We granted certiorari to decide whether, in WMW, Inc. v. American Honda Motor Co., 311 Ga. App. 1 714 SE2d 689 2011, the Court of Appeals correctly construed the standing requirement for a motor vehicle dealership to sue under OCGA § 10-1-664, the anti-encroachment provision of the Georgia Motor Vehicle Franchise Practices Act, Ga. L. 1993, pp. 1585-1647, which is codified as amended at OCGA § 10-1-620 to 10-1-670. Like other statutes, the Franchise Practices Act must be construed as an integrated whole. See U.S. Bank Natl. Assn. v. Gordon, 289 Ga. 12, 14-15 709 SE2d 258 2011. While the anti-encroachment provision could have been drafted more clearly, we believe that the Act as a whole, and particularly its definitions provision, OCGA § 10-1-622, elucidate the proper application of the anti-encroachment provision to the facts of this case. The “relevant market area” for a corporate motor vehicle dealership like appellant WMW, Inc. WMW, whose status as a “dealership” and “dealer” under the Act is based solely on its sales of new motor vehicles, is calculated from the location where WMW sells markets new vehicles in Roswell, Georgia, not from where WMW only services vehicles in Alpharetta. Because the new dealership that appellees American Honda Motor Company, Inc. Honda and Sobh Automotive of Cumming, Inc. Sobh planned to establish in Cumming was beyond WMW’s relevant market area, WMW lacks standing to sue to block the new competitor under § 10-1-664. Thus, while we disagree with the rationale of the majority opinion below, it reached the right result, and we therefore affirm the Court of Appeals’ judgment. See Bunn v. State, 291 Ga. 183, 193 728 SE2d 569 2012 affirming on certiorari under the right-for-any-reason doctrine.
1. Since 1976, WMW, which does business as Honda Carland, has operated a new motor vehicle dealership in Roswell under a franchise agreement with Honda. WMW sells and services vehicles at its Roswell location. Since 2000, WMW has also operated a service-only location in Alpharetta under an amendment to the franchise agreement. In 2010, Honda notified WMW that it planned to authorize Sobh to open a new Honda dealership in Cumming, which would be more than eight miles from WMW’s sales and service location in Roswell but within eight miles of WMW’s service-only location in Alpharetta. WMW sued Honda and Sobh under the anti-encroachment provision of the Franchise Practices Act, which authorizes an existing dealership to file suit to prevent its franchisor from establishing a new or relocated dealership within the existing dealership’s “relevant market area.” OCGA § 10-1-664 b. The Act defines “relevant market area” as “the area located within an eight-mile radius of an existing dealership.” OCGA § 10-1-622 13.1. The trial court concluded that WMW lacked standing under the Act and dismissed the case.
