Sutherlin Automotive

What Sutherlin Automotive does

Sutherlin Automotive is a privately-held, family-owned automotive dealership founded in 1972 and headquartered in Buford, Georgia. The company sells new and pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs through its dealership operations and operates with a workforce of 501-1000 employees, placing it in the mid-sized regional dealership group tier. The firm is led by Brett Sutherlin, who serves as owner and chief executive officer, maintaining family control over the business across more than five decades of continuous operation. Its revenue model follows the standard franchised dealer playbook: gross profit from new and used vehicle unit sales, finance and insurance (F&I) product attach, plus recurring parts and service department income, all sourced from a broad retail consumer base in its local market. The business has grown organically since 1972 and more recently through acquisition, adding McKenna Subaru to its franchise portfolio in September 2025.

The company is distinguished from smaller single-point dealers by its multi-brand franchise orientation and from larger publicly-traded dealer groups by its private, family-controlled structure and regional concentration. The September 2025 acquisition of McKenna Subaru signals an active growth-by-acquisition posture intended to broaden brand-line coverage and likely add geographic or rooftop capacity. A notable operational anomaly is that the corporate domain (sutherlinautomotive.com) is currently parked and inactive on GoDaddy, which is atypical for a retailer of this scale and suggests either an ongoing digital infrastructure transition, reliance on OEM-hosted dealer pages for customer acquisition, or under-investment in direct digital channels — a competitive vulnerability as consumer vehicle shopping increasingly migrates online.

Strategically, Sutherlin Automotive competes on location, OEM franchise relationships, service-department retention, and local brand trust built over five decades rather than on technology differentiation or pricing aggressiveness. Its competitive position is anchored by physical dealership infrastructure and long-standing community presence in the Buford, Georgia market. The business model is capital-intensive (inventory financing, facilities, working capital) and cyclically exposed to consumer credit conditions, new-vehicle supply allocations from OEMs, and regional economic trends, but benefits from diversification across new vehicle, used vehicle, F&I, and service revenue streams.

Name

Sutherlin Automotive

Website

https://sutherlinautomotive.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Sutherlin Automotive is a privately-held, family-owned car dealership founded in 1972 in Buford, Georgia, selling new and pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs through a multi-brand franchise operation serving retail consumers in its regional market.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Buford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Sutherlin Automotive is a privately held car dealership headquartered in Buford, Georgia, that sells a wide range of new and pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs. Founded in 1972 and operating with 501-1000 employees, the company expanded its footprint through the acquisition of McKenna Subaru on 2025-09-29.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• New Vehicle Sales Retail sales of new cars, trucks, and SUVs to individual consumers from Sutherlin Automotive's Buford, Georgia dealership.
• Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales Retail sales of used cars, trucks, and SUVs to individual consumers from Sutherlin Automotive's Buford, Georgia dealership.
• McKenna Subaru Dealership Subaru-brand dealership franchise acquired by Sutherlin Automotive on 2025-09-29, extending the group's new vehicle offerings to Subaru cars and SUVs for individual consumers.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Lithia Motors (Lithia & Driveway):
• AutoNation: Largest US franchised auto retailer with hundreds of rooftops across multiple OEMs and geographies; directly comparable multi-brand dealership business model, but at national scale and publicly traded.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sutherlin-automotive-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sutherlin Automotive