- Motors said it wanted to create “a new approach to car search.”
- Private equity groups O3 Industries and Novum Capita bought Motors in 2021
Vehicle search platform Motors has bought Cazoo for an undisclosed sum after the used car operator fell into administration last month.
The online classifieds marketplace said Friday it will launch a new Cazoo app in the coming weeks, followed by a website containing more than 250,000 used vehicle listings.
Motors said it wanted to create “a new approach to car shopping” and attract a larger number of car buyers with the acquisition.
Acquisition: Car search platform Motors has bought Cazoo for an undisclosed sum
The company, formerly Motors.co.uk, was founded in 2007 by MailOnline’s parent company, Daily Mail & General Trust, as a website for car buyers. Three years later it was sold to Cox Automotive.
Silicon Valley giant eBay bought Motors in 2019 before selling it two years later, along with Gumtree UK, to private equity groups O3 Industries and Novum Capita.
Barry Judge, chief executive of Cazoo Motors, said: ‘We have the experience and inventory to immediately establish the new Cazoo site as a modern marketplace for used cars.
‘We will leverage the enthusiasm and engagement that the Cazoo brand has already created with consumers to generate further sales enquiries for our distributor partners.’
Cazoo was founded in 2018 by Zoopla and LoveFilm founder Alex Chesterman, who modelled the business on Carvana, the US retailer known for housing cars in glass-tower vending machines.
The group’s sales soared after pandemic-related restrictions temporarily closed car dealerships, prompting more consumers to buy cars solely online.
Growth was further boosted by a microchip shortage that hampered production and increased the cost of used vehicles.
It became the fastest UK company to achieve unicorn status, listing on the New York Stock Exchange three years ago at a valuation of £6bn.
However, Cazoo faced massive losses, posting £550m in 2021 and £704m in 2022, and was forced to make major layoffs and close operations in Europe.
The problems were compounded by cost-of-living pressures on consumers and the group spent huge sums of money sponsoring sporting teams and organisations, such as the Aston Villa and Everton football teams, and the World Snooker Championship.
Chesterman stepped down as CEO early last year to become chairman before leaving the company permanently in December.
In March, the group announced it would sell off used car stock and transition to a car marketplace, which allows consumers to trade in cars under a single brand.
Cazoo called in administrators two months later, having cut hundreds of jobs as part of this transformation and sold off its entire vehicle inventory.