我深感抱歉。我想看看我們的看法並盡力總結。

Big focus for us three to seven years our penetration is in line with industry, which means that we're all average, and I think we want to be better than average there to really unlock that its conquest business, bringing people back, that's not easy.

我們重點關注的三到七年內我們的滲透率與行業一致，這意味著我們都處於平均水平，我認為我們希望比平均水平更好，真正解鎖它的征服業務，讓人們回來，這並不容易。

But the constraint is in technician count. I think our productivity, we can squeeze some additional hours out of that. But we and the teams do a good job there. So a big focus on improvement, last year, we ended at 2%, I'd like to end above that. And the CDK thing, we'll see -- I think we'll see the benefits of not having to oversee in Q2. Remember the big impact of last month of the quarter and rolling into Q3. So hopefully that answers your question.

但限制因素在於技術人員的數量。我認為我們的生產力，我們可以從中擠出一些額外的時間。但我們和團隊在那裡做得很好。因此，我們非常注重改進，去年，我們的利潤率達到了 2%，我希望能夠高於這個數字。至於 CDK 的事情，我們會看到——我認為我們會在第二季看到不需要監督的好處。記住本季上個月以及第三季產生的巨大影響。希望這能回答你的問題。

Douglas Dutton, Evercore ISI.

道格拉斯·達頓（Douglas Dutton），Evercore ISI。

Congrats on a great print. My first question is just on SG&A, and it looks like it took a meaningful step down here versus we saw in the earlier part of the year. Is there anything structural changing there where this might be lower into '25, whether that's lower promotional dollars, advertising, something else?

恭喜您創作出如此出色的作品。我的第一個問題是關於銷售、一般和行政費用，與今年早些時候相比，它似乎有了顯著的下降。是否存在結構性變化，導致到 25 年這一數字可能會更低，無論是降低促銷費用、廣告費用還是其他什麼？

Thanks, Doug, -- . And by the way, congratulations on the addition to the family.

謝謝，Doug，--。順便說一句，恭喜你家庭又添新成員。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Yes. I think when you look at the fourth quarter, very strong gross profit wise when we talk about all the factors that contributed. So I think it was more of leveraging in the fourth quarter very strong new unit vehicle sales and Q2 performance on CFS and in some of the places in the portfolio that drove that gross up, it had the effect of a modest impact on the overall ratio.

是的。我認為，當我們談論所有促成因素時，第四季的毛利非常強勁。因此，我認為這更多的是利用第四季度非常強勁的新車銷售和第二季度的 CFS 表現，以及投資組合中一些推動總額增長的地方，對整體比率產生了適度影響。

As we go forward to 2025 we do expect modest improvement in the ratio we think we continue to drive growth and to pay close attention to some of the cost drivers, more meaningful cost drivers, but I think on balance, we'll make progress that going to be notable, but I wouldn't say it's going to be radical in terms of its impact on any given quarter, but it's a slow steady improvement in that ratio.

隨著我們邁向 2025 年，我們確實預計該比率將略有改善，我們認為我們將繼續推動增長，並密切關註一些成本驅動因素，更有意義的成本驅動因素，但我認為總的來說，我們會取得顯著的進展，但我不會說它對任何一個季度的影響都會有根本性的變化，但該比率將緩慢而穩定地改善。

Okay. Great. And then just another quick one for me on after sales gross margins and the improvement there. So 110 bps driven by some of those input costs being lower according to the presentation, labor parts. Is this sort of strong pass-through of costs and the associated revenue going to be able to continue while keeping those repair tickets higher at some point, is there a natural limit in what your customers are going to accept paying for these repair orders and costs will normalize a bit lower in terms of the top line?

好的。偉大的。然後我再快速問一下售後毛利率及其改善情況。因此，根據介紹，110 個基點是由於部分投入成本（勞動力部分）較低所致。這種強勁的成本轉嫁和相關收入是否能夠持續下去，同時將這些維修單保持在較高的水平，客戶對這些維修訂單的支付金額是否存在一個自然的限制，而成本在營收方面是否會正常化到較低的水平？

You have to consider the mix of the growth in the quarter for sure. A lot of good external based revenue in the quarter between Warranty and Customer Pay. Those can influence the margin rates. And I think when we talk about the contributions to the gross profit improvement, it was a combination of that more favorable mix, but also the productivity points that we talked about as well as higher value type orders.

