Less than two years after Asbury Automotive Group Inc. launched a used-car dealer concept with a store in Jacksonville, the company has closed its Q auto location near The Avenues mall in Jacksonville.
Duluth, Ga.-based Asbury operates 81 new car dealerships in nine states, including seven in the Jacksonville area under the Coggin brand.
The company in 2014 started a brand of used-car dealers with sites in Jacksonville and Tampa.
However, it decided to close the Jacksonville Q auto location at 10564 Philips Highway, where it formerly operated Coggin Toyota.
Asbury spokeswoman Berna Akgun said by email the company closed the Jacksonville store because of “the store not performing as well as anticipated.”
She said the Q auto store had 36 employees, who are being interviewed for possible placement in other Asbury dealerships.
CEO Craig Monaghan just two weeks ago talked about the progress of Q auto when Asbury announced its year-end earnings, and gave no hint the company was considering closing a store.
Besides the dealerships in Jacksonville and Brandon, outside of Tampa, Asbury opened a third Q auto in Fort Myers.
“I think this is the year for Q, 2016,” Monaghan said in Asbury’s conference call with analysts.
However, he did say “there’s three stores, one of the stores is doing much better than the other two at this point.”
Asbury, which reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.31 a share in the fourth quarter, lost 2 cents a share from the Q auto division, Monaghan said, but the company had anticipated those results from the fledgling business.
He said the company has changed some of its marketing efforts with Q auto and that it needed time.
“I would say it continues to be something that we feel very good about. It is a laboratory and, we shouldn’t kid ourselves, we continue to learn,” he said.