DealersUS
Penske agrees to go private in $16.3B deal as its Sep 2026 dealer-website sales rose 5.1% year on year
US public dealer groups, Sep 2026 sales and pricing, read against MarketCheck data
Penske Automotive Group, one of the public franchise dealer groups operating in the US market, has agreed to be taken private by Penske Corporation and Mitsui & Co. in a deal valued at about $16.3 billion, with shareholders outside the buyer group receiving $212 per share in cash. MarketCheck data for the US shows the group is growing as it leaves the public market: Penske recorded 26,575 dealer-website sales in Sep 2026, up from 25,296 in Sep 2025, a gain of 1,279 units or 5.1%. Those sales are listings that left US dealer websites, counted at their last advertised asking price, so they are a sold proxy rather than a record of what buyers paid. Alongside the volume gain, Penske's prices sat closer to MSRP than any of the other five public franchise groups MarketCheck measured.
What the data shows
| Dealer group | Sold Sep 2025 (units) | Sold Sep 2026 (units) | Change (units) | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carvana | 49,687 | 71,192 | +21,505 | +43.3 |
| Carmax | 59,130 | 66,255 | +7,125 | +12.0 |
| Lithia Motors | 58,278 | 55,902 | -2,376 | -4.1 |
| AutoNation | 51,883 | 50,953 | -930 | -1.8 |
| Asbury Automotive Group | 24,562 | 29,272 | +4,710 | +19.2 |
| Group 1 Automotive | 28,818 | 27,317 | -1,501 | -5.2 |
| Penske Automotive Group | 25,296 | 26,575 | +1,279 | +5.1 |
| Sonic Automotive | 20,793 | 20,338 | -455 | -2.2 |
Penske grew year on year while four of the other five public franchise groups shrank, and Asbury grew faster, which moved Penske from fourth to fifth among the six public groups. Carvana and Carmax sit at the top of the table on volume, at 71,192 and 66,255 units in Sep 2026.
Why it matters
The group changing hands is adding volume, not losing it. Penske's 26,575 units in Sep 2026 came while Lithia (55,902, down 4.1%), AutoNation (50,953, down 1.8%), Group 1 (27,317, down 5.2%) and Sonic (20,338, down 2.2%) all recorded fewer dealer-website sales than a year earlier. Across all dealer groups MarketCheck measured, Penske ranked seventh by Sep 2026 dealer-website sales.
Penske's asking prices stay closest to sticker. Its mean price against MSRP was -11.41% in Sep 2026, compared with -13.74% at Asbury, -16.17% at Group 1, -17.53% at Sonic, -17.71% at Lithia and -18.75% at AutoNation. That column is a mean, and the prices behind it are advertised asking prices. A year earlier Penske's figure was -11.30%, so the position barely moved.
The mix looks more new than a year ago. Penske's median asking price rose from $39,999 in Sep 2025 to $42,512 in Sep 2026, and median mileage on the vehicles that left its sites fell from 9,217 to 867. Median days on market moved from 28 to 29, so the turn speed is broadly unchanged while the ticket rose.
Scale on live inventory is mid-pack among the public groups. On Oct 19, 2026, MarketCheck counted 46,122 active Penske listings on US dealer websites, 0.7% of US active listings. Lithia carried 117,073 (1.8%), AutoNation 104,387 (1.6%), Group 1 67,123 (1.0%), Asbury 53,381 (0.8%) and Sonic 38,321 (0.6%). The same car can appear on more than one site, so these counts are listings, not unique vehicles.
The public peer set shrinks from six groups to five. Penske's quarterly public reporting ends when the deal closes, while the listing and sales signal in MarketCheck data continues, because it is read from dealer websites rather than from company filings.
What to watch
Penske's discount to MSRP after the deal closes. It has held near -11% across the two Septembers measured. Whether the figure stays there is the clearest read on how the group is priced under private ownership.
The Asbury gap. Asbury's 19.2% year-on-year growth already put it ahead, at 29,272 units against Penske's 26,575, with Group 1 at 27,317. Volume order among the public groups has been moving month to month.
The new-vehicle tilt. Median mileage of 867 in Sep 2026, down from 9,217, points to a mix weighted toward new units. If that holds, Penske's used-vehicle sourcing carries less weight in the wider used market.
Mitsui's role in the combined group. Any statement on international or commercial-truck integration will indicate whether the footprint grows or holds. No source currently states the buyers' plans.
Listing counts into year end. The 46,122 active listings figure is a single-day read, Oct 19, 2026, and is worth re-running rather than carried forward.
How this was measured
Sales are listings that left US franchise and independent dealer websites, new and used combined. Prices are advertised asking prices, not transaction prices. Auctions and private sales are excluded. Year on year compares Sep 2026 with Sep 2025. Prices and days on market are medians; the MSRP column is a mean. Active listings are from MarketCheck live inventory data, US dealer websites, Oct 19, 2026, and the same car can appear on more than one site. The data source is MarketCheck data: sold-vehicle statistics for Sep 2025 and Sep 2026, plus live inventory for Oct 19, 2026.
The reads used the MarketCheck Sold Summary API (the get_sold_summary tool in the MarketCheck MCP; docs https://docs.marketcheck.com/docs/get-started/api/mcp/tools/sold-summary) for the monthly sold summaries by dealership group, and the Inventory Search API, GET /v2/search/car/active (https://docs.marketcheck.com/docs/api/cars/inventory/inventory-search) for the active listing counts and group shares. API keys: https://developers.marketcheck.com.
The story we checked
"Penske Automotive Group to go private in $16.3-billion deal", trucknews.com, Oct 17, 2026. Fact-check tally: 4 verified, 1 unverifiable. Verified: the agreement to be taken private by Penske Corporation and Mitsui & Co., announced Oct 15, 2026; the approximately $16.3 billion value; the $212 per share in cash to shareholders outside the buyer group; and that Penske is a major US dealer group, at 26,575 dealer-website sales in Sep 2026. Unverifiable: that going private will change Penske's long-term technology and data investment, because no source states the buyers' plans.
You can run the same read in MarketCheck AI Desk: https://ai.marketcheck.com/install.
Reproduce this
- search_past_90_days: List the Penske listings that left dealer websites in the last 90 days, at their last asking price.
- search_active_cars: Pull live dealer listings filtered to a dealer group to rebuild the active listing counts.
- generate_market_movers: See what is moving in one US metro where the public groups compete.
- generate_full_market_capture: Capture every listing in one ZIP code market to see the group mix locally.
The story we checkedPenske Automotive Group to go private in $16.3-billion deal, trucknews.com, Oct 17, 2026
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