你必須考慮本季的成長組合。本季度在保固和客戶付款之間有很多良好的外部收入。這些都會影響利潤率。我認為，當我們談論毛利提高的貢獻時，它是更有利的組合，也是我們談論的生產力點以及更高價值類型的訂單的結合。

So mix amongst Customer Pay and Warranty definitely favorable to internal type work -- productivity as well as some of the other initiatives as well, will enable us to keep growing that, but I wouldn't count on 110 basis points on a continued basis.

因此，將客戶付款和保固結合起來肯定有利於內部類型的工作——生產力以及其他一些舉措，將使我們能夠繼續成長，但我不會指望持續實現 110 個基點的成長。

But I'm just going to add in there as well if I may, Tom, just a couple of things. Obviously, when you talk about mix, I think we should point out that obviously, wholesale parts had a tough year across the industry, particularly around collision shops and natural repair order volume, which has been widely reported, and that business is lower margin. So you saw the benefit -- you saw the benefit of that come through in terms of margin. And obviously, I think collision will recover a little bit as you come into here, which will, again, change the mix as you get into this -- into 2025, [decorate] the year.

但是，湯姆，如果可以的話，我還想補充幾件事。顯然，當您談到組合時，我認為我們應該指出，顯然，整個行業的批發零部件都經歷了艱難的一年，特別是在碰撞修理廠和自然維修訂單量方面，這已被廣泛報道，而且該業務的利潤率較低。因此，您看到了好處 - 您看到了從利潤率體現出來的好處。顯然，我認為當你進入這裡時，碰撞會稍微恢復一點，這將再次改變混合物的狀況——進入 2025 年，[裝飾] 這一年。

I think it is competitive. You asked the question about is there a limit that customers compare. The fact of the matter is we don't try and put that in. I think if you found out what that is, you probably got your problem, you probably got yourself a problem on your hands. I think what we do is we regularly look into the market quite both on franchise and non-franchise service providers and understand value we add as a franchise and non-franchise service provider and try and make sure that we're priced effectively in the marketplace for what we're trying to do.

我認為它很有競爭力。您問的問題是關於顧客比較是否有限制。事實上我們並沒有嘗試將其放入其中。我認為，如果你發現了那是什麼，你可能就遇到問題了，你可能已經解決了一個問題。我認為我們所做的是定期調查特許經營和非特許經營服務提供者的市場情況，了解我們作為特許經營和非特許經營服務提供者所增加的價值，並盡力確保我們在市場上針對我們試圖做的事情給出有效的定價。

And as everything at the end of the day, elasticity in service applies in the same way as it does it in vehicle sale. So Christian and his team are very focused on that, and I talked at length over three to seven years. And that's obviously one of the three categories he's focused on. And part of that will make sure that we're competitive clearly from a price point of view but very competitive from a service point of view, and that's part of his aspirations for this year. So a combination of Tom and my answer, hopefully gives you the detail you need.

歸根究底，服務彈性的適用方式與汽車銷售的彈性相同。因此，克里斯蒂安和他的團隊非常關注這一點，我在過去三到七年的時間裡對此進行了詳細的討論。這顯然是他關注的三個類別之一。其中一部分將確保我們在價格方面具有競爭力，而且從服務方面也非常有競爭力，這是他今年的部分願望。因此，希望結合湯姆和我的回答，能夠為您提供所需的詳細資訊。

Bret Jordan, Jefferies.

布雷特·喬丹，傑富瑞。

When you talk about stabilization in used -- I guess looking back 10 years, the margin rates in use obviously you can approach double digits. Do you think we are forever less profitable on the margin rate of those units now just given the competition for inventory and price transparency from online product search or is the stabilization used also maybe some meaningful upside in those unit profits?

當您談到使用的穩定性時——我想回顧 10 年，使用的利潤率顯然可以接近兩位數。您是否認為，考慮到庫存競爭和線上產品搜尋的價格透明度，我們現在這些單位的利潤率是否會永遠下降，或者使用的穩定措施是否也可能會給這些單位利潤帶來一些有意義的上升？

No. I think that the way that used cars a transaction in the marketplace is always with reference to the actual retail price and then all of the people that buy used cars invariably with the exceptions of some specialists and some very niche products step off of that price. And it has been a pricing model that whether you have come to market with a disruptive model or a more traditional model has remained and been pervasive.

