Carro has announced its entry into Australia through the acquisition of CarPlace, a leading Australian pre-owned car platform. The deal hands Carro an instant physical footprint in three of Australia’s four largest markets, and takes the group’s regional spread to eight markets in total.
CarPlace is operated by Autoleague, one of Australia’s biggest automotive groups. As part of the transaction, Autoleague stays on as a strategic shareholder of CarPlace and also comes on board Carro itself as a strategic investor – so this is as much a partnership as it is a straight buyout.
CarPlace runs sites in Perth, Brisbane and, more recently, Melbourne, and offers the now-familiar online conveniences – click-and-collect, home delivery and streamlined trade-ins. With Australia added, Carro’s footprint now spans Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, the Taiwan region, Hong Kong SAR and Australia.
The plan is to deploy Carro’s proprietary tech and workflows across the CarPlace business – vehicle inspections, inventory tracking, asset management, leads management, customer experience and lifecycle management, and dealer network tools. The pitch to both dealers and retail buyers is the usual Carro line: a hassle-free, transparent, end-to-end experience.
We’ve found an ideal strategic partner in Autoleague to power our ambitions in Australia and we’re really excited about the potential to grow into a leading business there,” said Aaron Tan, co-founder and CEO of Carro.
He noted that Australia is one of the largest used car markets in Asia Pacific, moving around 2.3 million used cars a year, with EV penetration climbing fast. “We believe the market is ripe for a platform like Carro to transform the used car landscape and deliver a better, more convenient, more transparent customer experience that is powered by technology and AI,” he added.
There’s a wholesale angle here too, and it’s arguably the more interesting bit. Carro already has a presence in Japan, which puts it in a strong position to serve the Japan-Australia import corridor – the well-worn pipeline that feeds popular used and new Japanese models into the Australian market.
Tan says the group’s wholesale capabilities, built off that Japan base, let it bring in the Japanese metal Australians “have grown to trust and love.” Dealer networks, he reiterated, remain central to how Carro operates in every market it’s in, and the company is courting “win-win” partnerships with local dealers Down Under.
From Autoleague’s side, managing director and CEO Dan Kawai framed the tie-up as a vote of confidence in Carro’s infrastructure and operating model.
“We’ve seen Carro’s technology infrastructure, streamlined operations and unwavering commitment to transparency within the industry, and we’re confident in their goal to become a leading player in Australia,” he said, adding that the group is committed to working closely with Carro to get there.
With Australia now in the fold – and an eventual listing seemingly the destination – Carro continues to build out one of the larger multi-country automotive marketplace networks in the region.
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