Vroom said Wednesday it has launched an “Extended Mile” hub in Statesville, N.C., which is just over 40 miles from Charlotte.
This Statesville hub is designed to offer “a more customized driveway experience” for more than 2.6 million people in the state
This hub has storage capacity of up to 1,000 vehicles, making it one of Vroom’s largest. Extended Mile delivery service centers can transport cars to consumers up to 300 miles away.
The company explains that the Extended Mile hubs are similar to its Last Mile hubs, with more of a reach.
Vroom has launched more than 30 Last Mile hubs and has more planned.
“The Extended Mile program is the next tier of growth for Vroom’s customer delivery and pickup experience, and the company plans to launch it in more locations in the coming months,” the company said in a news release.
Mary Kay Wegner is chief logistics officer at Vroom and leads the Last Mile and Extended Mile hub expansion.
“After successfully opening dozens of Last Mile hubs across the country, we’re excited to be leveling up to the next phase of concierge service with our new Extended Mile offering,” Wegner said.
“Statesville has been an important market for Vroom for years, and we’re proud to be part of the recent wave of tech companies that are expanding their presences in North Carolina, specifically near Charlotte.”
When a global automaker launches an omnichannel used-car sales platform, as General Motors plans to do this spring with CarBravo, it undoubtedly requires a fair bit of back-end infrastructure.
SpinCar, which provides digital merchandising services to the auto industry, said Wednesday it will be a part of that CarBravo infrastructure.
The company has been added to …
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Carvana is in Maine now.
The online auto retailer announced Wednesday that its “soon-as-next-day touchless home delivery” of vehicles is now available in the Portland and Lewiston areas of the state.
With the addition of these Maine markets, Carvana delivery is now available in 311 cities throughout the U.S.
“We’re on a mission to change the way people buy and sell cars, and now Portland area residents will be able to enjoy the ease and convenience that comes with as-soon-as-next-day delivery,” Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said in the news release on the Portland launch. “We’re confident area customers will embrace The New Way to Buy a Car and we look forward to growing our presence across the state.”
In the release on the Lewiston launch, Garcia said: “Bringing Lewiston residents The New Way to Buy a Car unlocks a nationwide inventory of great vehicles, at great prices, with great customer service, and the convenience of as-soon-as-next-day delivery. As we grow our footprint in Maine, we’re confident customers will embrace the ease and transparency Carvana offers.”
Shift Technologies co-chief executive officer Toby Russell will step from that position on Feb. 1, but will remain on the board of directors, the automotive ecommerce company said Thursday.
Russell will remain a strategic advisor for Shift. Shift co-CEO George Arison will become sole CEO on Feb. 1.
And in a transition that began Thursday, Shift president Jeff Clementz takes on most of Russell’s day-to-day operating responsibilities.
Clementz joined Shift on Oct. 1.
“It has been an incredible journey to take Shift from an idea to a publicly traded eCommerce leader,” Russell said in a news release.
“After leading six straight years of growth, I couldn’t be more proud of the company we have built and the team we have assembled. This is the right time for me to transition to a Board and advisory role, allowing me to focus on my family, bringing my two daughters — who currently live on opposite coasts — together back in Virginia,” Russell said.
“I am extremely grateful for and confident in the outstanding team and culture we have built at Shift. The company is well positioned to rise to new heights with our extraordinary leadership team.”
Russell and Arison are both co-founder of Shift, which began in 2013. Russell joined full-time two years later.
“It was Toby, back in 2011, who first thought that we should choose used-car sales as a category for building our next company,” Arison said in the release.
“From discovering the idea to helping us launch the company, and throughout his full-time role as Co-CEO, Shift would not exist today without Toby’s profound creativity, insight, and leadership. His value to this business has been immeasurable,” he said.
Arison later added: “Many founders dream of building a publicly traded company, but only a few get there. Shift was able to get there because of Toby. It has been a privilege to run this course with my best friend, and I can’t express how grateful I am for Toby’s leadership and dedication over the last six years.”
Carvana now offers its touchless home vehicle delivery to Reno, Nev., and Carson City, Nev., residents, the online retailer announced this week.
Now, Nevada residents in the areas can shop the e-commerce platform's 45,000 vehicles for sale.
Of the launch in Reno, Carvana founder and chief executive Ernie Garcia said: “We look forward to giving residents of the Biggest Little City the ability to skip the dealership experience and take back their weekends.We’re confident the community will embrace the ease and transparency we offer, being able to shop thousands of vehicles at great prices with as-soon-as-next-day delivery.”
Customers in Reno and Carson city can now also trade in or sell a vehicle by entering their VIN or license plate number on Carvana.com and answering a few questions. Then Carvana can pick the vehicle up and bring them a check, as soon as the next day, according to the company.
Carvana now offers as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery to customers in 303 cities across the U.S.
“With the ability to shop thousands of cars online, at great prices, with as-soon-as-next-day delivery, we’re confident Carson City residents will embrace the ease and convenience that comes with 'The New Way to Buy a Car',” said Garcia.
Just last month, Carvana entered its 300th market mark with its reach into Nebraska, after its entry onto the Fortune 500 list this past June — one of the fastest players in tech to do so, according to the company.