不。我認為二手車在市場上的交易方式總是參考實際零售價，然後所有購買二手車的人（一些專家和一些非常小眾的產品除外）都無一例外地會以這個價格購買。無論你採用顛覆性模式或是更傳統的模式進入市場，這種定價模式始終存在並且具有普遍性。

And I think because of that, when I think about use margin as a percentage basis, it's been moderated, and that's why I tend to talk about used margin on a dollar basis rather than a percentage basis. And I think that's what's going to going to continue because as we've said in the past, and I think we've debated at length wholesale and resale prices, there's a short time difference between the effect of changes in wholesale prices into retail, but they are a lot step. You just need to take the time period into account.

正因為如此，當我考慮以百分比為基礎使用保證金時，它已經得到了緩和，這就是為什麼我傾向於以美元為基礎而不是以百分比為基礎來談論已使用保證金。我認為這將會持續下去，因為正如我們過去所說的那樣，我認為我們已經對批發價格和轉售價格進行​​了長時間的討論，批發價格變化對零售價格的影響只有很短的時間差，但差距很大。您只需要考慮時段。

Okay. And then in your prior question, I think you mentioned you talked about collision being a challenging compare, but you expected some recovery. Are you seeing that yet? Is it seasonal recovery just as you lap what was a very mild winter last year? Or is there something more structural that might be improving the collision trend?

好的。然後在您之前的問題中，我想您提到碰撞是一個具有挑戰性的比較，但您預計會有一些恢復。你看到了嗎？這是否是季節性的復甦，就像去年非常溫和的冬天一樣？或者是否存在一些更結構性的東西可能會改善碰撞趨勢？

So as we really through the summer and then closed out the year, what we were seeing was that the repair order as a percentage of collisions was dropping, and that was as more vehicles either the size of the impact the value of the vehicle, more total losses and therefore, less work flowing into the shops in the industry and that has continued. So that was really my reference with regard to that.

因此，當我們真正度過夏天並結束這一年時，我們看到修理訂單佔碰撞的百分比正在下降，這是因為更多的車輛，無論是撞擊的規模，車輛的價值，總損失的增加，因此，流入該行業車間的工作減少，並且這種情況一直持續。所以這確實是我對此的參考。

But I think from my point of view, as you get through the winter months and you get into and you get into spring, you naturally see an improvement in terms of your collision business. And for us, in particular, given the fact that we've got a big collision business well over 50 collision centers around, our focus has got to be regardless of what's happening with regard to that ratio of repair to crashed vehicles, growing our share. So again, big focus on share regardless of the sector of the business.

但從我的角度來看，隨著冬季的到來和春季的到來，您自然會看到碰撞業務的改善。對我們來說，特別是考慮到我們擁有龐大的碰撞業務，遍布 50 多個碰撞中心，無論撞車修復率如何，我們的重點都是增加我們的份額。所以，無論業務屬於哪個領域，我們都要高度關注份額。

Jeff Lick, Stephens Inc.

傑夫·利克（Jeff Lick），Stephens Inc.

Congrats on an impressive fourth quarter. I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit about capital allocation. It looks like AutoNation Finance won't be as onerous this year is median -- kind of just wondering how you think about share repurchases versus M&A? Can that share repurchase level kind of is the $400 million to $500 million steady state? And then I guess, Mike, one thing I'd be curious about is what would it take for you guys to do a fairly sizable acquisition?

恭喜您取得了令人印象深刻的第四季成績。我想知道您是否可以簡單談談資本配置問題。看起來 AutoNation Finance 今年的負擔不會像中位數那麼重——只是想知道您如何看待股票回購與併購？股票回購水準能否達到 4 億至 5 億美元的穩定狀態？然後我想，麥克，我很好奇的一件事是，你們要做什麼才能進行一次相當規模的收購？

The parameters upon which we -- and Tom, you can obviously overlay the parameters upon which we make that decision are identical, and that's what's the benefit to our -- was the biggest benefit to our shareholders. So what would make us do a very sizable acquisition is a lot of confidence that the return on invested capital from doing that and then the appreciation in the resulting appreciation in the per share price outweighs the other uses of that capital very simply.

