Presented by:
A recent report highlighting a franchise on the rise caught our attention.
It showed that Honda's low cost and high value makes it, as we say in fantasy football, a sleeper pick for dealers looking to maximize their return.
In short: Strong store economics, a product gaining ground, and a Blue Sky multiple that hasn't yet caught up all form a real window of opportunity to consider.
Honda stores are earning like Toyota's, at a fraction of the price.
According to the Haig Partners' Q2 2026 Haig Report, Honda's Blue Sky, the goodwill or intangible value of a dealership, sits at 6.0x–7.0x, almost 20% below Toyota's 7.25x–9.0x, despite comparable fundamentals.
Alan Haig, president of Haig Partners, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told me it’s about the perceived risk and reward.
“Buyers price in some uncertainty with Honda because the earnings recovery hasn't fully shown up yet in the numbers,” Haig said.
Alan Haig
Haig Partners
He pointed out that Toyota's long track record of consistency is what buyers are paying a premium for.
“Honda's on a really positive trajectory, but trajectories take time to get priced in,” Haig said.
In other words: Get it while the gettin’ is good.
Honda is “a rare combination of strong throughput, strong front-end margins, loyal customers and rock-solid fixed operations, similar to many of Toyota's strengths,” according to the August 19 report.
Here are some numbers to back it up:
Honda dealerships averaged 1,241 new-vehicle sales per store over the trailing 12 months, which is the highest throughput of any "midline" franchise Haig tracks, above the market average (774 units).
Haig's Franchise Horsepower Index puts Honda at 1.21x the market average, above the 1.00x baseline, though still behind Toyota's 2.03x. (Newly created, the index measures throughput times average transaction price, indexed to a market average of 1.00x.)
During an August 20 visit to the Car Dealership Guy podcast, Haig shared this example: A client's Toyota store does $12 million a year on $20 million of real estate; a nearby Honda store does $6 million on $10 million.
"The multiple for the Toyota store is going to be 8, maybe 10 times," Haig said. "The multiple for the Honda store is going to be six, seven times... But as an ROI, Honda has a very comparable product to Toyota. It has a very inexpensive dealership facility compared to its volume and its profitability."
A quick word from our partner
Stop wasting time on spreadsheets and losing service bay revenue
Kenect helps dealership GMs automate customer outreach by turning days of manual calling into seconds. Kenect helps:
Run retention campaigns
Clear out manufacturer recall lists
Automate appointment scheduling
Go to kenect.com/cdg to see how top rooftops are scaling retention today.
The product is (finally) catching up to the opportunity.
Honda posted a 9.4% sales increase in the second quarter, well above the market, according to the report.
The core lineup helped power that increase, with the CR-V up 16.0%, the Accord up 41.2%, and the Civic up 8.1%.
More hot stats:
Hybrids set a first-half record at 213,513 units, 31.1% of Honda sales, with more than half of CR-V sales now hybrid trims.
Honda is reallocating Ohio plant capacity toward hybrid and gas production ahead of next-gen hybrid platforms launching in 2027.
On the product side, the Prelude hybrid and a redesigned Passport arrive in 2026, with CR-V and Civic redesigns possible as soon as 2027.
Not to mention: Honda is the only one of four major brands, alongside Toyota, Ford, and Nissan, whose share of outstanding auto loans has grown since mid-2023, according to CDG's analysis of Finsight Auto Loan Level ABS data, signaling more recent buyers are choosing Honda than a few years ago. (As seen in the chart below).
Source: Finsight Auto Loan Level ABS Data
LaFontaine Automotive Group, of Highland, Michigan, has been a Honda dealer since 1999.
Max Muncey, the group's corporate director, told me that the brand holds up across cycles, notably in metro Detroit, where "the Big Three have such a dominant presence and generations of brand loyalty."
"Honda has continued to resonate extremely well with our customers," Muncey said.
Max Muncey
LaFontaine Automotive Group
And, he added, that value stretches beyond new sales.
"Honda customers tend to be incredibly loyal, they maintain their vehicles, return to the dealership for service/parts and often come back when it's time for their next vehicle," Muncey said. "That creates a very healthy and sustainable business across both sales and fixed operations."
Those customers do expect a nice in-house experience, according to the report.
On that note: Honda's Blue Stage facility program isn’t cheap, but dealer feedback has been positive, a rarity for image programs, according to the report. (And anyone who ever had to upgrade their facility).
Haig Partners said in the report that dealers generally view Honda’s requirements as “more rational” than several competing OEM programs.
Honda ATPs are much higher than they were before COVID, and customers paying $40,000 to $50,000 for higher-end trims expect more.
A dated lounge is harder to justify when the transaction price has moved that much higher, the report said.
The window to cash in on a Honda store may be closing soon.
So how long will it take before everyone hops on the Honda bandwagon?
Per the report, timing is everything, and the biggest gains go to whoever buys in before the rest of the market catches on.
"If hybrid volume keeps building, I'd expect multiples to start moving within the next 12 to 18 months, probably showing up first as more competitive bidding on Honda stores, before the published range itself moves,” Haig said.
What to watch now: Used-vehicle side and fixed ops more than the new-car headlines.
“Those are already strong today, not something you're betting on for the future,” Haig said.
Some dealers are taking notice, though.
Willie Beck, co-managing partner at Bel-Air Partners, of Tampa, Florida, said he's seeing interest in the brand perk up.
"Honda is very much in demand, and the pricing doesn't seem to be as high as Toyota right now," Beck said. "Dealers feel they can get a better return with Honda... because of the pricing differential."
Willie Beck
Bel Air Partners
In fact, Bel-Air advised on a buy-sell this week that involved multiple franchises, including a Honda dealership.
“We had a lot of interest in the Honda dealership in Ohio,” Beck said. “We got multiple offers just to buy the Honda store.”
The bottom line: Haig traces Honda's lower values in recent years to pandemic-era production shortfalls in Japan, but says the numbers now show that recovery is well underway.
For buyers looking to score a good ROI, Honda is, forgive us, a touchdown.
