“Intentionally, these doors are closed because what you're going to see when you go beyond these doors is a completely new way to support the automotive supply chain,” a.i.m. CEO Tim Frank tells a crowd of auto industry professionals in mid-November.

They’re gathered here for the grand opening of a.i.m’s first-ever vehicle reconditioning facility, located in Oxford, N.C., some 30 miles northeast of Durham.

The building is a former tobacco production facility, a common sight in a state whose economy has shifted further towards tech-related fields, especially in the nearby Research Triangle region.

That's not unlike the wholesale auto industry, where ...