湯姆，你顯然可以將我們做出該決定所依據的參數疊加在一起，這些參數是相同的，這就是我們的好處——也是我們股東的最大好處。因此，我們之所以進行大規模收購，是因為我們堅信，收購帶來的投資資本回報以及隨之而來的每股價格升值將遠遠超過該資本的其他用途。

And we've talked before that some of the pricing we're seeing for M&A in the marketplace transferred all of the value to the seller and keeps the buyer with zero value. And what that pervades then we'll find better uses for our capital but that dynamic is changing to some extent. We think it will continue to change as we get into this year. And as opportunities come across our desk, we will compare them exactly the same way as we do, and that's on the basis of the same way the shareholders.

我們之前談過，我們在市場上看到的一些併購定價將所有價值轉移給了賣方，而買方則沒有任何價值。然後我們會發現這種趨勢會更加明顯，我們會發現資本的更好用途，但這種動態正在某種程度上改變。我們認為，進入今年，這種情況將繼續改變。當我們遇到機會時，我們會以與自己完全相同的方式進行比較，並且是基於股東的相同方式。

And Tom, you can add to that.

湯姆，你可以補充一點。

No, I think the -- it all starts with strong free cash flow generation. We're confident we'll continue to deliver on that front as long as the businesses are performing. Like we think they will, that will give us optionality. Obviously, we have CapEx obligations to fund. And I think we on order of what we were in 2024 in terms of OEM requirements.

不，我認為這一切都始於強勁的自由現金流產生。我們相信，只要業務表現良好，我們將繼續在這方面取得成果。正如我們所認為的那樣，這將為我們提供選擇權。顯然，我們有資本支出義務需要提供資金。我認為，就 OEM 要求而言，我們的水平與 2024 年持平。

And so putting it out aside that leaves you with ample capacity to deploy to M&A. The pipeline, as Mike alluded to earlier, is it hasn't like open -- the gates aren't flooding open, but we are seeing some more levels of opportunities present themselves to us, and we pursue those with a full organization that's dedicated to that. And we're active in those pursuits. As Mike said, we have plenty of opportunity as well on and returning capital to shareholders to the extent we think we can drive a better return.

因此，除了這些之外，您還擁有充足的能力來部署併購。正如麥克之前提到的，管道還沒有完全打開——大門還沒有完全打開，但我們看到更多層次的機會出現在我們面前，我們整個組織都在致力於追求這些機會。我們積極致力於這些追求。正如麥克所說，我們也有很多機會向股東返還資本，只要我們認為我們可以帶來更好的回報。

I just wondered about M&A. It's also about the portfolio review. I mean I talked about the fact that we divested a number of stores where we thought the ownership of those stores was better elsewhere from our shareholder point of view. And the reality is that freed up significant invested capital that we were not getting the returns that we felt were required from those businesses. And they didn't spend to our model in terms of where automation adds great value, which is dense markets good processes, a lot of optimization that we can bring. And therefore, we freed up that capital.

我只是對併購感興趣。這也與投資組合審查有關。我的意思是，我談到了這樣一個事實：我們剝離了一些商店，因為從股東的角度來看，我們認為這些商店的所有權在其他地方更合適。而現實情況是，我們釋放了大量投資資本，但卻沒有從這些業務中獲得我們認為所需的回報。他們沒有在我們的模型上投入大量資金，因為自動化可以帶來巨大的價值，也就是密集的市場、良好的流程，以及我們可以帶來的大量最佳化。因此，我們釋放了這些資本。

So it isn't just about M&A and the free cash flow we generate, which, by the way, I agree with you, fundamentally starts the whole world turning. It's also about confidently reviewing how we've deployed capital in the business and what's the best use of it. And I think it's a combination of those things. And from you and your team do a great job, reviewing portfolio performance as well as something in conjunction with Jan Luke are reviewing opportunities that come across the desk, and that's going to continue in '25.

因此，這不僅僅與併購和我們產生的自由現金流有關，順便說一句，我同意你的觀點，這從根本上改變了整個世界。這也是為了自信地審查我們如何在業務中部署資本以及如何最佳地利用它。我認為這是這些因素的綜合作用。您和您的團隊做得很好，審查了投資組合的表現，並與 Jan Luke 一起審查了遇到的機會，這將在 25 年繼續進行。

Awesome. That's helpful color. Just a quick clarification, a follow-up on a previous question or a call or a question. When you had mentioned SG&A as a percent of gross improving, was that -- or were you indicating that the 66.6% you did in 2024, like the objective is to be below that in 2025?

