Item 8.01 Other Events.
On June 19, 2024, Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (“Group 1” or the “Company”) was informed of a cybersecurity incident experienced by CDK Global LLC (“CDK”), which resulted in service outages on CDK’s dealers’ systems¹,² (the “CDK incident”). CDK provides clients in the automotive industry, including Group 1 dealerships in the U.S., with a software as a service (“SaaS”) platform used by dealerships in managing customer relationships, sales, financing, service, inventory and back-office operations. The CDK incident has disrupted the Company’s business applications and processes in its U.S. operations that rely on CDK’s dealers’ systems.³
In response to the CDK incident, Group 1 immediately activated its cyber incident response procedures and proactively took measures to protect and isolate its systems from CDK’s platform.⁴ Despite the CDK service outage, all Group 1 U.S. dealerships continue to conduct business using alternative processes until CDK’s dealers’ systems are available. The Company’s dealerships in the U.K. do not use CDK’s dealers’ systems and are therefore not impacted by the CDK service outage.
CDK has advised that it anticipates the restoration of the dealer management system will require several days and not weeks.⁵ The timing of the restoration of other impacted CDK applications remains unclear at this time. Group 1’s ability to determine the material impact, if any, of the CDK incident and the resulting service outage, will ultimately depend on a number of factors, including when, and to what extent, the Company resumes its access to the CDK’s dealers’ systems.⁶,⁷,⁸
A copy of the Company’s press release regarding the CDK incident is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1.