As Sun Auto Tire & Service Inc. prepares to open its 600th location, Tony Puckett, the company’s CEO, discusses its growth strategy, private equity and more in this MTD exclusive.

MTD: Sun continues to expand at a rapid pace, having added more than 80 locations over the past 12 months. What do you credit that growth to? 

Puckett: I’d say just taking a disciplined approach to the market. We continue to strengthen our core markets and adjacent markets and then we’re still open to opportunistic growth. Vannoy’s Tire in the Panhandle area of Florida would be a good example. We weren’t particularly looking there, but when that business became available, we were thrilled to have the opportunity. What a great team we were able to bring on and the business is awesome.Now we’ll begin to grown in and around that business with greenfields and additional acquisitions. We’re just consistently executing our strategy and looking for high-quality M&A. And we’ve been fortunate to be able to do that. 

MTD: Sun has pushed into new markets and states the last few years. Are there certain geographic areas you’re targeting now? 

Puckett: We love the markets we’re in. As you know, we started out west and in the Southwest and we continue to love those markets. Most recently with Drive Automotive ... some of the assets we purchased on that platform were in Colorado. In Arizona and the Pacific Northwest, we’re trying to strengthen those core markets. And with the Plaza Tire Service model that we acquired in late-2021, we’ve grown in the Midwest real aggressively. We’re moving into the Southeast more and more and we’re over on the eastern shore in North Carolina. 

If a business becomes available – a high-quality business – that's in a new market, we absolutely will pursue that. The partnership we have with Leonard Green & Partners ... their financial support makes it all possible. They’re very supportive. When we have assets that we want to bring into the portfolio, they provide the financial capabilities for that. And then of course, our store growth teams are driving it each and every day, working our pipelines. A lot of our M&A comes out of several years of knowing someone. We want to be there when they’re ready and be part of their exit strategy.

MTD: Sun operates under nearly 70 different retail banners. Why does the company allow acquired properties to operate under their existing names? What advantages does that provide? 

Puckett: If you ask someone if they’ve heard of Sun Auto, they may not have. But depending on their local market, they may now the family business that’s been there for 40, 50 and in some cases, 100 years. We really value the brands we acquire and their teams. We want to leverage their legacy and their legacy brands. If we have a really well-established brand in a particular market, their brand may be stronger than ours. That’s why we keep them. If we make a small acquisition or build a new greenfield in the Midwest, it’s going to be a Plaza Tire Service store. If we go to a new market and there’s a great brand there, we’ll leverage their strength and their legacy and their heritage. 

We really love the brands that we have and the teams that have come along (with us). Our teams have done a great job of beginning to really build the continuity of how we’re all connected. The common services we provide – our warranty, our fleet service -  there’s just a number of things that every customer can expect from us. And the Sun Auto Network is something we’re investing more and more in. That’s kind of how we’re operating our network. (Customers) are going to get the same support in Florida as they would in Kentucky or California. 

MTD: Is the Sun Auto Network more of an internal designation or are you promoting that externally to customers? 

Puckett: We’ve certainly launched it internally. At our company workshop this year, where we brought all of our managers to Arizona and celebrated  the previous year and really set up 2026 and what we’re going to be working on, we launched the Sun Auto Network. The first step was, ‘Let’s make sure our own team members understand the connectivity.’ It’s relatively new from an external standpoint. A lot of our (stores) are branded Sun Auto. You will still see Sun Auto Network as a component of that, in a sub-position. 

MTD: You mentioned Leonard Green & Partners, which is a private equity firm. Four out of the 10 largest tire dealerships on the 2026 MTD 100 are owned by private equity. Why is this? 

Puckett: This is just such a great business and industry and it’s highly fragmented, so there’s a lot of opportunity for growth. It’s an incredibly resilient model. From an investor standpoint and private equity in particular, they like (the tire and auto industry). Automotive performs wonderfully in a great economy and actually performs well in downturn cycles. There’s a lot of demand to enter this space. It’s gotten much more competitive on the M&A side for us. I absolutely think (private equity investment) is going to continue. And certainly we’re out there competing to win and hopefully find owners who want to exit and see us as the best opportunity. My prediction is we will see more of this. And as the economy improves, it will only intensify. 

We’re excited about what’s coming in 2026 and beyond and we’re looking to continue to grow. We’ll open our 600th store in August. That’s a big milestone for us and one we’re really proud of. But in our minds, we’re far from being done. It’s pretty much foot-on-the-gas and we’re looking forward to the moving into the end of 2026 and beyond.