驚人的。這是很有幫助的顏色。只是快速澄清一下，跟進一下之前的問題或電話或問題。當您提到銷售、一般及行政開支佔總收入改善的百分比時，是——還是您指的是 2024 年實現的 66.6%，而目標是在 2025 年低於這一水平？

Yes. I mean that's a good question, Jeff. I mean you know the normal seasonality of the SG&A from Q4 to Q1. I mean we do see a an increase in that ratio. But yes, if I look at -- I'd say first quarter, I'd say we'll be mid 67% kind of area. And then obviously, the increase from the fourth quarter reflects the normal seasonal impacts payroll taxes. You have long-term compensation that has profound impact on Q1. And then as the year progresses, that's when you'll start to see improvement that I talked about when you get the first quarter things out of the way.

是的。我認為這是個好問題，傑夫。我的意思是您知道從第四季度到第一季的銷售、一般及行政費用的正常季節性。我的意思是我們確實看到該比例增加。但是的，如果我看一下——我想說第一季度，我會說我們將處於 67% 左右的區域。顯然，第四季度的成長反映了正常的季節性工資稅影響。您的長期薪酬對第一季有深遠的影響。然後隨著時間的推移，當你解決第一季的問題後，你會開始看到我所說的改善。

Yes. And just to be clear, I thought the 66.6% was great. And if you could even hold that this year, that was great. That's why I was just a little taken -- I wanted to make a little clarification on that, but great work on that front.

是的。需要說明的是，我認為 66.6% 已經很棒了。如果你今年能夠堅持下去，那就太好了。這就是為什麼我有點感動——我想對此做一點澄清，但在這方面做得很好。

You and I have the same view on it. I was interested in just watching Tom answer your question. You can't -- unfortunately, there's not a video call because you couldn't see me smiling as Tom answered around the question that you asked them, but I thought the result was good. I agree with you, there's going to be pressure as a percentage in Q1 as we get there.

您和我對此有相同的看法。我只是想看湯姆回答你的問題。你不能——不幸的是，沒有視訊通話，因為當湯姆回答你問他們的問題時你看不到我微笑，但我認為結果很好。我同意你的看法，當我們到達那裡時，第一季的百分比將會面臨壓力。

But again, it's -- we are also making investments in our business to try and grow in other areas, and they will have an impact on SG&A. And as those investments pan out and start producing results, they'll be beneficial if they pan out, they will obviously stop the investment.

但同樣，我們也在對我們的業務進行投資，嘗試在其他領域發展，這將對銷售、一般和行政費用產生影響。當這些投資開始產生成果時，它們將會帶來利益，如果它們成功了，他們顯然會停止投資。

So we run our business as Tom said, to generate, I think, great cash flow for the business, but it also gives us optionality, not just in M&A and returning capital to our shareholders that we talked about but there are other things that we are doing because automation over its entire history has been an innovative company. And that we have to continue to make sure that we do innovate where it's appropriate for us. So and that brings an SG&A burden in the early stages, as you know.

因此，正如湯姆所說，我們經營業務是為了為企業創造巨大的現金流，但它也為我們提供了選擇權，不僅僅是在我們談到的併購和向股東返還資本方面，還有我們正在做的其他事情，因為自動化在其整個歷史中一直是一家創新型公司。我們必須繼續確保在適合我們的地方進行創新。所以，如您所知，這在早期階段會帶來銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 負擔。

Harry, I think we have time for one more.

哈利，我想我們還有時間再說一次。

Colin Langan, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的科林·蘭根。

You commented that you expect normalization of new GPU. How -- any color on how we should think about it? I feel like in the past, you've talked about like 100 to 150 decline a month. It sounds like the improvement here was mostly the mix of luxury. Should we expect that moderation to continue at that pace into Q1? Or are we getting close to the floor? And when you talk about normalization, are you kind of talking about as a percent in history where you're getting fairly close now or dollars versus history of GPU. How are you kind of referring to that?