And other companies are taking note of the Cavana model, inspired by its efficient sales process. In fact, last month, the TEDA International Auto Group — a multinational, specialty automotive group bringing years of experience to global automotive trading — announced the formation of its new online car brand, which will operate as CARLALA, inspired by the Carvana brand.
Stay tuned to Auto Rarmarketing as we continue to track the rapid growth of the Carvana brand.
Though not without challenges, it was a strong quarter for the three major publicly traded online used-car marketplaces.
Vroom posted record ecommerce unit sales and gross profits, Shift reached record revenues and unit sales and Carvana’s net income was positive for the first time ever.
Here is a recap of the highlights from the three marketplaces’ respective quarters …
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Used-car ecommerce platform Shift, which began selling cars in Texas for the first time in May, has added two more markets where customers in the Lone Star State can buy vehicles.
The company announced Tuesday that Dallas and Fort Worth have been added as full-service markets, joining Austin and San Antonio, which were added this spring.
Prior to May, consumers could already sell their vehicles to Shift in four of the state’s markets, but the addition of Austin and San Antonio marked the first full-service market where they could buy from Shift.
“We are excited to continue expanding our product offering to car buyers in the Texas market,” Shift co-chief executive officer Toby Russell said in a news release. “We believe that the Dallas-Fort Worth region is a natural complement to our current Texas coverage area and are looking forward to bringing the full Shift experience to customers across the state.”
There are now a combined eight hubs throughout California, Texas, Washington and Oregon where consumers can utilize Shift’s in-person buyer experience.
Carvana, which launched a little more than eight years ago, has made its first appearance on the Fortune 500, and says it is one of the quickest tech companies to make the list.
In fact, the company said it made the list in the same amount of time as Facebook did.
“Based on organic growth alone, only Amazon and Google made it to the Fortune 500 faster,” Carvana said in a news release.
“Since day one, Carvana’s core values have guided our decisions. Through a constant focus on our customers, technology and innovation, we operate with shared core values, setting a new automotive retail standard for how customers should be treated: with care, honesty and respect,” Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said in a news release.
“Our engine of growth is powered by amazing and ambitious people with boundless energy and discipline, who feel like they're part of something, who have chosen to care a little more than most, who learn and get a little better every day, and who have fun along the way,” Garcia said.
Others in the “Automotive Retailing, Services” industry category to crack the list included CarMax (No. 136), Penske Automotive Group (143), AutoNation (145), Lithia Motors (231), Group 1 Automotive (286), Sonic Automotive (308) and Asbury Automotive Group (405).
Avis Budget Group also made the list at No. 498, as did Camping World Holdings (496).
The Fortune 500 list also included several automakers, including Ford (No. 21), General Motors (22) and Tesla (100).
Readers of this publication might also recognize these names: Fiserv (205), Moody’s (500) and Uber Technologies (281), among others.
The full list can be found here.
After launching its first market in Washington earlier this month, Carvana added seven new markets in the state on Wednesday.
The online has now added 26 new markets since late April and is on the cusp of having 300 cities in its coverage.
Last week, Carvana added two more markets in Louisiana (Shreveport and Monroe) and another one in Texas (Texarkana).
The online retailer had made nine market expansion announcements over the course of May 5 and May 6, including its first forays into Oregon, Washington and Mississippi, and further growth in Louisiana.
That followed late April moves to broaden its presence in Alabama, Florida and Utah, with a combined seven new markets in those states
As for Wednesday’s addition to the Evergreen State, the new Washington markets include:
— Olympia
— Bremerton
— Bellingham
— Yakima
— Mount Vernon
— Wenatchee
— Seattle
With these additions, Carvana’s services now include 298 markets.
Carvana started May picking up right where it left off in April.
The online auto retailer, which also shared quarterly results last week, made nine market expansion announcements over the course of Wednesday and Thursday.
The moves included its first forays into Oregon, Washington and Mississippi, and further growth in Louisiana.
That followed late April moves to broaden its presence in Alabama, Florida and Utah, with a combined seven new markets in those states.
In the last two weeks, Carvana has added 16 new markets. Carvana began the year by adding six new markets and one new vending machine in the first quarter.
As for last week’s growth, Carvana added these markets:
- Hammond, La.
- Houma, La.
- New Orleans
- Gulfport, Miss.
- Salem, Ore.
- Eugene, Ore.
- Albany, Ore.
- Portland, Ore.
- Longview, Wash.
With these additions, Carvana’s services now include 288 markets.
In a letter to shareholders included with the earnings, Carvana said its footprint now covers all major regions of the U.S. (thanks to the addition of the Pacific Northwest) and 77.4% of the U.S. population.
“In 2021, we continue to expect to increase our population coverage to 78%-80% while serving more than 300 markets by year-end … From here, our path to 95% population coverage will primarily consist of opening smaller fill-in markets,” the company said in its shareholder letter.
Carvana retailed 92,457 vehicles in the first quarter, beating year-ago figures by 76%. Its revenue climbed 104% year-over-year to $2.245 billion, with total gross profits of $338 million (up 145%).
Carvana reported a net loss of $82 million, compared to a net loss of $184 million a year ago
“First quarter results were exceptional across all key metrics. We delivered triple-digit revenue growth and record retail unit sales while simultaneously increasing GPU and driving operating leverage,” Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said in a news release. “While we are extremely proud of these results, we are even prouder of the team that got us here, of the business we have built together, and of the great experiences that we deliver to our customers.”