您評論說您期待新的 GPU 正常化。我們該如何思考這個問題？我覺得過去你談到每月下降 100 到 150%。聽起來這裡的改進主要是奢華的結合。我們是否應該預期這種放緩將以這樣的速度持續到第一季？或者說我們已經接近底線了？當您談到標準化時，您正在談論歷史中的百分比，現在您已經相當接近了，還是美元與 GPU 的歷史相比。您是怎樣提到這一點的？

Good question. I think the way -- when we talk about normalization, when you just look at the last couple of years, if you look at 2023, we average about a 10% decline in a quarter sequentially in PVRs, that definitely moderated in '24 to the point where, as we said, it was positive in the fourth quarter, but it was probably half of the rate of decline that you had in '23 -- in '24. So that's the heightened weight of the moderation.

好問題。我認為 - 當我們談論正常化時，當你只看過去幾年時，如果你看 2023 年，我們平均每個季度的 PVR 會環比下降約 10％，而這一下降在 2024 年肯定會有所緩和，正如我們所說的那樣，在第四季度呈正增長，但下降率可能只有 2023 年的一半 - 2024 年。這就是節制的重大意義。

Going forward, Mike can share his thoughts on this as well, but it's definitely market-driven. We're being competitive in the market. And there's quite a bit of transparency when it comes to new vehicle selling prices. And so it could be competitive if you need to reflect those realities. But of course, I mean, our opportunities are where the other 75% of our gross profit is, which is on financial services and on after sales. And our focus is driving the installed base to be able to benefit from those profit stream.

展望未來，麥克也可以分享他對此的想法，但這肯定是由市場驅動的。我們在市場上具有競爭力。新車銷售價格的透明度相當高。因此，如果你需要反映這些現實，它可能會具有競爭力。但當然，我的意思是，我們的機會在於另外 75% 的毛利，即金融服務和售後服務。我們的重點是推動已安裝的基礎能夠從這些利潤流中獲益。

Has nothing to add, Tom.

沒有什麼好補充的，湯姆。

And I guess, second question just on tariffs. How do you see -- how do you see that risk from your perspective? Obviously, it's more of your customer, but any thoughts if there's tariffs on Mexico or Europe, how that might impact your volume and sort of mix potential? How are you framing that potential risk?

我想，第二個問題只是關於關稅。您如何看待—從您的角度來看，您如何看待這種風險？顯然，這更多的是您的客戶，但如果對墨西哥或歐洲徵收關稅，您會怎麼想，這會對您的產量和混合潛力產生什麼影響？您如何看待這種潛在風險？

I mean there's obviously potential for tariffs to impact the volume to impact your margin. I think that -- I think -- I mean if I look back at 2018 and what happened during that period of time. What we saw was the tariff impact come through in wholesale prices and ultimately going to retail prices. But after a period of time, they began to be mitigated either through actions from the manufactures in terms of their ability to drive cost efficiency elsewhere or is to maintain volumes in the marketplace.

我的意思是，關稅顯然有可能影響銷量，進而影響利潤。我認為——我認為——我的意思是如果我回顧 2018 年以及那段時間發生的事情。我們看到關稅的影響體現在批發價格上，最終影響到零售價格。但一段時間之後，這些影響開始得到緩解，要么是製造商採取行動來提高其他地方的成本效率，要么是維持市場銷售。

So the 2018 experience of tariffs was there was an impact in the marketplace from a price point of view, which did impact subsequently volume, but that was, I think, from memory, maybe a year, two years lift, difficult to call because I think we ran straight to COVID and everything changed. But you were already beginning to see the mitigation of wholesale prices, retail prices as those tariffs were absorbed in the system. And manufacturers, we're finding different ways of being able to mitigate those in some form or fashion to maintain some volume in the marketplace. I think if -- and I'm not expert in this area, but if I was looking at it, that's how I would be thinking about it.

因此，2018 年的關稅經驗是，從價格的角度來看，市場受到了影響，這確實影響了隨後的銷量，但我認為，從記憶中看，那可能是一年或兩年的升幅，很難說，因為我認為我們直接遇到了 COVID，一切都變了。但隨著這些關稅被納入體系，你已經開始看到批發價格和零售價格的下降。而對於製造商，我們正在尋找不同的方法來緩解這些影響，以維持一定的市場銷售量。我認為如果——我不是這個領域的專家，但如果我看待它，我會這樣想。

Great. Well, thanks, everyone, for joining us on the call today, and I look forward to speaking with you over the course of the quarter.

偉大的。好吧，感謝大家今天的電話會議，我期待在本季與你們進行交談。

Thank you, everyone. This concludes AutoNation's fourth-quarter 2024 conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝大家。AutoNation 2024 年第四季電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路了。